IE Webinar: Nature guides in Sweden for environmental sustainability

February 4, 2025
Tuesday 11 February 2025, 14:00 CET At a time when the world is confronted with growing environmental threats, better understanding of the critical connection between people and nature is key to stimulating positive action. When guiding visitors in nature, there are often opportunities to connect nature experiences to issues ...Read More

IE Office team staffing changes

January 26, 2025
A new project manager joins the team You may recall recent news that IE has successfully secured European funding for two projects entitled, HI-People and Empaths. Following a call for applications, we are pleased to announce that Sandy (Alexander) Colvine has since been appointed a Project Manager to coordinate ...Read More

Heroes, anti-heroes and villains

January 26, 2025
Will you be a part of the Interpret Europe conference 2025 from 11 to 14 April in Sulejowek, Poland? Are you thinking about joining us for our next conference in April at the Józef Piłsudski Museum at Sulejówek.? Then here are many good reasons to do it! Warsaw, often described ...Read More

Creative Europe Programme

January 26, 2025
Calls open until 13 May 2025 for European Cooperation Projects. Grants are available for organisations in the cultural and creative sectors who are demonstrating cross-border cooperation. The call for proposals is split into small, medium or large scale projects. Why not take a look and see if your project ...Read More

The cultural and spiritual significance of nature

January 26, 2025
Download a free PDF giving guidance for protected and conserved area governance and management. Whilst this document is not new, it was recommended by an IE member and may be relevant to some of our members who work in natural area conservation, or interpretation of natural areas.Published in 2021 ...Read More

Culture makes us healthier

January 26, 2025
New research has assessed the monetary value of the health and wellbeing benefits from cultural engagement in the UK. What price would you put on public health and wellbeing? If governments could save money on our healthcare by investing in other areas, then why wouldn’t they do it? Recent ...Read More

Let’s continue to inspire through impactful interpretation!

January 23, 2025
Medvednica Mountain was the unique inspiration for our IE CIW upgrade course, keeping us inspired through stories. Medvednica Mountain, an iconic mountain towering over Zagreb, served as the creative hub for our Certified Interpretive Writer (CIW) trainer’s upgrade course. The nature park fuelled our inspiration and provided a powerful ...Read More

A heritage with moustaches

January 23, 2025
Enthusiastic women gathered in Kuterevo, Croatia, to explore the heritage of the Lika-Senj region, empowering their businesses and communities. An IE Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) course was organised by Guest Accommodation Butina, the Tourist Board of Otočac, and Visitor Friendly, a business specialising in heritage interpretation and training. Over ...Read More

Interpreting Kuterevo: A village of living heritage

January 23, 2025
A CIG course in Kuterevo, Croatia, brought together a vibrant community to explore heritage interpretation, sustainability, and collaboration. In the small village of Kuterevo, nestled beneath the majestic Velebit mountain and North Velebit National Park, an IE Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) course unfolded. Organised by the Butina rural household, the ...Read More

IE Management

January 23, 2025
Training team changes We start a new year with a new dynamic, looking forward to supporting members in a variety of ways in addition to training courses. Training Coordinators As you know, since Valya Stergioti stepped down from the role of Training Coordinator, which she had held from the start ...Read More

Two in one: Hands-on workshop for interpreting world heritage

January 23, 2025
A dynamic workshop exploring value-based heritage interpretation, bringing together theory and practice at the heart of Speyer’s UNESCO sites. It is not who you are, but what makes you unique! Not what I can learn about you, but what fascinates me about you – and, in a broader sense ...Read More

Europe invests in Interpret Europe!

January 23, 2025
IE enters an exciting new phase as we celebrate the start of two big projects. Are you familiar with the saying, “You wait ages for a bus and then two come along at the same time”? Well, that is basically what happened when IE engaged internal and external expertise in ...Read More

We need allies and there are allies

January 23, 2025
Impressions from the CHARTER project, which enriched my understanding of the shifting heritage paradigm. CHARTER was a 4-year European Blueprint Project for the EU’s cultural heritage sector, which recently came to an end (you can find more details below). I was invited to CHARTER’s external Expert Advisory ...Read More

Can AI enhance the museum visitor experience?

January 23, 2025
The City Museum of Aarau in Switzerland invites you to meet AI Hero to see how a modern twist can provide personal heritage experiences. Whatever your thoughts on AI, the article below by Manuel Charr is an interesting amuse-bouche ahead of our IE conference in April where we will ...Read More

IE Webinar: Ephemeral heritage – A decade of summer fieldwork and student projects on heritage sites

January 9, 2025
Tuesday 14 January 2025, 10:00 CET The webinar will focus on the work during the past decade (2013-2023) in a small village of Transylvania (Romania). The village of Călugăreni is home to an annual summer fieldwork focused mainly on the site of the former Roman auxiliary fort and ...Read More

IE Webinar: How to obtain Erasmus+ funding for IE courses: Lessons from experience

December 10, 2024
Tuesday 17 December 2024, 15:00 CET During the webinar, the process of applying successfully for Erasmus+ funding for Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) and Certified Interpretive Writer (CIW) courses programs will be presented. Insights will be shared from the experience of obtaining an Erasmus+ grant to organize CIG and CIW ...Read More

IE Webinar: Inclusivity outside the classroom

November 19, 2024
Tuesday 26 November 2024, 15:00 CET In our efforts to create more inclusive spaces, it’s essential to ask: what does true inclusivity look like? This talk will delve into the principles and practices of inclusive environmental education, with examples of both outstanding achievements and missed opportunities. Together, we ...Read More

Networking events

November 5, 2024
If you missed the first of our online events, stay tuned for details of the next and join in to further your IE professional connections. Interpret Europe’s role is to support heritage sites and individual professionals from more than 45 countries and to encourage exchange amongst them. We would ...Read More

iecon25 – Call for papers is open!

November 5, 2024
The planning for our next conference is well underway and now it is over to you … Time to spend your autumn evenings planning your contribution. Call for papers If you were with us at the conference in Koper, Slovenia, you will certainly remember the warm invitation from our Polish...Read More

Culture Moves Europe

November 5, 2024
Third European Commission call for individual mobility of artists and cultural professionals. This call is open until 30 November. It provides financial support to artists and cultural professionals who wish to carry out a project in another Creative Europe country, in collaboration with an international partner (either an organisation or ...Read More

What’s going on elsewhere

November 5, 2024
A quick look at some news from other organisations and recent events. UK’s AHI celebrates turning 50 The UK’s Association for Heritage Interpretation (AHI) has been awarded £150,000 Sterling from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for their Interpretation Gold project.The initiative celebrates 50 years of AHI ...Read More

Reviving Via Egnatia: Heritage-based interpretation, storytelling and gamification

November 5, 2024
An immersive exploration of heritage through storytelling and interactive techniques aimed at preserving the ancient European landscape. From September 23-28, 2024, Durrës in Albania hosted a comprehensive training programme focused on heritage-based interpretation, storytelling, and gamification. Organised in partnership with MuZEH Lab, a nonprofit organisation and small museum ...Read More

Time Travel with Queen Maria: Innovative storytelling and cutting- edge technology

November 5, 2024
Combining real-life, hands-on activities with a captivating AR and VR journey to create a unique immersive blend of history and technology. On September 15, 2024, Skopje in North Macedonia hosted an innovative event titled, ‘Time Travel with Queen Maria – A Gamified Journey to the Middle Ages’. This immersive ...Read More

How a museum changed

November 5, 2024
After moving from West Germany to East, I was lucky that the first museum I visited in this region was the Oderbruch Museum.  Little did I know, the Oderbruch is one of the best examples of successful transformations of cultural institutions in Germany. Oderbruch is a small area (920 sqkm ...Read More

The legends of Biograd came to life

November 5, 2024
Living history tours took place this summer in Biograd na Moru, Croatia, to immerse new audiences in our stories. Summer was the perfect time for guided interpretive walks, living history tours, legends, and tales. Biograd na Moru is a small city that is very much in touch with history. Living ...Read More

Co-creating interpretation from the ashes

November 5, 2024
What could happen after a mega-fire strips your natural heritage and all purpose from your interpretation?  Since the ’90s, the Dadia National Park in NE Greece attracted visitors from all over Europe. The reason was simple: 428 sqkm of Mediterranean forest with an impressive variety of birds of prey ...Read More

Inspired interpretive writing in Spain – Join us for an IE CIW course

November 5, 2024
A great opportunity to practice your capacities in interpretive writing, at a beautiful venue and within an international group of participants.  This five-day course for Certified Interpretive Writers (CIW), in English, was due to take place from 4 to 8 November, in Ronda, Spain, but it has been postponed ...Read More

Try telling historians to get rid of dates!

November 5, 2024
The IE CIW training shook interpretive habits as participants learned to stop using so many dates and military language. The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) is a Government Agency. Its mission is to maintain military cemeteries and commemorative sites and educate about their history. Most of our interpretive staff rightfully ...Read More

Training guides for innovative interpretation of cultural heritage

November 5, 2024
Chisinau, Moldova’s capital, was the setting for an IE Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) course in July 2024. During the hot days of summer, Chisinau hosted an Interpret Europe CIG course, supported by the USAID Rural Competitiveness and Resilience Project (RCRA), in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, the National ...Read More

Going Green, and Big

November 5, 2024
Interpret Europe is one of the partners in The Big Green Project – Going big to use art to promote sustainability. The Big Green Project is funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the EU. It unites 15 partners from 13 countries, among which are non-governmental organisations, universities, artistic groups ...Read More

New partnership with UNESCO WHIPIC

November 5, 2024
Interpret Europe starts a five-year collaboration to foster a new interpretive approach for World Heritage Sites. On 8 October 2024, the directors of Interpret Europe and WHIPIC, Helena Vičič and Chang-nam Hong, signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement provides a framework for collaborations in research and capacity ...Read More

Kick-off for the Learning Landscapes initiative

November 5, 2024
UNESCO sites will pilot a holistic approach to interpretive planning. Interpret Europe, in partnership with UNESCO, is embarking on an exciting initiative to develop a ground-breaking methodology that shall transform UNESCO-designated sites into hubs for participatory learning through heritage interpretation, while tackling global challenges through heritage interpretation. The ...Read More

We are shifting into fifth gear

November 5, 2024
An array of activities will unfold to meet members’ needs in the next four years. IE has secured financial support for its activities, which so far largely depended on membership fees, and will allow us to operate on another level. We have received a considerable financial boost from the Creative ...Read More

Where does the past meet the future?

November 5, 2024
Heritage – a continuous dialogue between past and future. Mindful engagement with heritage empowers the past to shape our common future. "Where the Past Meets the Future" was the motto of the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage. But where does this meeting truly occur? Is it in the grand...Read More

GAHI Webinar: Creating First Nations Community-led Digital Interpretation at Murrook Culture Centre

August 8, 2024
Global Alliance for Heritage Interpretation is inviting all interpreters around the world to a series of webinars in 2024. Join the next one: Tuesday, 20August, 04:30 CEST Creating First Nations Community-led Digital Interpretation at Murrook Culture Centre Murrook Culture Centre is a special project, not only to the ...Read More

Erasmus +

July 8, 2024
Many of our members have delivered projects under this funding - keep an eye on the website for opportunities. Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe, with an estimated budget of €26.2 billion. The 2021-2027 programme places a strong focus on ...Read More

Outstanding heritage

July 8, 2024
Europa Nostra has announced this year’s winners of the European Heritage Awards. Entries for the Public Choice Award are open until 22 September. I am pleased to write to you on behalf of Europa Nostra in my capacity as Programme Manager of the European Heritage Awards/Europa Nostra Awards ...Read More

Touch the heritage

July 8, 2024
Looking at the design process to create an exhibition of Albanian and North Macedonian monuments for people with visual impairments. It was January 2024 when MuZEH Lab, a non-profit organisation, started to design an exhibition in Durres for people with visual impairment, working together with our partners from North ...Read More

Per aspera ad astra: The rebirth of Rione Sanità from neglection to rediscovery

July 8, 2024
A story of cooperation, active community involvement, and rediscovery of local beauty through the power of heritage interpretation. The Sanità district in Naples had a brilliant transformation thanks to the efforts of a local priest, Father Antonio Loffredo, and a group of young people. Starting in 2001, they reopened the ...Read More

Can we live up to what we preach about?

July 8, 2024
The challenges of environmental sustainability in exhibition planning. When it comes to exhibition planning, we have to face a very complex and often challenging task where we navigate amid the client’s needs and wants, content development, budget, design, deadlines, and so on. We are very much focused on the ...Read More

Natural Sanctuaries in the Collsacabra bioregion

July 8, 2024
Interpretation of the meanings and spiritual values of natural tourist hot spots to change the behavior of visitors and improve conservation. Collsacabra is a natural bioregion located one hour north of Barcelona. Made up of three small towns that together have a total of 2,667 inhabitants, it welcomes several ...Read More

Interpretive news from Bakar, Croatia

July 8, 2024
Bakar Tourism Board joins Interpret Europe as an institutional member - a logical step having organised three Interpret Europe courses.  For years, Bakar Tourism Board has been an inspiring example of a destination management organisation that turns to heritage interpretation. This spring, they decided to underline this by joining Interpret...Read More

Lessons from South America

July 8, 2024
Some ideas from my experience of training interpretive guides in diverse natural environments. I would like to share some of my experience of the last ten years as a trainer, and highlight some aspects that I consider relevant for the successful development and delivery of training courses for interpretive guides ...Read More

Taking you to another time and place

July 8, 2024
IE's Module on Live Interpretation (MLI) reached a milestone when it was tested in Prague. Interpret Europe has been working on the development of training for live interpretation for years. Costumed performances immerse the visitors into another time and place. It presents an opportunity to bring a historical site ...Read More

Getting familiar with interpretive planning

July 8, 2024
How a course can inspire and become a meaningful experience  It was my pleasure to attend the IE Certified Interpretive Planner (CIP) course that took place recently in Athens, Greece. I work for a company with extensive experience in producing high-quality natural and cultural interpretations. Due to my completely ...Read More

Further development of IE’s training programme

July 8, 2024
Our new Training Coordinators say hello and give an insight into their thoughts for the future of IE training. After seven years of extraordinary work, Valya Stergioti stepped down from the role of Training Coordinator at the end of 2023. Her legacy is a fully working training programme, which includes ...Read More

Interpret Visegrad initiative – Regional success

July 8, 2024
The third round of projects promoting regional cooperations among the Visegrad countries has come to an end.  While Interpret Europe offers invaluable continent-wide opportunities for cooperation and learning for professionals in heritage interpretation, regional cooperations present somewhat different landscapes for more specific needs and interests, with opportunities for learning ...Read More

Back to school to practice value-based heritage interpretation

July 8, 2024
Many IE trainers honed their skills together as the Lym fjord in Istria, Croatia, hosted the first ever summer school for them.  Besides team-building and bonding, the primary reason for IE trainers to gather in person for a five-day long training was to acquaint themselves with the principles ...Read More