Interpret Switzerland – The Swiss Association for Heritage Interpretation – was founded in Berne on September 19th, 2017.
In Switzerland, there are many occasions and places where heritage interpretation takes place: in museums, in nature parks, during cultural festivities, performances and exhibitions. Although there are no trained interpretors in Switzerland, people involved in these activities already do heritage interpretation. Interpret Switzerland – The Swiss Association for Heritage Interpretation – was therefore founded with the aim to coordinate training, exchange of experiences and projects related to heritage interpretation at the national level.
Interpret Switzerland is a not-for-profit organisation uniting private citizens and legal entities dealing with heritage interpretation. Following the purpose of Interpret Europe, Interpret Switzerland aims to foster the interpretation of natural and cultural heritage in Switzerland and abroad.
To achieve this goal, Interpret Switzerland implements the following activities:
- Organisation and implementation of training: These offers aim at enabling and/or improving the abilities for people doing heritage interpretation. They are based on the training programme of Interpret Europe, of other partners or of modules by Interpret Switzerland’s own design;
- Organisation of meetings and conferences: They enable the exchange of experiences among people engaged in heritage interpretation in Switzerland and abroad with the aim to establish a heritage interpretation network. These events will be realised by Interpret Switzerland independently or in collaboration with Interpret Europe and other partners;
- Projects and other activities: Initiation, development, implementation and evaluation of projects and other activities related to heritage interpretation in Switzerland and abroad.
Sebastian Bellwald is an economic geographer and the CEO of the consulting company Planval. He acts as Interpret Europe’s Country Coordinator for Switzerland and is co-manager of Interpret Switzerland. He can be contacted at: Sebastian.bellwald@interpret-europe.net
To cite this article:
Bellwald, Sebastian (2017) ‘Interpret Switzerland promotes heritage interpretation on a national level’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 3-2017, 18.
