As a newer member of Interpret Europe (IE), the Engaging Citizens webinar was not only a great introduction and refresher of interpretation principles but a gateway into the newest research and resources available through IE.
In this first webinar for members, I learned that the paper, Engaging citizens with Europe’s cultural heritage: How to make best use of the interpretive approach, is freely accessible online, serving as the foundation for this webinar which highlighted its main messages and encouraged the discovery of ‘European’ through heritage.
Led by Thorsten Ludwig, this digital session reinforced concepts and extended learning beyond my ‘Interpretation for Natural and Cultural Heritage’ training with Valya Stergioti, supporting best interpretation practices by offering paths to deeper meaning for our target audiences by understanding their values and motivations. Multi-perspective approaches, participation, and community building were three key suggestions all interpreters can try including in our interpretation to foster a shared sense of European heritage.
I specifically enjoyed the value map and value circle that can help identify universal values; these ideas will inspire and guide me when developing educational resources in honor of the European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH 2018) and beyond.
The opportunity to listen, share, and ask questions to leaders in the IE community was a valuable experience, and one that I hope continues in the future with more thought-provoking webinars.
Based on:
Schwartz, S. H. (1992) ‘Universals in the content and structure of values: theory and empirical tests in 20 countries’. In
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 25). ed. by Zanna, M. New York: Academic Press: 1-65
Katherine Petrole is the Steinmetz Family Foundation Museum Fellow at Corinth Excavations, in Ancient Corinth, Greece, which is part of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. She can be contacted at: Katherine.petrole@gmail.com
To cite this article:
Petrole, Katherine (2018) ”Engaging Citizens’ webinar ‘. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 2-2018, 11.
Available online:
www.interpret-europe.net/fileadmin/Documents/publications/Newsletters/ie-newsletter_2018-2_summer.pdf
