Online

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Heritage at War: Plan and Prepare (2023)

In February 2023, The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Culture in Crisis Programme, in partnership with the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester staged an international conference exploring the past and present risks of military conflict to heritage.
'Heritage at War: Plan and Prepare' brought together voices from Europe, the US, Africa, and Asia to explore how lessons learned from past experiences of conflict can inform our approaches to the safeguarding of cultural heritage today. Presentations explored how the heritage sector, the military and other stakeholders collaborate to protect cultural heritage under attack, navigating the specific risks of direct military conflict on the ground.

This conference is generously supported by the University of Leicester’s ESRC Impact Acceleration Award.

Heritage now 1 Webinar

Heritage Now: Relevance and Community – Community Ownership (1/5)

In this, the first of five sessions, we examine who ‘owns’ heritage? Exploring ideas around ownership and influence, we discuss how communities and heritage organisations navigate these concepts, in collaboration or in opposition. Bringing together a multidisciplinary group of professionals working with heritage, we ask; who makes the decisions? How do we prioritise? What are the impacts of such actions?

Heritage now 2 Webinar

Heritage Now: Relevance and Community – [Re]Interpreting Relevance (2/5)

In this session, we investigate what happens when heritage sites and stories no longer hold relevance within communities. Drawing together speakers who have worked to adapt and evolve heritage spaces and their narratives, we discuss topics such as truth and trust, meaningful co-production and how we can tell multi-dimensional stories to open up engagement opportunities.

Heritage now 3 Webinar

Heritage Now: Relevance and Community – Youth-Led Strategies for Climate Action (3/5)

In this session, we bring together an international panel of professionals working on youth-led strategies for tackling the climate crisis through heritage. Understanding that the health of people, wildlife and the environment are all deeply intertwined, this conversation focused on nature-based solutions and community-led climate efforts, exploring the potential of the heritage sector to respond to the devastating impacts of the climate crisis.

Heritage now 4 Webinar

Heritage Now: Relevance and Community - Making Places (4/5)

In the aftermath of any crisis, the rethinking, reshaping & reconstruction of our built environment requires the careful balancing of many rival interests and priorities. In this session, we explore how decisions made within these processes can impact a sense of place for the communities who live there.

We compare what can be lost when culture and identity are forgone in favour of redevelopment interests, versus the opportunity heritage presents to build places that reflect and serve the communities that live within them.