Join us as we bring together 3 archival institutions working across the Middle East and North Africa to discuss emergency planning, implementing disaster management strategies and working towards sustainable recoveries.
Addressing the varied nature of collections - from photographs and film, to books, manuscripts, built heritage, and the digital - the event will highlight the approaches and experiences of organisations in protecting tangible and intangible heritage. Discussion will address the creation of emergency plans, the use of technological safeguards, training and resources, as well as the importance of proactive collaborations and investment in sustainable safeguarding.
Six months on from the explosion in the Port of Beirut, the event will reflect on how best to protect collections and colleagues amid continuously challenging contexts, while facing compounding crises.
Speakers;
- Heba Hage-Felder (Director), the Arab Image Foundation (Beirut, Lebanon).
- Hadia Gana (Founder and Director), Beit Ali Gana (Tripoli, Libya).
- Omayma A. Shafy (Co-founder & CEO) and Yasmine Hussein (Researcher in charge of Archive), Wekalet Behna For Arts (Alexandria, Egypt).
- Vernon Rapley (Director of Cultural Heritage Protection and Security), Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK)
This event is produced in partnership between the Arab Image Foundation and the V&A’s Culture in Crisis Programme.
Cultural Heritage Protection in a post-Covid Landscape - What Next? (5/5)
[Session 5/5]
The focus of this final session was to discuss the recommendations that had surfaced throughout the series and explore next steps, with the potential to inform new approaches to cultural heritage protection. The conversation addressed the lessons learned through post-Covid approaches to digital, sustainability and international development, and the contribution that can be made when heritage organisations work together to support communities to 'build back better'.
Speakers
Sarah Healey CB, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Dr. Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum
Stevie Spring CBE, Chairman of the British Council
Laura Jones, Cultural Heritage Preservation Lead, V&A (Host)
Cultural Heritage Protection in a post-Covid Landscape - Development Strategies (4/5)
[Session 4/5]
The focus of this session centred on the wider value of cultural heritage and the potential to inform new approaches to international development and 'Aid'. Areas explored during the discussion included lessons learned from current cultural heritage protection in conflict-affected settings, the wider role of cultural heritage in promoting stable and secure societies and the contribution that can be made to supporting communities to 'build back better'.
Speakers
Asma Khalifa, activist, researcher and co-founder of the Khalifa Ihler Institute
Dr. Mariz Tadros, Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies
Rowaida Khulaidi, British Council Country Director (Yemen)
Nikki Locke, Senior Programme Manager, Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth, British Council (Host)
Cultural Heritage Protection in a post-Covid Landscape - Sustainable Strategies (3/5)
The focus of this session centred on the various areas of sustainability and their possible application to cultural heritage protection post-Covid. Areas of discussion included sustainability in heritage funding, sustainable project management, environmental sustainability and the role of communities in sustainable projects.
Speakers
Alison Tickell, Founder and CEO, Julie's Bicycle
Dr. Thoa Bao Nguyen, Director, Vietnam Rural Industries Research and Development Institute (VIRI)
Nikki Locke, Senior Programme Manager, Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth, British Council
Prof. Richard Sandford, Professor of Heritage Evidence Foresight and Policy, UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage
Laura Jones, Cultural Heritage Preservation Lead, V&A (Host)
Cultural Heritage Protection in a Post Covid Landscape: - Digital Strategies (2/5)
The focus of this session centred on the various opportunities, strengths and limitations for using digital approaches for cultural heritage protection post-Covid. Alongside facilitated audience participation, the event convened a panel of international speakers from across the digital sector to address areas such as virtual tourism, online training, the digital divide, digital dignity and other topics.
Speakers
Khaled Hijab, Digital Governance in International Development specialist and Founder of Tech Tribes
Nada Hosking, Executive Director, Global Heritage Fund
Abira Hussein, Curator of the Nomad Project
Chao Tayiana, Founder of African Digital Heritage and co-founder of the Museum of British Colonialism