Heritage Lab in the Villa Decius 15.07.2022
With the beginning of the month, from July 6-8, Villa Decius hosted the next edition of Herritage Lab, a workshop session that aims to build the competence and knowledge of cultural managers from Central and Eastern European countries.
This year, 16 young cultural leaders/mentors from countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine, Georgia, Serbia, Azerbaijan and Albania took part in the Heritage Lab's classes. The class was led by Jonathan Goodacre, Senior Consultant at The Audience Agency, London, UK. The Audience Agency is a UK-based non-profit, cultural organization whose goal and mission is to "give the public a voice in shaping a vibrant, relevant culture." The essence, and foundation, of The Audience Agency's work is to build useful cultural insights through innovative approaches such as:
· Data-driven decision making
· Experience journey mapping
· User-centred design
· Creative techniques
· Mixed-method approaches
As part of the introductory activity, the participants were divided into groups of two, and their task was to exchange mutual experiences and thoughts related to situations in which they were "novices" in some field. This task was aimed at developing specific attitudes in the participants and drawing attention to certain behavioral patterns, common feelings and interpretations.
The next part of the class presented various definitions of cultural heritage, in the context of which the concepts of "selective memory" and "limited narrative" were also invoked. These concepts were the beginning of a discussion in which, the presenter asked the participants questions, among others, about objects, considered as important heritage.
Participants also watched a video about an activist from Varanasi, India, striving to preserve Banaras culture, as a consequence of which, an intense discussion on the issue of cultural representation began among the participants.
In the following days of the project, Lab participants, were confronted with the question: "What of their cultures (the cultures of the countries they come from) is worth preserving? The answers were dominated by tangible heritage objects, over intangible heritage. The questions were accompanied by group work.
Among the issues presented in the Heritage Lab were the process of democratization of culture, the issue of audience development, cultural participation (presentation of statistical data), examples of rescued heritage, reasons why people attend cultural events and many others.
In the comments section of the Heritage Lab evaluation form, we found this opinion from one Lab participant:
„I think the most efficient part of the Lab were the debates and group work with changing the members of yours group for each participants task. It allowed broader view on the cultural issues, the discussion of local problems. The projects presented and analyzed were thought-provoking.”
As part of the introductory activity, the participants were divided into groups of two, and their task was to exchange mutual experiences and thoughts related to situations in which they were "novices" in some field. This task was aimed at developing specific attitudes in the participants and drawing attention to certain behavioral patterns, common feelings and interpretations.
The next part of the class presented various definitions of cultural heritage, in the context of which the concepts of "selective memory" and "limited narrative" were also invoked. These concepts were the beginning of a discussion in which, the presenter asked the participants questions, among others, about objects, considered as important heritage.
Participants also watched a video about an activist from Varanasi, India, striving to preserve Banaras culture, as a consequence of which, an intense discussion on the issue of cultural representation began among the participants.
In the following days of the project, Lab participants, were confronted with the question: "What of their cultures (the cultures of the countries they come from) is worth preserving? The answers were dominated by tangible heritage objects, over intangible heritage. The questions were accompanied by group work.
Among the issues presented in the Heritage Lab were the process of democratization of culture, the issue of audience development, cultural participation (presentation of statistical data), examples of rescued heritage, reasons why people attend cultural events and many others.
In the comments section of the Heritage Lab evaluation form, we found this opinion from one Lab participant:
„I think the most efficient part of the Lab were the debates and group work with changing the members of yours group for each participants task. It allowed broader view on the cultural issues, the discussion of local problems. The projects presented and analyzed were thought-provoking.”