Describe your organization and the unique work that it is doing.  Who and what are affected by the work?  How does/will the work impact people’s lives?

I currently work at the Education Center of the Attica Zoological Park, which is accredited by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). The Attica Zoological park falls within the 20% of the sites accredited by EAZA which meet the strict criteria set for animal welfare, conservation, education and research. Both individually and through the network of reputable zoos we aim to educate and influence the hearts, minds, and behaviours of the people we come into contact with, in order to promote sustainable lifestyles for the protection of our natural world, especially its biological richness. The thousands of students that we come into contact with every year attest to feeling awe and excitement at encountering amazing wildlife up close, which is a first step toward pro-environmental behaviour. Our hands-on interactive and engaging educational programs and events shape the impressionable minds of our many young visitors toward compassion for our fellow beings and provide them with easy, small but impactful lifestyle changes, like using metal bottles for water and pasta straws instead of plastic.  Evaluations of our work have shown that we consistently influence our target audience positively towards wildlife through transferring our knowledge. The open-space natural grounds of this zoological park are ideal for families of all ages to comfortably spend time connecting with nature be it picnicking under the trees, listening to the birds, or quietly observing the animals such as the family antics of the threatened Ring-tailed Lemurs.  Our planetary health is directly connected to sustainable lifestyles and ultimately that is my job, to promote sustainability.  

Tell us about a project that has benefited from the training you received from us?  Why was the project important?  Was there anything unusual or surprising about the execution of this project?

The Strategic Communications Planning workshop run by The Heritage Management Organization taught me good practices in employing social media and press for messaging. I have applied the principles widely across my projects in conservation education and promotion of our work, including improved planning of all my personal communication for networking.  Furthermore, the workshop enabled me to combine the skills attained with some effective environmental education techniques in order to design a short and simple workshop for students aged 12-18 years’ old that are interested in campaigning for a chosen environmental cause.  Our Youth Service Learning Program, which engages such students in nature and wildlife topics on an annual basis, is STEM heavy and focused on using nature’s solutions to problems, such as conserving resources and energy, reducing pollution, protecting habitats and improving animal welfare.  

There is also a good percentage of students that come to us, the program mentors, looking for direct short-term action on raising awareness and fundraising.  They want to make a difference today – right now.  One student is currently designing a communications project so that people purchase only sustainable certified palm oil, to protect habitats of tropical animals such as the orangutan, the Asian elephant, and the tiger.  The Heritage workshop enabled us to immediately reach a wider audience. My training with The Heritage Management Organization has helped me to empower the students with improved communication skills.    

Has your organisation worked on any other projects that are innovative, globally significant and can be replicated in a local market?

We are at the early stages of a partnership on a program regarding wildlife on Parnitha Mountain, the closest national protected forest to Athens.  We are communicating with wildlife biologists about Parnitha’s biodiversity becoming richer in the last few decades with more predators appearing and with stakeholders about the respectful and increased use of the mountain by the public.  Our goal is to strategically communicate certain key messages, such that biodiversity is respected and protected by all and that the public becomes more involved in wilderness awareness and outdoor events to connect with nature and promote pro-environmental behavior.  Once again, the Strategic Communications Planning workshop by The Heritage Management Organization provided very important insight on tackling some key issues when it comes to dialogue with an audience and pathways to achieve our goals.   We really must first understand people, engage with them with meaningful conversation and help them resolve toward behaviors that ultimately benefit everyone.  This approach is of utmost priority for conservation on a global scale.     

What are the global issues that your project addresses (e.g., fighting climate change, preserving heritage and culture, promoting local participation)?

My projects all address the conservation of our natural heritage, which means conserving species of flora and fauna within whole ecosystems as we unfortunately face a sixth mass extinction.  I am also a core partner in a climate education school program (https:// CarbonBustersClub.org) which aims to curb over-consumption fuelling climate change.  To manage this planetary crisis, we need a complex approach, chaotic as such.  Solutions need to be well-evaluated but they must come from all levels of humanity and from all disciplines.  Essentially the core functioning of our current society needs to be re-wired.  

The ultimate solution to any disconnect with the natural world, in my opinion, boils down to three things; 

• “nature connection” or spending more time in nature as priority. 
• “love, not loss” or focusing on the beauty of our world as inspiration rather than the destruction by humans and quite importantly.
• “environmental education” embedded through whole national curricula and core subjects, something necessary for understanding and managing our future. 

The subject of environmental education is widely treated in our country by both educators and parents, as a free school hour to cover other seemingly more important topics. It makes sense that non-formal environmental education platforms, especially in Greece, can provide the whole family with the opportunities for the above activities.  Myself, my colleagues our collaborators and partners, are wholly dedicated to inspiring and instilling awe, knowledge and respect for wildlife. This is our core common mission, to motivate everyone to protect our planet’s natural heritage, currently undergoing serious crisis due to habitat loss and degradation by human activities, including the massive repercussions from climate change events. 

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“Archives and Collections of Paros” digital repository is an online platform assembling cross-media resources across public and private collections, institutional digital libraries and archives as well as individual scholars with the primary scope of openly sharing knowledge produced through research and enhancing our understanding of the rich cultural heritage of the island of Paros.

HERITΛGE and the Municipal Public Benefit Enterprise for Cultural Development of Paros (KDEPAP), are lunching the Digital Repository “Archives and Collections of Paros”. The “Archives and Collections of Paros” is an open online database, which aims to promote the local history and cultural heritage of the island. The repository’s website collects digital copies of archival documents, books, historical photographs, objects and contemporary audiovisual content, such as videos and audio files from the public and private collections of Paros, from research institutions and individual researchers. The content of the repository is recorded, documented, organized and presented on paros-archives.com to the general public, aiming to enhance the research interest in the island, to stimulate the already generalized interest in the historical past of Paros, to activate the members of the local community in the management of the cultural heritage of their place and to create new ways of cooperation and partnership both between academic and local institutions and between independent initiatives at the local level.

Research for and implementation of the pilot version of “Archives and Collections of Paros” digital repository was conducted in collaboration with the Paros Municipal Library “Giannis Gkikas” and KDEPAP under the auspices and with the support of Ministry of Culture and Sports.

The presentation of the digital repository will take place at 08/07/2021 through Zoom Platform.
Its presentation by Katerina Konstantinou will be followed by a discussion with the participation of Alegre Eskaloni (Municipal Library of Paros), Ada Dialla (1821 Digital Archive, Research Center for the Humanities), Artemis Stamatelou (My House of European History project, European Parliament), and Aris Anagnostopoulos (HERITΛGE).

The event will be held in Greek in Zoom platform.
Register here.

The meeting will also be available live from HERITΛGE channel on YouTube.

Διαδικτυακή εκδήλωση
Παρουσίαση του Ψηφιακού Αποθετηρίου «Αρχεία και Συλλογές της Πάρου»

Το ΨΗΦΙΑΚΟ ΑΠΟΘΕΤΗΡΙΟ «Αρχεία και Συλλογές της Πάρου» είναι μία ανοιχτή διαδικτυακή βάση δεδομένων, η οποία έχει σκοπό την ανάδειξη της τοπικής ιστορίας και της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς του νησιού. Στον ιστότοπο του αποθετηρίου συγκεντρώνονται ψηφιακά αντίγραφα αρχειακών τεκμηρίων, βιβλίων, ιστορικών φωτογραφιών, αντικειμένων αλλά και σύγχρονο οπτικοακουστικο περιεχόμενο, όπως βίντεο και ηχητικά αρχεία από τις δημόσιες και ιδιωτικές συλλογές της Πάρου, από ερευνητικά ιδρύματα αλλά και μεμονωμένους ερευνητές. Το περιεχόμενο του αποθετηρίου καταγράφεται, τεκμηριώνεται, οργανώνεται και παρουσιάζεται στο paros-archives.com στο ευρύ κοινό φιλοδοξώντας να ενισχύσει το ερευνητικό ενδιαφέρον για το νησί, να τονώσει το ήδη γενικευμένο ενδιαφέρον για το ιστορικό παρελθόν της Πάρου, να ενεργοποιήσει τα μέλη της τοπικής κοινότητας ως προς την διαχείριση του πολιτιστικού αποθέματος του τόπου τους και να δημιουργήσει νέους τρόπους συνεργασίας και σύμπραξης τόσο μεταξύ ακαδημαϊκών και τοπικών φορέων όσο και μεταξύ ανεξάρτητων πρωτοβουλιών σε τοπικό επίπεδο.

Την παρουσίαση του Ψηφιακού Αποθετηρίου από την Κατερίνα Κωνσταντίνου θα ακολουθήσει συζήτηση με την συμμετοχή των: Αλέγκρε Εσκαλονή (Δημοτική Βιβλιοθήκη Πάρου), Άντα Διάλλα (Ψηφιακό Αρχείο 1821, ΚΕΑΕ), Άρτεμις Σταμετέλου (My House of European History project, European Parliament), και τον Άρη Αναγνωστόπουλο (HERITΛGE).

Το έργο της πιλοτικής ανάπτυξης του paros-archives.com υλοποιείται από την Πρωτοβουλία για την Ανάδειξη της Πολιτιστικής Κληρονομιάς σε συνεργασία με τη Δημοτική Βιβλιοθήκη της Πάρου «Γιάννης Γκίκας» και την ΚΔΕΠΑΠ, υπό  την αιγίδα και την υποστήριξη του Υπουργείου Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού. 

H διαδικτυακή εκδήλωση για την παρουσίαση του Ψηφιακού Αποθετηρίου «Αρχεία και Συλλογές της Πάρου» θα διεξαχθεί την Πέμπτη 8 Ιουλίου 2021 και ώρα 19:00, στα ελληνικά, μέσω της διαδικτυακής πλατφόρμας Zoom.

Κάντε την εγγραφή σας εδώ.

Θα έχετε επίσης τη δυνατότητα να παρακολουθήσετε τη συνάντηση ζωντανά από  το κανάλι του HERITΛGE στο YouTube.

“HerMaP Gambia” aims to strengthen CSOs as partners and stakeholders in promoting social development, inclusive and sustainable growth in the cultural and creative industries and develop the business skills of heritage and cultural managers in order to achieve greater community solidarity and reduce the number of people being “lost” through ‘irregular migration’.

In order to address the potential for  The Gambia’s cultural heritage to support social and economic development to foster job creation and mitigate irregular migration, the Action is focusing on building the skills and capacities of local partners through a program of training for Gambian cultural heritage professionals and others delivered by international experts, supported by the training of these professionals to act as trainers so that this knowledge transfer can then be replicated and delivered across the country and to the local level.

This will lead to more engagement with the importance, and techniques of cultural heritage management, and this will be specifically applied to develop support for a sustainable cultural tourism industry. Activities delivered under the Action will not only encourage, but actively require the development of new partnerships to share responsibilities between community organizations, SMEs, CSOs, local authorities and municipalities in the promotion of inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

The whole project intends to support adaptive engagement with heritage which can generate various spill- over benefits not only on the architecture or revalorization of these sites but also at management, operational and, possibly, cultural production level (e.g. when organizing festivals). Whilst local specificities of Gambian heritage sites will be enhanced through training, the project will also explore adaptive engagement by encouraging participatory approaches within heritage – such as direct links to heritage handicrafts, music and sport – specifically Gambian wrestling, which is as much a cultural activity as it is a sport.

The Action will be delivered over 48 months (September 2020 – August 2024).

During the first year HERITΛGE in collaboration with local stakeholders and partners are devoted to undertake a Heritage Workforce Mapping exercise, and  its results are expected to be gathered and evaluated by the end of summer 2021. This useful information will help the detailed planning and development of the training curriculum for The Gambia.

The project is co-funded by the European Union.

HERMAP ART PROJECTS
12 ARTISTS FROM EUROPE AND IRAN EXPLORE IRAN’S CULTURAL HERITAGE 

04 MAY ’21 — 06 JUNE ’21

BOZAR and Goethe-Institut invite you to discover the works of twelve European and Iranian artists in the framework of an artistic research residency programme on the valorization of Iranian material heritage. Exploring a multifaceted landscape, some of them question the relationship between archives and artistic creation and the notion of living archives. Others take a renewed look at the place of the artist in the valorization and reactivation of a former industrial site. Throughout the projects, a sound and visual landscape unfolds that questions our space-time representations and our sensory geographies, our perception and our relationship to the every living thing, the construction of our individual and collective memories.

In the framework of this exhibition, we also present the film The Runner by Amir Naderi.

Artists in residence: 

Abel Korinsky (DE) and Orhan Kavrakoglu (TR)
Alice Pedroletti (IT) and Andrea Familari (IT)
Arya Arabshahi (IR)
Aron Rossman-Kiss (HU)
Ehsan Hemat (IR)
Goda Palekaite (LT)
Love Di Marco (SW)
Saba Ghorbanalinejad (IR)
Sina Seifee (IR)
Timothée Gauvin (FR)

Learn more.

ARTISTIC CREATION EXPLORES ARCHIVES AND INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE

05 MAY ’21 & 06 MAY ’21

We are pleased to announce two days of webinars that will focus on the role of artistic creation in preserving Iranian archives and industrial heritage. The webinars are part of HerMaP Iran – Cultural Heritage Management Project.
​​​​​​​

Programme for 5 May

14:00-15:45 Artistic interventions and the enhancement of industrial heritage

The round table facilitator will be Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer, Professor of Cultures of the Curatorial at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (HGB) / Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig.

14:00-14:10 Welcome address

14:10-14:20 Introduction by Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer

14:20-14:50 Abel Korinsky & Orhan Kavrakoglu, Aron Rossman-Kiss, Arya Arabshahi & Love Di Marco, Saba Ghorbanalinejad & Timothée Gauvin will present their projects, which were inspired by the site of Iran’s oldest cement factory: the former Rayy Cement Plant.

14:50-15:20 This presentation will be followed by a wide-ranging discussion between Nikolaus Hirsch, architect and curator, co-founder of the online platform and archive e-flux architecture, and co-director of CIVA – Brussels, and Jorge Otero-Pailos, artist, architect, conservationist, professor and director of the Historic Conservation programme at Columbia University GSAPP, whose interdisciplinary work combines art, architecture, and heritage conservation.

15:20-15:45 Interaction with the public via Zoom chat and Q&A.

16:00-17:30 Archives and contemporary artistic practices

The round table facilitator will be Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, head of the Berlinale Forum Expanded and co-director of the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art.

16:00-16:10 introduction by Stefanie Schulte Strathaus

16:10-16:35 Artists Alice Pedroletti & Andrea Familari, Ehsan Hemat, Goda Palekaite and Sina Seife discuss the meaning of archiving as an artistic practice, and share the research work they carried out during their residency.

16:35-17:05 This presentation will be followed by a wide-ranging discussion between Chris Dercon, art historian, curator and director of the Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais, and Nico Dockx, artist, curator, editor and researcher, whose work explores in particular the relationship between perception and memory.

17:05 -17:30 Interaction with the public via Zoom chat and Q&A.

Programme for 6 May

13:30-14:30 Industrial heritage in transition: Iranian perspectives
Facilitator: Sara Reyhani
Geographer Amin Moghadam and Architect Rojia Forouhar present, through concrete examples, the issues at stake in the development and sustainability of industrial heritage from the point of view of architecture, town planning and social and cultural anthropology.

14:45-15:45 Archives and Creation in Iran
Facilitator: Amirali Ghasemi
How do we approach archives in a complex cultural community such as Iran? What issues are at stake?
Maryam Niazadeh, researcher and archivist, and Michel Dewilde, curator and art historian, talk about the beginnings of modern archiving in Iran and the way in which the art world is embracing it.

Register here.

HerMaP – Cultural Heritage Management Project is co-funded by the European Union, the project is led by the Heritage Management organization-HERITAGE (Greece) in partnership with the Goethe-Institut (Germany) and the Centre for Fine Arts Brussels – BOZAR (Belgium).

Acknowledging the importance of heritage in the African continent as a lever for education, local pride and sustainable economic development, the Heritage Management Organization signed a MOU with the Economic Commission for Africa to support actions in multiple fronts for the entire continent.

The continent of Africa and the building of capacity for heritage organizations to its unique cultural heritage have been strategic priorities for our organization. Our work with UNECA is building on the strengths of the “Heritage Management Project (HerMaP) Gambia”, a EUROPEAID funded international project, with the aim to develop the skills of heritage and cultural managers working for state and civil society organizations of The Gambia, outside of the capital Banjul, aiming to establish and support heritage and cultural enterprises that result in greater community solidarity. The Institution building of heritage organizations is seen both by UNECA and HERITΛGE as a great step not only towards sustainable development but also towards strengthening democracy.

Established by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN) in 1958 as one of the UN’s five regional commissions, ECA’s mandate is to promote the economic and social development of its member States, foster intra-regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa’s development.

Made up of 54 member States, and playing a dual role as a regional arm of the UN and as a key component of the African institutional landscape, ECA is well positioned to make unique contributions to address the Continent’s development challenges.

At the Heritage Management Organization, we believe that the sum is greater than the parts. Collaboration is a basic tenet of HERITΛGE as we continuously try to weave and develop an invaluable network of partners from all over the world.

In this context, HERITΛGE supports the initiative of Association of Greek Librarians and Information Scientists and singed a Memorandum of Understanding to include them in our international network.

“The Association of Greek Librarians and Information Scientists – AGLIS has started a collaboration with the Heritage Management Organization – HERITΑGE for the support of lifelong education in the field of education and protection of Cultural Heritage. The Association seeks synergies because it believes in the synthesis of ideas, in the complementarity of forces, in the unity for supremacy. Only in this way can libraries meet today’s challenges and tomorrow’s difficulties by increasing services to their readers.”

– Dr Anthi Katsirikou, President of AGLIS

The Association of Greek Librarians and Information Scientists was established in 1968 and is the only recognized Panhellenic scientific association for Greek librarians. So far, the Association of Greek Librarians and Information Scientists has held several seminars and workshops on specialized topics and seven Panhellenic conferences.  AIGLIS has also published a series of manuals and journals. At the same time, the Association is a member of international organizations (EBLIDA, IFLA) and has an advisory role in its areas of expertise.  AGLIS collaborates with various institutions in Greece to promote developments in organizing and disseminating information (Ministry of Education, National Document Centre, National Book Centre of Greece, etc.).

“LIbraries are key stakeholders for the preservation and dissemination of heritage. In our efforts to build a strong coalition of like-minded institutions in heritage management capacity building, HERITΛGE has singed an MoU with the AGLI to include them in our international network. Our collaboration envisages to build capacity within the structures of AGLI, so as to be able to fulfill their mission. We are privileged to have such an important local organization in our network and look forward to their meaningful contribution to managing heritage.”

-Dr. Evangelos Kyriakidi, fsa, Director, the Heritage Management Organization