Community heritage projects
‘Strengthening communities’ - developing skills and promoting positive health and wellbeing.
‘Working with communities and individuals is about encouraging self-growth and confidence….’
In developing and delivering community based projects my ambition is twofold.
In some instances it will be about facilitating opportunities for people to develop individual skills in researching, collecting and interpreting their local heritage.
This may be personal to them, but could also help to build capacity within communities, developing skills and a sense of pride and ownership of the place in which they live.
In other situations it may be about using heritage as a tool for health and wellbeing. This could apply to all sorts of groups and individuals in the community, from under 5s and their carers all the way up to the oldest members of our society.
My toolkit
When developing new sessions or projects I am very much guided by the clients I work with.
In any project there are key management skills which ensure that ideas are moved forward into reality, and groups and individuals can feel the benefit of the hard work that they put in.
Planning & delivery are key to my work
As in all elements of my work I tend to take the following steps when I meet a new group. Bear in mind though that there should always be room for change and flexibility in the process as it moves along, to ensure everyone’s needs and ambitions are met:
Information gathering
Meeting the group, listening to ideas and aspirations, gathering as much information as I can about the motivations and expectations of everyone involved and identifying ways in which I can support progress.
Coming up with a plan
Making suggestions about activities or resources that I could support them with. Creating a realistic set of objectives and outcomes, agreed by all.
Doing the project
Making ideas come alive and achieving objectives.
Knowledgable & experienced
My approach
There are a range of ways in which I can help people to engage with heritage and use it to their benefit. These might be:
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Planning and scoping out a community heritage project.
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Providing training in heritage based skills – planning, researching and interpreting information.
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Oral history training – I have a particular interest in oral history as a medium for investigating and documenting the recent past. I can help develop projects and provide training and mentoring in the techniques
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Developing relevant and effective interpretation – helping groups to broaden access to their communities’ heritage assets.
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Developing and delivering reminiscence projects and sessions.
PAST PROJECT
Breaking the Mould, Fife.
Working in partnership with the Worker’s Educational Association, Scotland I developed a project designed to encourage community members to research and respond to the history of women who had ‘broken the mould’ to create change in the last 100 years, in their own communities.
The process
Participants were able to attend a number of workshops and events where they could learn about ‘game changing’ women in their local area. They could also conduct first hand research themselves about women in Fife, and reflect on change both in work and private lives.
Participants were then invited to create a final exhibition which toured public libraries.
Outcomes
Participants involved in the project were able to develop their skills and confidence in first hand research at Kirkcaldy Museum and Archives. They were also able to develop an exhibition of photographs and text which was then toured around public libraries in Fife.
But most of all participants gained personal confidence from being involved in a project about their community and the changes it had been through.