Helping People Access Heritage

The aim of the project is to assess local heritage and help more people access it. this will help to preserve, protect and promote it.

The ARCH Programme aims to balance the behind the scenes research and heritage work with public events and activities to give people access and insight to the heritage identified.

After an audit there will be a consultation based piece of interpretive planning and audience/market development work, to prepare Portadown Heritage Tours for front facing project work aimed at engaging local communities. This will pick themes, methods, means and media to best explain engage and involve different sections of society. 

It will be unique in that it will help both promoters and activists as well as audiences and beneficiaries to better deal with ‘contested’ heritage. We are painfully aware that in our town as well as in our country the past can be difficult. The answer is not to ignore it, try to gorget about it or as many say draw a line under it. It must be understood, discussed and accepted, we aim to add our voice to this process just as we would encourage others with different stories to do.

This improve community relations and reconciliation related skills. This will in turn encourage more and different people to get involved. A wider audit of local heritage will be conducted alongside the CATCH initiative, which will get communities involved and other voices heard. Our aim is to help others along the journey we have undertaken with groups and communities being assisted to gear up their heritage work towards sustainable cultural tourism offerings. 

Learning About Heritage

Helping To Assess our Heritage Assets

We see heritage education as a two way process, first how heritage can be used in education ….

A wider audit of local heritage will be conducted alongside the CATCH initiative, with the network being assisted to gear up their heritage work towards sustainable cultural tourism offerings. 

 The Great War focus will allow PHTs to address the issue of dealing with contested heritage and using it to improve community relations.

Opening the Door to the Past

Helping others to Access Heritage

Then we look at how education and training can be used to inform, involve and improve community heritage ….

Many local communities are custodians of heritage, from local buildings and landmarks, to artefacts or records and often this duty is a burden and a limitation. By helping individuals and organisations understand and utilise heritage we hope to turn it from a liability into an asset and help them to make heritage work for them. 

This means getting to grips with the throaty concepts and debate around heritage especially contentious heritage. It requires a specific skills set from organisational skills, through to digital and bespoke restoration and preservation techniques. Finally to aid understanding and interpretation heritage needs to be set in its proper historical, cultural and social context to help people understand it, make linkages and in turn explain and promote it to new audiences. 

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