Interpretive Writing for Natural and Cultural Heritage

 The Heritage Management Organization

Training Heritage Leaders

Autumn 2018

Executive Leadership Development in Heritage Management Workshops

Interpretive Writing for

Natural and Cultural Heritage

A jointly certified course by Interpret Europe and

the Heritage Management Organization

3-7 November 2018 (with available option of a 3-day course, 3-5 November)

Location: The Heritage Management Organization Headquarters

Kimonos 11 & Pagkalou streets, 19200, Elefsina, Greece

The key to effective word-based Heritage Interpretation is written text that grabs and holds the reader’s attention.

During a 5-day course participants will discover and practice a wide range of techniques to engage readers and master the techniques of interpretive writing. Participants will have the opportunity to strive to become a Certified Interpretive Writer awarded by Interpret Europe, the European Association for Heritage Interpretation, after successfully completing, and being assessed on, the following exercises:

1) develop a strong theme for a piece of interpretive writing

2) turn a poorly written and laid out graphic panel into a good example of interpretive writing and panel presentation

3) prepare a piece of interpretive writing incorporating the techniques taught in the course

4) edit and rewrite some difficult text utilizing the principles of interpretive writing and the importance of plain language

In addition to the tasks above, participants will take part in a range of other exciting activities. This includes a visit to the Elefsina archaeological site looking at how it is interpreted - creating a new graphic panel. Participants will also write a creative interpretive text about their chosen heritage feature in Elefsina.

3-day option

This year we are offering a 3-day option from 3-5 November. Participants selecting this option should be aware that 16 additional hours of coursework must be done at home, including completing the certification tasks. Please indicate your preference on the form.

Your Trainer

The course’s instructor, Steven Richards-Price, is an Interpret Europe Training Team member, former IE Supervisory Committee member, former Chair of the Association for Heritage Interpretation (AHI-UK), Vice-Chair of Interpret Wales, and a heritage interpreter with many years of practical experience working for natural resources agencies in Wales, UK. He ran this course here last year and the feedback was excellent.

·         All applicants need to be either individual members or professional members of Interpret Europe. Knowledge of heritage interpretation will not be necessary but any level of experience of writing for visitors will be a plus.

·         Suggested donation for participation: 1500 Euros (tuition; refreshments and light lunch).  

·         A. G. Leventis Foundation scholarships (partial or full coverage towards tuition and/or accommodation) will be available for heritage managers working on (broadly defined) aspects of Greek cultural heritage (excluding airfare/travel expenses and the Heritage Management Organization’s 2018 membership fee).

·         Kaplan Foundation scholarships (partial or full coverage towards tuition and/or accommodation) will be available for individuals actively involved in the research, study and promotion of the sites of Corinth, Delos, Larisa and Olympia (excluding airfare/travel expenses and the Heritage Management Organization’s 2018 membership fee).

·         Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation scholarships (partial or full coverage towards tuition) will be available for Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports appointed employees (excluding airfare/travel expenses and the Heritage Management Organization’s 2018 membership fee).

·         Heritage Management Organization scholarships will be available for applicants who do not qualify for any of the above mentioned scholarships (excluding airfare/travel expenses and the Heritage Management Organization’s 2018 membership fee).

To apply for this course, please:

·         fill in and submit the Executive Leadership Program in Heritage Management application form;

·         2) after receiving confirmation of receipt of your application, complete the application process by submitting your curriculum vitae, personal statement and reference letter (which may come in separately by your referee at their earliest convenience). Please submit all your application documents by email to inherity.info@gmail.com. Applications should not exceed 750 words in total and your curriculum vitae should be no more than 1000 words.

·         A reasonable proficiency in spoken and written English is required to attend the course. In order to assess it, applicants will be asked to participate in a personal (spoken) interview.  

After approval of their application file, participants will receive an official letter outlining in detail the conditions of participation.

Heritage Management Organization Membership is required for participation in all of our Organization’s Executive Leadership in Heritage Management Workshops. Recipients of scholarships for participation in this workshop are (generally) required to pay the general membership fee (100 Euros).  

Spaces for this workshop are limited, so please apply early

The application deadline is Sunday, 30 September, 2018

For further details about the course, you may contact

Steven Richards-Price at steven@writing4visitors.com  

For questions regarding the administrative aspects of the course, you may contact Dr. Eleni Drakaki at inherity.info@gmail.com