Community Heritage

22 February 2011

One of the key aims of RCAHMS is to inspire communities across Scotland in celebrating their national culture. From field teams working with locals to locate and identify previously unrecorded archaeological sites, to professionals teaching the public how to survey the historic landscape for themselves, RCAHMS is committed to developing the skills of community archaeology groups throughout the country.

At the end of 2010, RCAHMS hosted a workshop to look at community participation in heritage projects, bringing together a number of experts in the field, and focusing on three key aspects:

• The existing and potential demand and audiences for heritage-related community involvement
• The scope of that demand across interest areas
• The funding opportunities and challenges and the potential for partnerships

Talks at the event included:

• Paul Jardine of Jura Consultants on "A future for community heritage training"
• Lucy Casot, from the Heritage Lottery Fund on "Funding community heritage in hard times"
• Tertia Barnett, of RCAHMS on "Scotland's Rural Past working with communities"

The one-day workshop captured a wide range of ideas, and a summary of the event and its conclusions is now available here as a PDF. In addition, the PowerPoint presentations of the three speakers are available by email on request.

The workshop aims to be the starting point for creating new projects and partnerships. If you are interested in promoting an idea for a community heritage initiative and you think RCAHMS could be a partner, contact Robin Turner, Head of Survey & Recording - robin.turner@rcahms.gov.uk.