Heritage Futures: A Training Programme for Makers and Archivists
Archives are not neutral, they are shaped by the decisions of those who collect, define, and preserve them. Traditionally, institutions have set these terms, often overlooking (or purposely excluding) the needs, values, and voices of the communities they represent. Practices such as community archiving, networked archives, and public–private partnerships rethink authorship and authority. Shifting from collecting about communities to working with them, recognising complex identities and different forms of care and ownership.
At the same time, participation brings tension. Archival standards and expectations of use differ across geographical, institutional, and cultural contexts. In some cases, objects now held in archives were never meant to endure at all; they were created for rituals or contexts where disappearance was part of their meaning yet later removed and preserved elsewhere.
Tools like archival care riders foreground shared responsibility but require ongoing negotiation and trust. This approach centres relationships that are grounded in radical empathy and responsiveness to community-specific needs, even when they challenge established frameworks. This track focuses on the following questions:
- How can archiving and collecting become more participatory, collaborative, and responsive?
- What does meaningful participation look like in your context?
- Whose voices shape collecting decisions and whose are missing?
- Whose standards apply, and how can they adapt?
- And how might institutions share authority while ensuring care, continuity, and access across different contexts?
This project was made possible thanks to:
RCE