Partners

• Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale (CCR - Venaria), Turin, Italy
• Institut National du Patrimoine, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (INP), Paris, France
• Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro (ISCR), Rome, Italy
• Opificio delle Pietre Dure (OPD), Florence, Italy
• ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property)

Duration: 3 – 28 November 2008

Place: Rome, Italy

Participants
Twenty one participants from Albania, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, China, Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Estonia, Guatemala, Iran, Israel, Italy, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Romania, Serbia, United Kingdom, United States.

Aim
The purpose of this course was to stimulate and provide a nurturing environment for critical dialogue and mutual learning between the different professions and stakeholders involved with conservation decisions.

• identify and engage the various actors and stakeholders, recognizing their respective roles and influence in the decisions;
• ensure that cultural heritage values are at the core of any conservation decisions;
• explore the cultural, social, legal, institutional, and physical contexts of cultural heritage, and consider their implications in the decision making process;
• identify tools, mechanisms, and strategies within and beyond the cultural heritage field, and make use of them to ensure an inclusive, informed, and effective decision making process;
• facilitate effective communication during the process and when sharing the resulting decisions.

Course activities
Unit 1: Principles of decision making and conservation
The course began by introducing participants to the psychological aspects of decision-making, emphasizing the theory of rational choice, and various decision-making models applicable in the context of organizations. Special attention was dedicated to the values associated with cultural heritage, as well as to conservation principles. Participants familiarized themselves with the COM System for moderation and effective communication, in order to further develop their communication skills and to acquire particular problem-solving techniques.

Towards the end of the first week, the course core case study, the Sacred Mount of Varallo, was introduced to participants.

The first week of the course concluded with a mini-conference on the 'Anatomy of conservation decisions', held in the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Participants and resource-persons presented and discussed their experience about conservation decisions in order to share critical reviews of past conservation decision-making in various contexts. 

Unit 2: Analyzing cultural heritage items and their contexts
The second week of the course was dedicated to the analysis and understanding of heritage items, their significance, and their contexts. Other topics included international charters, legal frameworks for cultural heritage conservation, and decision-making under emergency situations. A practical session on the perception of heritage took place at the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro (ISCR) in Rome.

Unit 3:  Exploring conservation options
During week 3, participants worked at the World Heritage site of the Sacred Mount of Varallo in northern Italy to carry out the main phase of the course core case study, putting into practice the concepts, tools, and approaches discussed during the previous weeks. Back in Rome, participants continued to work in groups to develop conservation proposals for the Sacred Mount. They were introduced to decision-making methods and tools for the evaluation of their proposals, which were then presented, discussed and evaluated against previously established criteria. The case study was finalized in the last week of the course with the elaboration of a joint proposal incorporating the best elements of all groups' production. For more detailed information on the outcomes of the course core case study please consult the course document (5.4 Mb pdf).

Unit 4: Interdisciplinarity in decision-making        
The role, benefits and challenges of interdisciplinarity in decision making were discussed in a session moderated by participants, and illustrated through study visits to the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (OPD) in Florence, and to the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro (ISCR), in Rome.   

The final unit of the course dealt with communication in decision making. Sessions included: involving the public, communication with decision makers, and communication with funding agencies. Participants' contributions provided an overview of communication practices in the conservation field worldwide.
In a joint session, participants and the course team brainstormed the topic 'What is conservation's future?' identifying strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats to conservation in the years to come.

Main achievements

By the end of the participants had:

• experienced a unique opportunity to interact within a multicultural group of diverse professional and cultural backgrounds from twenty-one countries, and with ICCROM staff and resource persons from around the globe to share their experiences in conservation and decision-making. 
• strengthened their team working, communication, decision making, and problem solving capacities.
• built a network on conservation decision-making, involving 21 international professionals, course lecturers, professional and organizational partners.
  

updated on: 4 March, 2009