Speakers:

  • Rohit JIGYASU, ICCROM
  • Eva MARTINEZ, Chief of Cultural Heritage, Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, Honduras
  • Rebecca KENNEDY, Collections Care Specialist, Curae Collections Care LLC
  • Kristin PARKER, Lead Curator of the Arts, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA, USA
  • Repaul KANJI, Research Scientist & Program Manager, Gujrat Institute of Disaster Management, India

Description:

Reopening and Adapting Heritage Places During a Pandemic

COVID 19 Pandemic has forced abrupt closure of cultural heritage sites and institutions, thereby not only depriving people the opportunity to enjoy and experience their heritage but also causing huge losses in the revenues and disrupting the livelihoods of many people who are directly and directly dependent on cultural heritage for their subsistence. In the post lockdown period, these heritage places are slowly opening up in the ‘new normal’ that is determined by norms aimed at preventing the spread of this highly contagious infection. In this situation, it is important to ask, what measures are to be taken when reopening a heritage site or a cultural institution such as a museum? How do we adapt them to the new requirements such as social distancing and need for quarantine places and shelters for the homeless? The webinar will discuss all these challenges through examples from Honduras, United States and India. Some of the questions that will be discussed are based on the testing of ICCROM’s knowledge tools in Honduras and USA.

This webinar is conceived within the framework of First Aid and Resilience for Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis - an international capacity development programme of ICCROM. ICCROM is grateful to all its partners and in particular to the Swedish Post Code Foundation for enabling this exchange.