Bow Your Views to Reviews
Experiences from Secret Zagreb at an international conference in Portugal
Bow your views to reviews – adapting, people-pleasing and self-censoring in interpretation – this was the title of our manager Iva Silla’s presentation at the Interpret Europe conference. in Faro, Portugal this April.
WHAT WAS THE PRESENTATION ABOUT?
Has it ever happened, to those of you who work with visitors, that you wanted to do something out of the box with your interpretive project, but you had to tame your aspirations to get some funding? Have you ever had an encounter with a guest who was blatantly dismissive of democratic viewpoints, and you let it slide?
Working with tourists from different parts of the world or with locals in a strongly divided society can make it very challenging to remain interpretive. Sometimes, even people who are considered heritage interpreters give up entirely on interpretation, especially on the ideas that are being discussed at the very conference (how can heritage interpretation foster connection rather than division? Whose voices and values shape the stories we tell about heritage? And how can interpreters strengthen democracy, dialogue, and sustainability through their practice?), only to find work, create heritage-related projects, attract, and keep audiences. Iva openly admits she is one of those people.
There is a limitation for value-based heritage interpretation in practice, as interpreters need to check many boxes. They should be enthusiastic about the heritage they’re presenting and, at the same time, ready to lead a fruitful and meaningful discussion that challenges harmful views. People who are enthusiastic about anything are often passionate, and it’s hard to be a diplomat when a fire is burning within you. They should also love people and have significant empathy, while resisting the urge to be too accommodating.
HOW DID IT GO?
The presentation was hardly able to respond to all of these points, but it opened a discussion based on awkward real-life examples from the presenter’s extensive experience. It was one of the rare conference slots that put us, heritage interpreters, people who link the heritage and visitors, in the focus. Judging by the steaming discussion, it was a well-needed topic. For the rest of the conference, people came to Iva with their own examples. Obviously, the presentation made them think about their own experience. It is an interesting topic that many of us deal with internally. We will publish a link to the conference proceedings so you can read more about it.
