Session 1 - Engaging Communities for Enriched Sustainability 1

By Jelena Zagora, Brinda Gaitonde Nayak and Ana Paula Hirata Tanaka

The first session of the first day of the Congress brought to the fore some of the most interesting papers on different approaches to heritage-led regeneration driven by community involvement. 

The first paper by APOYOnline presented a perspective on how an entirely volunteer based organization established connections across the Americas to encourage knowledge, training activities, translations of important conservation documents into local languages to improve access, and opportunities for emerging professionals and students. This particular paper resonated with the audience, with questions about how such initiatives can be incorporated in other instances at different locales and how the learnings could be similar. 

Stephanie Ortiz from the World Monuments Fund (WMF) showed two case studies of the ongoing projects they have been working on in Latin America, one in Teotihuacán (Mexico) and the other at the Rapa Nui National Park (Chile). WMF has been improving their approach when it comes to dealing with the local communities, especially facing the relevance of having flexibility and cultural sensitivity in order to align and to build a consistent trust with their local partners. It is not an easy and straightforward task, each actor and situation have their particularities–cultural and political. To address those methodological changes when planning and delivering such participatory projects, WMF seems to be open and up to date to the 21^st-century challenges of the adaptation needed. Not everyone or institution is; it does require a constant refresh of their own subjectivity “to be a facilitator and not a dictator of the process”.

 “Uplifting Community and Incorporating Reuse in Conservation Planning for the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum of Assemblage Sculpture”--the intriguing title already hints at the breadth of scope and wealth of topics covered in this presentation by Joe Lewis and Anya Dani. So interesting! Rich biography and timeless legacy of Noah Purifoy’s art and human values truly lives on in many ways at this desert outdoor museum, creating opportunities for culturally sustainable social activities, artistic collaborations and conservation projects. The Noah Purifoy Foundation, currently led by Joseph Lewis, is behind this all. 

Besides harsh climate, conservation challenges include incorporating Purifoy’s philosophy around social justice issues, assemblage, and reuse into an overall preservation plan. Through engaging with communities and respecting the intention for his art to interact with nature and undergo natural wear, his worldview and his creative processes, as values of their own, inspire conservation treatments. The conservation team strives to include Black, Indigenous and People of Color, but also to consider their (marginalized) lived experiences to better understand Purifoy’s legacy. Truly an innovative project, expanding the view of the conservation profession and promoting sustainability on so many different levels.

The last paper in the session started off with a very poignant quote, “Culture is often the glue that holds together a crisis-ridden society”, and this couldn’t be more true than in the two regions that were presented - projects in Iran and the autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq. Whereas the improvement of water supply infrastructure created conservation opportunities for the archaeological site of an ancient salt mine in Iran, and vice versa, training opportunities were created for young archaeology students in Iraq, who would eventually become future stewards in heritage management. What was most interesting was the impetus on making the region self-sustaining by generating local talent, which would mean that rather than using a short-term solution of engaging foreign experts for expertise, the focus was on training younger professionals. 

Tom Learner (session chair) asked each of the speakers to talk about community engagement in their respective projects and how establishing connections and building trust were critical. Stephanie Ortiz mentioned that for both of the Latin American World Heritage Sites in which the World Monuments Fund was involved, building relationships took a long time and is a constant ongoing process. Similarities can be drawn across regions as such issues are observed elsewhere too. 

BLOG AUTHORS AND BYLINES:
Jelena Zagora is a paintings conservator at the Croatian Conservation Institute, Department in Split.

Brinda Gaitonde Nayak is a conservation architect who works on World Heritage Sites in India.

Ana Paula Hirata Tanaka is a book & paper conservator and director at Tanaka Filmes e Livros Ltda in São Paulo, Brazil.