by Nada Hosking, Executive Director
…
Culture thrives in a crisis. It is remade, reborn, and reshaped. Culture, especially cultural heritage, is not a nicety that we enjoy only on holiday or when times are good — it is a basic element of humanity, enduring and important, perhaps more important, when the darkest hours arrive.
For nearly 20 years, local communities have been the core of sustainable development and cultural preservation for Global Heritage Fund. Ours is an innovative approach to heritage protection, looking beyond traditional concepts. Rather than focus exclusively on the conservation aspect of our work, our programs use cultural heritage to catalyze social innovation. We believe that heritage is a powerful means of supporting people and building capacity, and we are committed to empowering communities to improve their well-being.
At each project site, we meet families, craftspeople, and elders. We listen to the men and women who live their heritage every day. These meetings help us to better understand the conditions of the local community and design our programs with them to meet their social, economic, and environmental needs.
In Colombia, in addition to our site conservation activities, our project at La Ciudad Perdida included supporting access to healthcare services, building a school for local students, and developing a heritage-based education curriculum. In Dali Dong Village, China, our training for village artisans protected historic buildings, preserved ancestral textile crafts, and elevated the social status of local women.
Our programs reach beyond repairs to physical place. They are not limited to temporary, project-based employment. Rather, we develop unique project scopes designed to support lasting community benefits. Providing training for local people to learn the skills necessary to preserve and protect their heritage, and encouraging them to chart their own course means that the stonemasons near Sagalassos, Turkey, homestay entrepreneurs in Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia, and weavers in Dali, China get a square deal. They are able to reap the economic benefits of their cultural traditions on their own terms.
The current crisis gives us the opportunity to more fully express our mission.
Adapting the Work of Preserving Cultural Heritage
The COVID-19 virus crisis has given us time — time to reflect, to consolidate, and to prepare. We can think carefully about the world as it adapts to radically different models and behaviors as they emerge. We simultaneously can build resiliency and creativity into our work preserving our global cultural heritage.
The pandemic puts on blatant display the vulnerabilities and shortcomings of our traditional economic and political systems, inviting us to ponder what might come next:
- Our project work relies upon a global system of trade and travel. How can we have an international impact when this system grinds to a halt? What fail-safes can we build into our work to ensure operational continuity?
- Tourism has been a growing part of the world economy, and international governmental and non-governmental heritage organizations have pegged their hopes for sustainable development on the industry. How can we promote economic resilience and move away from a mono-industry approach at heritage sites?
- Cultural heritage does not exist in a vacuum but is part of a wider matrix of values, including environmental stewardship and conservation. How can we bring cultural heritage into alignment with a holistic philosophy of conservation?
These are some of the questions I invite you to collaborate with me to resolve. During the greatest disruption in modern history, my mission is to position Global Heritage Fund to deliver the strongest impact in a post-COVID world.
Reframing the Experience of the Cultural Heritage Sector
For decades, and especially in recent years, the cultural heritage sector has had challenges concerning tourism leading to dispossession and hyper-focus on monuments to the exclusion of communities.
There are over 1,000 UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites. Many are among the most visited sites in the world — iconic destinations such as Angkor Wat, the Colosseum, Venice and the Pyramids of Giza — hosting millions of visitors every year and representing billions of dollars for local economies. That money drives development and prosperity. Yet, it has also contributed to the erosion of cultural values and, increasingly, the rise of inequality.
Travel to such vulnerable heritage sites poses a series of questions to anyone invested in the future of our planet and its people:
- How can we use the lessons of this crisis to plant the seeds of alternative approaches to heritage preservation?
- How can we contribute to making sure future generations who will host these sites can thrive in a more stable, fair and equitable environment?
Heritage organizations are now championing virtual visitation to heritage sites to continue providing access to cultures and cultural properties. We must ensure technological progress leads to equitable outcomes. Historically, when a cultural heritage site becomes commodified, few local people reap the rewards. The people whose own history is intertwined with these places are often displaced as developers capitalize on the potential for travel and tourism. When the final results are tallied, the local community is dispossessed, not only of their land, but also of their culture. We will work to ensure that the proliferation of technological solutions in the cultural heritage sector does not follow a similar pattern.
Showing Solidarity in the Face of the Pandemic
COVID-19 presents an immediate challenge for many communities. The mandatory quarantine in Colombia poses difficulties for the way of life and livelihoods of indigenous people who live near La Ciudad Perdida. Isolation measures exacerbate the vulnerability of the Berber tribes in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas region as they cannot move within their territories to access their means of subsistence. People in the Dong minority village in China are unable to buy the materials they need to produce and sell their traditional crafts. These are essential needs that affect people’s wellbeing and livelihoods. Without a healthy, thriving community, heritage sites will be reduced to mere relics from an extinct past.
To support vulnerable communities, the stewards of cultural heritage of the world, we have launched the Global Heritage Solidarity Fund. The fund supports the stonemasons, the weavers, and the entrepreneurs who can no longer survive by working in informal jobs during this period of crisis and transformation.
Many sources will collate to build a new future — the guidance of the United Nations, the confluence of international governmental and non-governmental organizations, trends in the tourism industry, and developments in corporate social responsibility. The current extraordinary COVID-19 crisis is also a powerful incentive for the private sector to create a framework for sustainable travel that will align market forces with cultural and environmental preservation.
I cannot predict the future, yet I know that our world will never be the same again. We are confronted by an enormous challenge, and with the greatest opportunity in modern times to improve the lives of communities around the world, especially the lives of those who help to host our most precious heritage.
by Nada Hosking, Executive Director
…
Culture thrives in a crisis. It is remade, reborn, and reshaped. Culture, especially cultural heritage, is not a nicety that we enjoy only on holiday or when times are good — it is a basic element of humanity, enduring and important, perhaps more important, when the darkest hours arrive.
For nearly 20 years, local communities have been the core of sustainable development and cultural preservation for Global Heritage Fund. Ours is an innovative approach to heritage protection, looking beyond traditional concepts. Rather than focus exclusively on the conservation aspect of our work, our programs use cultural heritage to catalyze social innovation. We believe that heritage is a powerful means of supporting people and building capacity, and we are committed to empowering communities to improve their well-being.
At each project site, we meet families, craftspeople, and elders. We listen to the men and women who live their heritage every day. These meetings help us to better understand the conditions of the local community and design our programs with them to meet their social, economic, and environmental needs.
In Colombia, in addition to our site conservation activities, our project at La Ciudad Perdida included supporting access to healthcare services, building a school for local students, and developing a heritage-based education curriculum. In Dali Dong Village, China, our training for village artisans protected historic buildings, preserved ancestral textile crafts, and elevated the social status of local women.
Our programs reach beyond repairs to physical place. They are not limited to temporary, project-based employment. Rather, we develop unique project scopes designed to support lasting community benefits. Providing training for local people to learn the skills necessary to preserve and protect their heritage, and encouraging them to chart their own course means that the stonemasons near Sagalassos, Turkey, homestay entrepreneurs in Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia, and weavers in Dali, China get a square deal. They are able to reap the economic benefits of their cultural traditions on their own terms.
The current crisis gives us the opportunity to more fully express our mission.
Adapting the Work of Preserving Cultural Heritage
The COVID-19 virus crisis has given us time — time to reflect, to consolidate, and to prepare. We can think carefully about the world as it adapts to radically different models and behaviors as they emerge. We simultaneously can build resiliency and creativity into our work preserving our global cultural heritage.
The pandemic puts on blatant display the vulnerabilities and shortcomings of our traditional economic and political systems, inviting us to ponder what might come next:
- Our project work relies upon a global system of trade and travel. How can we have an international impact when this system grinds to a halt? What fail-safes can we build into our work to ensure operational continuity?
- Tourism has been a growing part of the world economy, and international governmental and non-governmental heritage organizations have pegged their hopes for sustainable development on the industry. How can we promote economic resilience and move away from a mono-industry approach at heritage sites?
- Cultural heritage does not exist in a vacuum but is part of a wider matrix of values, including environmental stewardship and conservation. How can we bring cultural heritage into alignment with a holistic philosophy of conservation?
These are some of the questions I invite you to collaborate with me to resolve. During the greatest disruption in modern history, my mission is to position Global Heritage Fund to deliver the strongest impact in a post-COVID world.
Reframing the Experience of the Cultural Heritage Sector
For decades, and especially in recent years, the cultural heritage sector has had challenges concerning tourism leading to dispossession and hyper-focus on monuments to the exclusion of communities.
There are over 1,000 UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites. Many are among the most visited sites in the world — iconic destinations such as Angkor Wat, the Colosseum, Venice and the Pyramids of Giza — hosting millions of visitors every year and representing billions of dollars for local economies. That money drives development and prosperity. Yet, it has also contributed to the erosion of cultural values and, increasingly, the rise of inequality.
Travel to such vulnerable heritage sites poses a series of questions to anyone invested in the future of our planet and its people:
- How can we use the lessons of this crisis to plant the seeds of alternative approaches to heritage preservation?
- How can we contribute to making sure future generations who will host these sites can thrive in a more stable, fair and equitable environment?
Heritage organizations are now championing virtual visitation to heritage sites to continue providing access to cultures and cultural properties. We must ensure technological progress leads to equitable outcomes. Historically, when a cultural heritage site becomes commodified, few local people reap the rewards. The people whose own history is intertwined with these places are often displaced as developers capitalize on the potential for travel and tourism. When the final results are tallied, the local community is dispossessed, not only of their land, but also of their culture. We will work to ensure that the proliferation of technological solutions in the cultural heritage sector does not follow a similar pattern.
Showing Solidarity in the Face of the Pandemic
COVID-19 presents an immediate challenge for many communities. The mandatory quarantine in Colombia poses difficulties for the way of life and livelihoods of indigenous people who live near La Ciudad Perdida. Isolation measures exacerbate the vulnerability of the Berber tribes in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas region as they cannot move within their territories to access their means of subsistence. People in the Dong minority village in China are unable to buy the materials they need to produce and sell their traditional crafts. These are essential needs that affect people’s wellbeing and livelihoods. Without a healthy, thriving community, heritage sites will be reduced to mere relics from an extinct past.
To support vulnerable communities, the stewards of cultural heritage of the world, we have launched the Global Heritage Solidarity Fund. The fund supports the stonemasons, the weavers, and the entrepreneurs who can no longer survive by working in informal jobs during this period of crisis and transformation.
Many sources will collate to build a new future — the guidance of the United Nations, the confluence of international governmental and non-governmental organizations, trends in the tourism industry, and developments in corporate social responsibility. The current extraordinary COVID-19 crisis is also a powerful incentive for the private sector to create a framework for sustainable travel that will align market forces with cultural and environmental preservation.
I cannot predict the future, yet I know that our world will never be the same again. We are confronted by an enormous challenge, and with the greatest opportunity in modern times to improve the lives of communities around the world, especially the lives of those who help to host our most precious heritage.