A global programme featuring award-winning museum, heritage and conservation projects.
From late May to early October 2023, join us for the 22nd annual The Best in Heritage, featuring 42 award-winning projects from six continents. Our video interviews provide in-depth analysis of best practices, exclusive insight, and a behind-the-scenes look into the work of acclaimed experts.
Project representatives are interviewed by leaders and innovators in the cultural heritage field, to offer insight into the awarded achievements and keys to their success. Our hard-working interviewers will also serve as the “Project of Influence” recognition Jury.
This year they are: Sara DeYoung from the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Hunghsi Chao from the World Monuments Fund; Tonya Nelson from the Arts Council England; Kevin MacLean from the Galt Museum and Archives; Michael Epstein from Walking Cinema; and Peter Pavement from Surface Impression.
The 2023 Keynote will be delivered by our “Project of Influence” recognition winners from 2022 edition – the Beirut Assist Cultural Heritage initiative, whose representative Nathalie Chanine will be joining the 2023 Jury as well.
The diverse line-up of featured projects in the IMAGINES section, focusing on new tech and multimedia, spans from virtual museum environments serving elderly people; digitisation of sculptures and public monuments; video projects engaging young people’s creativity; museum narrative about life in the next 50 years; dissemination of conservation skills through game creation; to an exhibition bringing the history of horse racing to life; various immersive audio-visual experiences; and projects bringing art into playful and accessible digital spaces.
In the core programme we will learn about projects of reconciliation; about how to turn an old-fashioned institution into a people’s centre; an exhibition creating a range of interactive artworks crafted from upcycled materials; how to re-establish an out-of-use distillery into an vibrant industrial heritage site; about an exhibition illuminating the power of truth-telling; a project providing high-quality digitization services for library collections; projects taking the streets using traditional exhibition strategies and audience participation; about an exhibition challenging historical power dynamics through “uncomfortable” processes; about how archaeological activity can improve health and well-being and foster new social connections;
and a museum taking you on a voyage of discovery of the human mind.
The simple idea of conveying the most effective and innovative professional and civil society practices in curating and communicating heritage has been both defining and symbolising The Best in Heritage in-person and virtual editions over the past two decades.
Engaged in building strong criteria of quality and turning our collective experience into wisdom, with the vital help of our main partner, the International Council of Museums, and its leading, global role in the professional sector, and through our long-standing partnership with Europa Nostra, the European Voice of Civil Society committed to Cultural Heritage, The Best in Heritage continues as a unique platform connecting public memory institutions globally.
New videos will be released regularly, so be sure to stay up-to-date with several fresh releases weekly. We recommend subscribing to our YouTube, Twitter and Facebook profiles, and to sign-up for our Newsletters on the official website thebestinheritage.com.
In partnership with ICOM & Europa Nostra