As a proud and longstanding partner of The Best In Heritage, ICOM is pleased to join in celebrating this year’s 20th digital edition.
The 2021 The Best In Heritage awards will take form as an online series of video interviews that highlights the success of best practices in museums, heritage and conservation projects. Due to the ongoing global crisis, the annual global conference will adapt an online edition where museums, heritage and conservation projects will present their projects and get recognised for their outstanding works.
The series video interviews will showcase the wide range of representatives of museum, heritage and conservation projects that received prizes in 2020 and it will be released periodically, with 2 videos being released every two weeks, and this will continue until September. Among the 42 presentations some new award-schemes and laureates from usually under-represented countries will be featured, it will be the first time that an award-winning book will be featured, and the first time we learn how the sector coped with the pandemic that keeps shaking our societies to this day.
In IMAGINES section, focused on new technologies and multimedia, various achievements will be explored, including a sign language video guide, different open-access solutions, digital collections’ platform, an audio-description tool, infinity projection, a virtual museum-building via video game competition, on-site installation for museums, 3D video-mapping, and AR, VR and XR projects.
The Core programme features 28 laureates covering diverse topics, ranging from secret surveillance, biodiversity, colonial past, museum activism, lifestyle, paper printing and art, but also family and children support programmes, a youth engaging initiative, cross-border intangible heritage networks, archaeological excavation sites, and conservation, preservation and rehabilitation projects.
Two keynotes by TBIH2020 “Project of Influence” laureates (Harri Annala from Oodi Library in Helsinki, and Paula Bray from the State Library of NSW from Sydney), witness the creative expansion of heritage concept. In our special “Spotlight” segment we will talk with Professor Dan Hicks from Oxford University on his latest book.
The interviewers this year, which serve as members of the jury as well, are coming from different areas of expertise – for IMAGINES it is Alexey Tikhonov, IT Projects Director at the State Russian Museum and Exhibition Centre ROSPHOTO, and Brad Dunn, Web & Digital Engagement Director at the Field Museum, United States. For the core programme these are: Marta Lourenço from University of Lisbon and Chair of ICOM-UMAC, Bruno Brulon Soares from Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro and Chair of ICOM-ICOFOM, Vinod Kumar from Architectural studio dd Architects in India, and Beth Redmond-Jones, Vice President of Exhibitions & Facilities at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, United States.
This initiative is organized in order to foster progress in the museum profession and communities concerned with heritage protection. Our joint goals are mainly to continue building a strong criteria for excellence, which in turn will improve, challenge and show the way for the preservation and protection of cultural heritage. We hope that this event helps other museums and the museum community as a whole to continue in fulfilling their core mission which is the promotion, protection and preservation of cultural heritage.
Please, subscribe to The Best in Heritage YouTube channel, follow the news on Twitter and Facebook, make sure you receive monthly newsletters and dig into the project’s online archive while fresh additions are being prepared: like ever, – an experience worth the effort.