Building heritage communities online: The experience of the Summer School Program ‘Engaging Communities in Cultural Heritage’

Abstract

The summer school program entitled ‘Engaging Communities in Cultural Heritage’ was held from 21 June to 5 July 2020, as part of the Executive Leadership Development in Heritage Management Workshops organized yearly by the Heritage Management Organization. This year in particular, the course was entirely held online due to the ongoing pandemic and the subsequent worldwide responses enforcing preventive measures and social distancing. Amid these challenging circumstances, the 2-week program was successfully conducted, taking advantage of the digital resources to materialize a syllabus designed to combine theoretical and practical perspectives regarding community engagement in heritage projects in Greece. The series of online meetings gathered 13 students from six countries in total (Greece, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Puerto Rico and Serbia) with different backgrounds and career experiences. This diversity enriched the dynamics of the workshop where group discussions and assignments played a substantial role, and fostered a unique and fertile environment of intercultural and multidisciplinary work.