As our key stakeholders representing the equalities priorities for the Year, further to our progress update earlier in the year, we felt it was timely to touch base with you again on our History, Heritage and Archaeology programme.
More than half way through the Year, it is going incredibly well. Over 39 supporting partners continue to be fully engaged in the Year. Their engagement is broad and varied, including use of the YHHA brand at events and on materials; registering their public-facing events in the YHHA partner programme and being promoted through VS.com; supporting the Year through social media, blogging and articles in members/industry publications; and building key YHHA messages into their content and signposting members to the visitscotland.com web pages. Some activities which have been undertaken since the last update include:-
- Fife Council are running a year-long competition for a chance to win prizes and discover Fife along the way. They are promoting World Heritage Sites, listed buildings, cultural traditions and myths, stories, and legends, as part of the Year to shine a spotlight on Fife’s greatest assets and icons (http://www.welcometofife.com/HHA2017?utm_source=popup1)
- Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG) launched ‘Edinburgh in 101 Objects’ in May, which is proving to be extremely popular. ETAG have followed this by recently launching “The People’s Choice” campaign as suggested by locals and visitors, who can now vote for their favourite object. You can vote for your favourite here: http://edinburgh.org/101toolkit/select-your-object-101/
- National Records of Scotland (NRS) – ‘Famous Scots from the Past’ is a free exhibition, 1 August to 1 September 2017, which will focus on four infamous/famous individuals from Scottish history represented in the archives of the NRS. YHHA branding is being used on posters, banners and advertisements. The exhibition highlights the vast and diverse collections that Scotland’s national archives hold and their accessibility to the public, through the life stories of: Sir William Arrol, Madeleine Smith, Robert Burns and Mary Queen of Scots.
- Dig It! 2017 – As a follow up to the ‘Scotland in Six’ events held on World Heritage Day in April, the organisers set out to find six “lesser-known” sites to bring them into the spotlight. The ‘Scotland in Six – Hidden Gems’ campaign began in June after 28 sites were nominated by local groups and organisations and the six winning Hidden Gems sites are now preparing to mark their victory with six events during Scottish Archaeology Month in September.
A full list of all funded and partner activities taking place during YHHA can be found at http://www.eventscotland.org/funding/partner-programme-yhha/
We also told you in May about the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) dedicated grant scheme for YHHA – ‘Stories, Stones and Bones’. We are delighted that the HLF have now allocated funding to a number of events which have Scotland’s communities and also young people at their heart, in the run up to 2018’s Year of Young People. A few of these include:
- ‘Voyage of Discovery’: Maritime Stories at Our Place, Trinity House, Port O’Leith – The grantee will work with young people aged 11-18 who will conduct their own research of the collections and be trained in heritage skills. Participants will then deliver their own events and guided tours.
- Hidden Histories of Dumfries and Galloway: The Lost Chronicles of Lincluden & Lochside – providing skills and personal development opportunities for young people through exploring key heritage sites of Dumfries. Young people will attend site visits, become ‘history detectives’, have treasure hunts and share things learned through social media.
- Digging up the dirt on Threipmuir Cottage – raising awareness of the heritage surrounding Threipmuir cottage through visits to local museums and archives, talking to experts, skills training workshops, an archaeological dig and an exhibition.
As you can see, there is a lot happening across the whole of Scotland – something for everyone, both young and old. For further details about all events taking place across the various funding aligned to YHHA you may find the following links helpful:-
- 2017 YHHA BEMIS Multicultural Funded events: https://bemis.org.uk/project/yhha/
- Signature Funded and Partner programme events: http://www.eventscotland.org/events/
- Winter Festivals: http://www.scotland.org/whats-on/winter-festivals
- HLF – Stories, Stones and Bones Fund: https://www.hlf.org.uk/looking-funding/what-we-fund/community-heritage/stories-stones-and-bones
Please do feel free to get in touch with the Themed Years Team (Stephanie.Bow@gov.scot) if would you like any further information on any of the above or if you would like to let us know of activities and events you are carrying out.
