Τhe 3rd International Conference on Heritage Management will take place in the town of Eleusis / Εlefsina near Athens under the auspices of Aeschylia Festival, the leading cultural institution of the city, at “Paleo Eleourgio” (Old Oil Factory), from 30 September to 2 October 2016. The aim of the conference is the discussion and development of best practices in heritage management through case studies from all around the world in key fields such as heritage conservation and digitization, public engagement, education and legal protection.
International professionals and academics, with distinguished presence in their respective field, will deliver keynote speeches in each thematic session. Within the conference framework side events [HerMa Market, HerMa Mural Project: Promised Land Is A State Of Mind, HerMa: (Re)discovering Eleusis, HerMa: ReUse Heritage] will encourage an interactive dialogue of the participants with the sector of cultural heritage as well as the multifaceted landscape of Elefsina.
Initiative for Heritage Conservation
The Initiative for Heritage Conservation (IHC) was established in November 2008 as a not-for-profit organization with the aim of promoting good practices in heritage management and planning. The IHC achieves its aims through tapping highly trained human resources, developing educational programs at all levels, fostering research, facilitating access to relevant information, as well as stimulating discourse. Since summer 2009, the IHC is under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture. The IHC’s main goal is in helping cultural resource management organizations to render heritage a sustainable source of education, culture, local pride and development through the promotion of good practice in managing heritage.
The IHC runs a number of educational programs, workshops, summer field schools and an MA in Heritage Management; training current and future heritage managers in aspects of heritage conservation, architectural interventions, education, digitization, ethnographic archaeology, heritage photography, interpretation, climate change, human resource management, and in many other aspects of heritage management.
Study in Greece: MA in Heritage Management
Athens University of Economic and Business (AUEB) and the University of Kent, UK in cooperation with IHC offer a unique intensive MA in Heritage Management, taught exclusively in English. It combines archaeology and business and is taught at Elefsina.
The MA focuses on teaching the skills required for the management of heritage sites across the world and on methods of effective collaboration with archaeologists, architects, conservators, stakeholders, marketing and education specialists, while fundraising and supervising specific projects. Its courses have been designed by world class specialists, taking into account particular needs of archaeology, in subjects such as Human Resources Management, Tourism Marketing, Strategic Planning, and Finance for Cultural organizations.
No other MA in the English language teaches these key areas with specific reference to the special needs of archaeology: The application procedure is now open for the academic year 2016-17.
See also: HERMA Student Blog
The Town of Eleusis
Eleusis or Elefsina, a town with a population of 30,000 inhabitants is situated 20 km away from the city of Athens. The town is known for its ancient and modern industrial history. In ancient times it was considered to be, for almost 2000 years (eg 1600-400 AD), one of the five holy cities, where the Eleusinian Mysteries attracted for years pilgrims from all over the known world. Thanks to the great tragic poet Aeschylus, Eleusis gets even more famous in the ancient world as well as in our days. Eleusis is a major industrial centre, with the largest oil refinery in Greece as well as the home of the Aeschylia Festival, the longest-lived arts event in Attica Region.
Eleusis is at the final stage of claiming the title for cultural capital of Europe in 2021
