On the evening of Thursday, February 5, roughly thirty people braved a blizzard to attend the inaugural Old YEG Cafe at the Prince of Wales Armouries. This event, put on by the brand-new grassroots organization, Heritage Forward!, centred on a panel discussion around common misconceptions about Edmonton’s heritage buildings. The organizing committee, which is completely… Read more »
In this guest post, Fort Edmonton Park Volunteer Coordinator Laura Nichol shares why youth volunteering is essential to Fort Edmonton Park and important for the future of local heritage. Upon meeting Costumed Interpreter Maggie Bodnar, dressed to perfection in her 1920s garb and confidently engaging a crowd of delighted visitors, you might be shocked to learn that this… Read more »
This guest post from Edmonton’s Historian Laureate Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail is based on her talk at Creative Mornings in July 2014 on the topic of ‘Heritage’. History is not the past. Many people have the sense that capital H History equals the past. There are even professional historians who go through life on this assumption. The new-ish way… Read more »
In mid-September, the Edmonton Journal ran a feature looking at downtown development in Edmonton, noting the nearly $5 billion in buildings going into Edmonton’s downtown and adjacent neighbourhoods by the end of this decade. According to one of the sources in the article, this kind of development is “unprecedented” and “unheard of” and further, “people… Read more »
It’s often difficult to track the “results” of heritage work. How does our work help address societal issues such as homelessness, identity, happiness, integration and safety? Many argue that heritage activity has intrinsic value that positively affects those who participate in programming and projects, and that this alone justifies our necessity and funding. Consequently, we… Read more »
This summer I was fortunate to attend Museum Camp 2014 at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. What is Museum Camp? Museum Camp is an intense learning tool, modeled on traditional summer camps, for museum professionals. It serves as a model for challenging participants to do rather than to talk about making new… Read more »
The last year has brought significant change to the Edmonton Heritage Council. Our staff has grown, we’ve launched new initiatives, and we’ve put extra focus on getting out into the public. All of this has been an effort to build relationships, animate conversations, and spark action towards achieving our vision of a city where people… Read more »