I am fascinated by what we can learn from the past and how historic and traditional values, crafts and practises can be brought into the 21st century. For our 2024 collaboration with LFA, we decided to focus upon the idea of ‘Future Proofing Heritage’ as a concept for an event. To expand the conversation, we approached the International National Trust Organisation (INTO) and World Monuments Fund to partner with us, two organisations doing incredible work to safeguard, protect and future proof cultural heritage buildings, sites and structures globally.
The afternoon event saw a host of speakers from different regions and specialisms discussing the importance of research, collaboration and community and how the past can inform future sustainability building greater resilience for global cultural heritage. The event was hybrid and there were 60 people who came to the V&A South Kensington who were able to participate in three workshops after the presentations that deep-dived on the issues of extreme weather as a result of the climate crisis, the threat this poses to cultural heritage and what can be done to future proof heritage. The workshops were key to ensuring the learning of the presentations could be taken forward in a practical and long lasting manner.
The V&A’s Culture in Crisis Programme was set up in 2013 to promote, preserve and protect cultural heritage internationally and to support communities that had suffered cultural loss through conflict, criminal acts, natural disaster and the impacts of the climate crisis. It was important for Culture in Crisis to be a part of the LFA 2024 because it provided a platform to reflect on architectural and building practices of the past and consider what can be taken forward to preserve our unique cultural heritages globally. It allowed us to bring together important voices in one space and to dedicate a whole afternoon away from our busy, working lives to consider what actions we take today will make a difference tomorrow.
We’ve had amazingly positive feedback from the day so far, with one of our participants challenging us to “Keep doing these boundary pushing and challenging events. It is great to hear topics that are off the 'mainstream' for heritage and archaeology to see how these subjects are so relevant to the lives of those existing around it.
"Futureproofing Heritage was one of our key LFA2024 Cultural Partner collaborations – a select series of events, conversations and projects which are crucial to future of our industry, city and world. However, this project might not be the most obvious choice when thinking about a London centred festival all about architecture. When we think of heritage, our first thought is often to look backwards to the past, but increasingly there is an urgency to combine that with an active present and future facing lens. This is where projects like this come in.
These conversations, which travelled from the Blickling and Cairo to Tanzania and Ghana, dived into the unique challenges facing each area and championed the power of twined projects and intergenerational knowledge exchange – whether that be around flooding, heat resilience or other challenges to buildings and landscapes increasingly growing across the world. Alongside, a key takeaway was that it is not about reinventing the wheel in every location or project about working together, cross countries and projects to better understand how can learn from others who might be one, two, three steps ahead, and adapt to our specific location and situation."
- Eliza Grosvenor (Head of Programme, LFA)
Couldn’t make the event on the day? You can find the recording of the event the Culture in Crisis Portal here.
Haven’t got time to watch the recording straight away - we commissioned Live Illustration to produce a visual legacy from each of the talks and workshops that are both informative and inspiring, check these out below!
'Live Illustration brings graphic recording artists to meetings and events across many industries. It's always a delight to take part in such a wondrous location as the V&A and on such an important topic as Culture in Crisis. ' To learn more head to: liveillustraiton.co.uk.
