CANADA: The Missisquoi Museum has posted a mock-up of the proposed museum boutique at www.ateliermuir.ca/mhs

USA: Maureen represented Heritance at monthly meeting of the Developing Countries Network steering committee in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The DCN The Developing Country Network is a loosely knit, community-driven, volunteer-based group of concerned individuals in the Upper Valley area of Vermont/New Hampshire who want to deepen their impact in helping the underserved. The next DCN event will be a presentation and discussion of appropriate information technologies for non-profit organizations, 9 June 2008 from 7:00-9:00 pm. More information will be posted at developingcountrynetwork.org

USA: The Hood Museum at Dartmouth College will host an artist lecture by Renée Cox, a photographer whose work is featured in the current Hood Exhibit, Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body. The lecture will take place Wednesday 7 May 2008 at 6:00pm in Loew Auditorium. For more information about Renée Cox, one of the most controversial African-American artists working today: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renée_Cox

Monday 28 April 2008

USA: Amanda Jane (AJ) Jastrzembski has joined Heritance as a member of the Council of Advisors. AJ, a filmmaker at New York University, created In-Heritance, the Heritance blog, and plans to assist with a promotional film about Heritance. Thank you and welcome AJ!

CANADA: On Tuesday, April 22, Heritance facilitated its third on-site workshop at the Missisquoi Museum in Stanbridge East, Quebec. As part of the meetings, the participants visited the Wallbridge Barn that is under renovation. Museum Board Member Eden Muir posted this slide show of the visit

MEXICO: Christiane Eckert of Maya Solidarité has hired a carpenter to build a traveling exhibit case for the Mayan Textile that Jean Bermon designed last fall.

KENYA: Fredrick Manthi, Senior researcher at National Museums Kenya and President of NMK Prehistory Club, has requested that Heritance review plans for an educational travel program designed to raise funds for the Kenya school outreach.

USA: Heritance held its annual member luncheon on Sunday, April 27. Heritance Highlights: Spring 2008 is now available online as a PDF, or in print.

ONLINE: The IN-HERITANCE BLOG at blog.heritance.org features some new blog posts: “Elasticity at Moma” by AJ, and “Who Owns the Past?” by Maureen.

USA: Maureen presented Heritance Highlights to Tony Bannon, Director of Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Tony has offered to introduce Heritance to the administration of the American Association of Museums.

Monday 21 April 2008

RWANDA: Sophia Milosevic-Bijleveld, a Swiss and British national residing in Rwanda, has joined Heritance as a participating professional. Sophia, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Geneva, specializes in Afghanistan, with a particular focus on the politics of memory and the use and abuse of cultural heritage. Sophia is currently serving as a volunteer at the Kigali Museum of Natural History. Welcome Sophia!

CANADA: On Tuesday 22 April Maureen will conduct a day-long workshop at the Missisquoi Museum in Stanbridge East, Québec. Participants will include the museum staff and board, and representatives from the Committee on Regional Development and Nature Conservancy Québec. The workshop will culminate with a visit to the Wallbridge Barn, a historic monument that has recently become part of the Missisquoi Museum and is due to hold its grand opening in the fall.

COLOMBIA: Museo de la Independencia has applied to Heritance for a workshop and partnership. Heritance, which is in the process of evaluating its current projects and honing criteria for future projects, will respond to their application by May 1.

USA: Heritance plans to complete its strategic plan for 2008-2009, including a new program called "The Open Museum Project" - a web-based product that permits museums to create on-line exhibits and incorporate publicly-contributed content.

USA: On Sunday 27 April, Heritance will hold its annual member luncheon at the residence of Suzanne Schon in New Hampshire. In addition to a presentation by Maureen, the Heritance Highlights will be released.

ONLINE: A new section is being developed to feature testimonials from partner museums and letters of recommendation for Heritance from colleagues in the museum profession. Look also for new project profiles on the Khomani San (popularly known as the Bushmen) in South Africa and the Kigali Museum of Natural History in Rwanda.

Monday 14 April 2008

RWANDA: Heritance sent the final report to Rwandan Institute of National Museums and the participants in the Heritance-Kigali Museum of Natural History workshops.

SOUTH AFRICA: Heritance received confirmation from the museum teams in Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Kalahari that Heritance projects will continue in 2008-2009. Teams from the Mpophomeni EcoMuseum and the South African San Institute's Khomani San People's Cultural Centers met this week to respond to Heritance's request for a status report and strategic plan for 2008-2009.

CANADA: Louis Gratton, Science Director and Marie-Michelle Rousseau-Clair, Director of Lake Champlain Project, both from the Nature Conservancy in Quebec, will participate in the Heritance-Missisquoi Museum workshops on April 22 in Stanbridge East, Quebec.

USA: "Heritance Highlights", a review of Heritance's past and future projects, programs and budget, will be released to the public as of the annual member luncheon on April 27. It will also be available on the Resources page of this website. Also look for updates to the Rwanda and Khomani San people's project profiles.

RESOURCES: The American Land Museum is an interesting new concept in museums. It a network of landscape exhibition sites being developed across the United States. Each site in the network will provide regional interpretive programming for the selected district it represents. The Center's facilities at Wendover, Utah, for example, represent the Great Basin region, and provide exhibitions and information to the public, and support the Center's Wendover Residence Program, which enables new and innovative interpretations of the region to be developed and presented. This concept could serve as a model for Heritance partner museums, namely in Quebec and South Africa, where land use is a key theme.

Monday 7 April 2008

RWANDA: Heritance culminated its workshops in Rwanda with a presentation to Dr Kanimba, Director of Rwanda Institute of National Museums at the RINM Headquarters in Butare. Dr Kanimba gave his endorsement for the museum renovation and exhumation project. Heritance will send a final report to the workshop participants by April 15, 2008.

SOUTH AFRICA: Heritance Technical Director, Jean Bermon, submitted plans for a Khomani San Peoples' mobile museum - "The Bush Bus". The concept and name are in keeping with the Sans' traditional nomadic lifestyle and were enthusiastically received by the San participants during the Heritance workshops in January.

KENYA: Fredrick Manthi, Senior Researcher at National Museums of Kenya and Heritance partner in the Kenya School Outreach Program, wrote to announce the opening of the refurbished Nairobi National Museum. The NMK features the controversial gallery dedicated to Turkana Boy, the Cradle of Humankind.

SOUTH AFRICA: Heritance partners in Mpophomeni EcoMuseum in KwaZulu Natal and South African San Institute in the Kalahari have confirmed their intentions to continue working with Heritance towards the founding of their new museums.

CANADA: Missisquoi Museum is preparing to host a third round of Heritance workshops on April 22 in Stanbridge East, Quebec.

USA: The first draft of Heritance Highlights is complete and will be reviewed and revised for public release by April 27.

IRAQ: This week marks the fifth anniversary of the looting of the National Museum of Iraq. A book on the topic has been released: "The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq" edited by Peter Stone and Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly. The issues and lessons brought up can be applied to any number of conflict areas, where potential strife threatens the world's cultural heritage.

USA: This week look for updates to the People, Projects & Resources pages of Heritance website. Note that the 2008 Annual Board Meeting minutes are now available under Heritance Corporate Documents on the Resources page.

Monday 31 March 2008

RWANDA: The Heritance/Kigali Museum of Natural History workshops took place this past week in Kigali. Jeff Doyle, Technical Director of Heritance, is facilitating the workshops along with Chet Sherwood, a scientist from George Washington University who is serving as a representative of the mountain gorilla exhumation project. Visit museum website.

USA: The Heritance Board held its Annual Meeting on Wednesday, March 26 in Norwich, Vermont USA. The Board re-elected Conrad Reining to a three-year seat and elected Michael Yacavone and Jeff Doyle to fill two new seats. Jeff has been a member of the Council of Advisors and the Heritance Director of Technology since the inception of Heritance. Michael, former President of the Hanover Coop, brings years of experience in board governance, web site development and marketing.

CANADA: Missisquoi Museum and Heritance are proceeding with preparations for the workshop on April 22 in Stanbridge East, Quebec. It will be the third Heritance/Missisquoi workshop and mark the anniversary of the partnership. Missisquoi was Heritance's first pilot project. Maureen will facilitate the workshops that will be attended by members of the Museum Board, Committee for Regional Development, Nature Conservancy, and Cultura.

USA: Heritance is finalizing the preparations for the annual Upper Valley (UV) Heritance luncheon on April 27. Board Treasurer, Suzanne Schon, will host the luncheon at her residence in Etna, New Hampshire. Heritance will distribute a document with highlights from its annual report.

IRAQ: April 10-12 is the fifth anniversary of the looting of the National Museum of Iraq. Saving Antiquities for Everyone (S.A.F.E.) is inviting individuals and organizations worldwide to organize commemorative vigils to acknowledge that all of humanity is responsible for the protection of cultural heritage: www.savingantiquities.org/candlelightvigils.php

Monday 24 March 2008

COLOMBIA: The Museo de la Independencia in Bogota has submitted an application to Heritance for a museum partnership.

FRANCE: Jean Bermon submitted final plans to the Riquewihr Museum in Alsace.

RWANDA: The Heritance/Kigali Museum of Natural History workshops begin on March 26 in Kigali.

USA: The new Heritance blog, In-Heritance, now has an RSS feed feature that allows readers to receive automatic content updates. To learn more about this feature and how to set it up on your own computer, do a google search on "RSS Feed Reader".

USA: The Heritance annual reports are now complete and will be available on the website after the Heritance annual Board meeting on Wednesday, March 26 in Norwich, Vermont, USA.

USA: Invitations to the annual UV Heritance luncheon are being sent this week. On Sunday, April 27, Heritance will host its annual second annual "UV Heritance luncheon". The luncheon will be a social and informational gathering for Heritance supporters and newcomers to the organization. All WEMUP recipients are welcome.

IRAQ: April 10-12, 2008 is the fifth anniversary of the looting of the National Museum of Iraq. Saving Antiquities for Everyone (S.A.F.E.) is inviting individuals and organizations worldwide to organize commemorative vigils to acknowledge that all of humanity is responsible for the protection of cultural heritage: www.savingantiquities.org/candlelightvigils.php

Monday 17 March 2008

CANADA: Missisquoi Museum has been selected as a "Carrefour Culturel" - an official designation for a site which hosts cultural events, such as musical performances, cinema shows, literature/poetry readings, and art/photography exhibits for the greater region. If the Museum Board approves this proposal, an external committee to the museum will run the project. This committee will have a liaison to the museum board and organize events in keeping with the museum's mission statement.

SOUTH AFRICA: A potential source of the proposed Khomani San museum in the Kalaharia is the legal settlement for the Hoodia berry patent case. To read about this lawsuit which the San people have won: www.csw.ucla.edu/Newsletter/TG07/foster.html or www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2003/may/san.htm

FRANCE: Jean Bermon met with Camilo Sanchez, Chief of Exhibit at Maloka Museum in Colombia to review the status of the Heritance-Maloka partnership.

RWANDA: Kigali Museum of Natural History has secured Rwandan government funding for the rooms and meals of the workshop participants and has completed the invitation process.

ONLINE: The new Heritance blog, In-Heritance, is now live at
in-heritance.blogspot.com

USA: Heritance will hold its annual Board meeting on Wednesday, March 26 at 11:00 in Norwich, Vermont USA. After the meeting, the agenda and minutes of the meeting will be posted on the Heritance website Resources page under 'Corporate Documents'.

USA: On Sunday, April 27, Heritance will host its annual second annual "UV Heritance Luncheon". The luncheon will be a social and informational gathering for Heritance supporters and newcomers to the organization. Maureen will make a presentation in which she gives a brief overview of last year's activities and outlines the goals and activities for 2008.

INTERNATIONAL: Saving Antiquities for Everyone (S.A.F.E.) is inviting individuals and organizations worldwide -- especially museums -- to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the looting of the Iraq Museum (April 10-12). S.A.F.E.'s goal is commemorate the loss of Iraq's collection and to acknowledge that all of humanity is responsible for the protection of cultural heritage: www.savingantiquities.org/candlelightvigils.php

Monday 10 March 2008

INTERNATIONAL: Saving Antiquities for Everyone (SAFE) is inviting individuals and organizations worldwide - especially museums - to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the looting of the Iraq Museum (April 10-12). SAFE's goal is commemorate the loss of Iraq's collection and to acknowledge that all of humanity is responsible for the protection of cultural heritage: http://www.savingantiquities.org/candlelightvigils.php

SOUTH AFRICA: Maureen Doyle has sent the trip reports and photos to our partners in Mpophomeni and the Kalahari. Updated project profiles will soon appear on the website.

MEXICO: Christiane of Maya Solidarité has found an architect to build the traveling display case and storage unit for the Sergio Castro Foundation's collection of Mayan textiles.

FRANCE: Jean Bermon is drawing up architectural plans for the proposed renovation of the Riquewihr Museum in Alsace.

RWANDA: Heritance, Kigali Museum of Natural history and International scientists involved in the Gorilla exhumation project are finalizing the agenda and logistics for the March 26-30, 2008 Heritance workshops in Kigali.

USA: For the final session of the ILEAD course, "Who Owns the Past?" Maureen facilitated a round robin discussion on the question of whether or not to return the Parthenon Frieze to Greece. Brian Kennedy, Director of the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College provided the summary and closing comments.

USA: A.J. Jastrszembski, the co-editor of the In-Heritance blog, completed the transfer and will make the blog live this week.

USA: SAFE Director Cindy Ho has asked Maureen to make a presentation to the SAFE Board of Directors at their annual meeting in Boston on May 31.

AUSTRIA: This year's Salzburg Seminar, "Achieving the Freer Circulation of Cultural Artifacts", takes place May 9-14, 2008.

NETHERLANDS: There will be a "Conference on the Inclusive Museum" at the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, the Netherlands, June 8-11, 2008. At the conference practioners, researchers, thinkers and teachers are invited to examine together the question: 'How can the institution of the museum become more inclusive?' www.Museum-Conference.co

Monday 3 March 2008

SOUTH AFRICA: Helene Vollgraaff, representing Heritance as a participating professional, is working with Heart of Healing to establish an African Art Museum in the Cape Town. The goal of Heart of Healing is to create a massive African Art Museum in Cape Town. With the support of the Mayor Helene Ziller, they have secured the rights to showcase, Profiles Of Africa, which is purported to be the largest private collection in the world (7000 pieces). The City has given them access to a few choice sites for the museum and they are currently raising funds to catalogue, authenticate and design the exhibition of this collection and others in a purpose built environment. Heritance is providing guidance in strategic planning and project management. Click here to read more about this project

USA: Heritance will experiment with a new program to raise money for Heritance, engage artists in our organization and provide an international venue for showing contemporary art work. Heritance will present the work of selected artists who will in turn enter into a contract to give 50% of their gross sales on earmarked pieces to Heritance. Our first artist will be Janna Genereaux, a painter trained at Rhode Island School of Design, works out of her studio in Hanover, New Hampshire and teaches art to children in Vermont. This initiative started with Gayle Aspinwall, a member of the of the Upper Valley Heritance Circle - a group of volunteers who give various forms of support. Heritance is still in the process of working out the details on this initiative.

RWANDA: Maureen and Shannon McFarlin, researcher and professor at George Washington University, held a phone meeting to plan the details of the Heritance/Kigali Museum of Natural History workshops scheduled for March.

KENYA: Fredrick Manthi wrote to say that he had a great field session that yielded good fossils, including some hominid fossils. Now that there has been a peace settlement in Kenya, he hopes that the Prehistory Club can resume its school outreach program and move forward with its plans to hold the summer workshops in Nairobi on the teaching of evolution and prehistory in public schools. Heritance will assist the Club in finding funding for both projects.

CANADA: With the assistance of Heritance, Missisquoi Museum has completed its 3-year strategic plan and met or exceeded many of its overall goals for 2007.

USA: Maureen Doyle met with Brian Kennedy, Director of the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College, to initiate the writing of the Heritance "Strategic Plan for Development."

FRANCE: Jean Bermon will be meeting in Strasbourg with Heritance participating professional, Camilo Sanchez of the Maloka Museum in Colombia. The purpose of the visit is to follow-up on the Heritance Maloka workshop that took place in November and further train Camilo to serve as a representative of Heritance.

USA: A.J. Jastrszembski, the co-editor of In-Heritance, plans to complete the blog technology transfer this weekend, at which point we will resume the blog postings.

USA: Maureen made a power point presentation entitled "What's a Museum? Which kind does Heritance work with, how and why?" The audience consisted of 20 participants in the ILEAD program at Dartmouth College. Next week Maureen will facilitate a round robin discussion on the question: "Should the Parthenon Frieze be "returned" to Greece?" Brian Kennedy will provide the summary and closing comments.

Monday 25 February 2008

SOUTH AFRICA: Mike Moloney has agreed to join Heritance as a Participating Professional. Mike, who lives in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa is an exhibit designer who prior to opening a consulting firm worked for the National Museum in Pietermaritzburg. Welcome Mike!

NEW YORK, USA: A.J. has transferred the Heritance blog, In-Heritance to Google Blogger, a blogging platform which easier and more widespread access to the blog. Once the content is moved and the new site fully tested, we will release the new URL. Thank you, AJ!

VERMONT, USA: Maureen has been invited to join the steering committee for the Developing Countries Network. As a member of the steering committee, Maureen is serving as an advisor and tester for the organization's new website and participating in the planning of the bi-monthly presentations of issues in development work. The purpose of the network is to put local service organizations in touch with each other so that they can swap ideas, share resources and generate complimentary projects. Maureen has proposed that one of the next network forums examine the role of culture in development.

FRANCE: Jean will submit a final project proposal for the renovation of the Riquewihr Museum in Alsace.

CANADA: Heather Darach (the Curator) and Judy Antle (the Archivist) of the Missisquoi Museum just completed the Cemeteries at Risk project with the Quebec anglophone Heritage Network this week. Heather has been asked to speak at their conference in May about the state of the cemetery sites in Missisquoi County.

RESOURCE: www. hangingtogether.org -- "the hangout spot for libraries, archives, museums -- is a place where a partnership of libraries, archives, and museums, can talk about the intersections people see happening between these three different types of institutions. Here's a February 11 blog entry: Virtual Museum Collections, 19th Century Style http://hangingtogether.org/?p=359

NEW HAMPSHIRE, USA: an artist has offered to donate some of her work to Heritance as part of a fund-raising initiative. The Board is considering ways in which accept to her generous offer.

NEW HAMPSIRE, USA: Maureen is preparing to lead the next session of the ILEAD course at Dartmouth College, "Who owns the Past?". The title of her presentation, which will focus on Heritance's work, is "What is a Museum?" If you are interested in attending, please contact Maureen.

Monday 18 February 2008

NEW PARTICIPANTS: Helene Volgraaf and Claire Adderley of South Africa and Camilo Sanchez of Colombia have joined Heritance as "Participating Professionals". Thank you and welcome!

RWANDA: Preparations are nearly complete for the Heritance workshops at the Rwanda National Museum of Natural History in Kigali. Jean will be facilitating three days of meetings between the KMNH museum staff, representatives of various governmental and non-governmental organizations in Rwanda and scientists from various countries, including Shannon McFarlin of he George Washington University Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology. The goal is to finalize the plans for the proposed exhumation of the gorilla skeletons studied by Dian Fossey and develop a program at the natural history museum for the new collections.

CANADA: Heather Darach, Curator of the Missisquoi Museum, has submitted a grand to Young Canada Works. If funded, the grant will permit them to have a student intern this summer. In addition, the Missisquoi Museum is submitting an application to the Virtual Museum of Canada for a project on the Fenian Raids in Missisquoi.

CANADA: The next Heritance/Missisquoi Museum workshop is set for April 22 (with April 23 as a back up date).

MEXICO: Jean is finalizing plans for the traveling exhibit and storage unit for the Mayan textile collections project.

FRANCE: Riquewihr Museum is considering Heritance's architectural proposal submitted by Jean as one of two finalists. The museum board will make its decision by the end of the month.

USA: In this week's ILEAD study session, Roger Ulrich (Professor of Classics at Dartmouth College) and Laurie Rush (Archeology for the US Department of Defense at Fort Dodd) gave a presentation on the advisory program that have established to educate the US military (individual soldiers and organization) on cultural preservation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

SOUTH AFRICA: Final reports and updated case studies of the January South Africa workshops will be available by March 1.

PROMOTIONS: AJ has drafted a plan to create a promotional film for Heritance. She and Maureen are exploring options for funding the film, including change.org

Monday 11 February 2008

This WEMUP is longer than usual because it comprises three weeks of information.

VERMONT, USA: Recent updates to the Heritance website include new advisors and professionals in Our People, and photos for the Mexico project profile.

NEW YORK, USA: A.J. is now co-editor of In-Heritance, the Heritance blog. To read her first blog on the New Museum, New York: www.heritance.org/blog

ARIZONA, USA: Martin Grey, founder of Sacred Sites has joined Heritance as a Participating Professional. Martin has offered the use of his photos by Heritance free of charge. To see Martin's work and learn more about his organization: www.sacredsites.com

TORONTO, CANADA: The Aga Khan Foundation in Toronto sent an inquiry to Heritance concerning its collections security. With the assistance of Kathy Hart of the Hood Museum, Heritance was able to provide them with the necessary information and a qualified contact on site.

STANBRIDGE EAST, CANADA: After meeting with Cultura and a representative of the Quebec provincial government, the Missisquoi Museum submitted an application for a government grant, including a letter of recommendation written on their behalf by Heritance.

KWA-ZULU, SOUTH AFRICA: Jean and Maureen returned on Saturday from two weeks of work with museums in South Africa. They spent the first week in the Kwa-Zulu Natal region, most of it in the Zulu township of Mpophomeni. Jean, who had made a visit last May, shared architectural plans for the renovation of the proposed museum building and the installation of the first room of the permanent exhibit. The plans were received with enthusiasm. The building is a Voortrekker farm house which had been expropriated under Apartheid and now belongs to the municipality. The town is dirt poor and stricken by Aids, but on the mend in many ways, notably its initiative to create a tourist trade and promote education among the young. The museum content is derived mostly from collections made during the taking of oral histories, which is proving to be an essential part of the on-going process of truth and reconciliation. Maureen facilitated two days of meetings with various representatives of the community and municipal government. Over 60 people ranging from teenage oral history collectors and traditional healers to elderly members of the village council and museum professionals from the region participated in the six-hour long sessions. On the fourth day, Heritance made a presentation to the municipal mayor who offered his endorsement for the project. Jean and Maureen also met with two other related projects, one in a neighboring community and another on the Player Family preserve. Ian, in his 80's, is the "father" of one of South Africa's national parks, the instigator of the white rhino rescue project and recognized internationally as a world leader in environmental activism.

NORTH WEST, SOUTH AFRICA: During the second week, Jean, Maureen and Heritance Council of Advisor, Claire Adderley, worked with the Khomani San people in the Kalahari Desert. The Khomani San face many challenges there (weather, politics, varmint, poverty, illiteracy...) but the people have a strong will to save their past and teach it to their young people. Heritance managed to get a foothold on behalf of the San people for the founding of a cultural interpretation center in the Kgalagadi National Park (located in the Kalahari on the border with Botswana). In addition, Heritance spent several days exploring possibilities for San cultural centers on the San territory in the Kalahari and in the nearest city, Upington. Jean, Maureen and a committee of eight representatives of the San People, South African San Institute, Provincial Museums and Upington Museum managed to gain an audience with the Municipal Mayor, Executive Council and District Acting Mayor where their proposals for the San project were well-received. Furthermore, Jean hatched an idea -- the "Bush Bus" -- a mobile museum which will bring San exhibits to the people. The San, who are traditionally nomadic, embraced this idea and have requested that Jean draw up plans for its realization in the near future.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA: Helene Volgraff has shared an important resource about South Africa: http://www.ijr.org.za/ The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) was established to promote reconciliation, transitional justice and democratic nation-building in Africa by means of research, analysis and selective intervention.

MASSACHUSSETTS, USA: Maureen has contacted the NGO Abraham Path to invite them to explore ways in which to collaborate with Heritance. Abraham Path, based at Harvard University, is a project which promotes peace in the Middle East by supporting the creation of a long-distance walking path that links Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Turkey.

NEW HAMPSHIRE, USA: The ILEAD course which Maureen is facilitating, "Who Owns the Past", continues to be well-attended. This week's study guide was Rick St. Hilaire, Prosecuting Attorney of the State of NH, member of ICOM, council to Saving Antiquities for Everyone. He presented the landmark case US vs Schultz.

CALIFORNIA, USA: The recent raid on four California museums precipitated a crisis among US museums, including the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College which chose to cancel its new exhibit when the staff discovered that some of the objects might be looted. Click here to learn more about the coordinated raid.

VERMONT, USA: Heritance Board's annual meeting will be held, Tuesday, March 18 9:00-11:00 a.m. in Norwich, Vermont USA.

Friday 1 February 2008

WORKSHOPS: Heritance is currently conducting workshops with four project partners, respectively, in South Africa. The News page will be updated upon the return of key staff members in early February.

Monday 7 January 2008

BLOG WATCH: There are 3 new posts on In-Heritance, the Heritance blog: Maureen writes about the crisis at Givewell (an organization which evaluates charities) and the debate over using universal metrics to evaluate Non-Profit Organizations in "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Hullaballoo about NPO evaluations". Jean has prepared a photo blog about the Maya Textile project.

EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH: The ILEAD course on "Who Owns the Past" begins this week at Dartmouth College, with Maureen's lecture "How museums own the past - the stuff and the story".

PROMOTIONS: Heritance is now featured on the charity website: www.change.org. Thank you also for posting your reviews to Great Non-Profits. If you failed to post a review because of technical difficulties, please try again: www.greatnonprofits.org. The GNP administration sent an email announcing that they had fixed bugs that were creating problems for reviewers. They apologize for any inconvenience.

FUNDRAISING: On Wednesday January 16, Mary will meet with Maureen to organize meetings with potential individual donors to Heritance.

GRANTS: By January 11, Echoing Green will notify grant applicants - including Heritance - whether or not they pass to the next round of the application process.

Monday 31 December 2007

Happy New Year!

IN THE NEWS: On 12/29, Heritance was featured on the main page of an important philanthropy blog: www.gifthub.org

BLOG: In-Heritance is now listed on the museum blog aggregator Museum Blogs Org: www.museumblogs.org. To find the In-Heritance blog, search "latest additions".

REVIEWS: Thank you members for posting a review of Heritance on Great Nonprofits. To see our members' recent reviews or make your own: www.greatnonprofits.org. If there are technical difficulties, contact Maureen.

CANADA: There will be a conference "Museums and the Web 2008" in Montréal, Canada from April 9-12, 2008: http://www.archimuse.com/mw2008. Heritance plans to send a representative.

KENYA: Heritance Council of Advisors member Jeff Doyle has found several different objects which could serve as a Handmeon for the Kenya Prehistory Club.

COLOMBIA: Heritance technical Director Jean Bermon completed the final report for the Maloka, Colombia project. The project profile will soon be updated to include "Outcomes".

MUSEUM NEWS & RESEARCH: A.J. met with Maureen to discuss ways in which she can continue to assist Heritance as a volunteer researcher in New York. To see AJ's research findings, visit the Heritance bulletin board: www.heritance.org/bb/phpBB2/index.php. For access, paste the above URL into your browser and log in or register (if a first time visitor). Access is granted within a day. All are welcome to participate in the research and discussion.

ECOLOGY: Heritance embraces ecology education as part of its vision. To view an interesting and amusing video which underscores the importance of ecology, The Story of Stuff: www.storyofstuff.com

Monday 16 December 2007

• To read and comment on the latest blogs...
• By Maureen in English: "Forces for Good"   [ IN-HERITANCE ]
• Par Jean en français: "Question de peau"   [ IN-HERITANCE ]

SOUTH AFRICA: Heritance directors Jean Bermon and Maureen Doyle will be traveling to South Africa on January 20, 2008. They will be meeting with partners from three separate projects (in three different locations) and, thanks to the assistance of Philippe Denis, perhaps the South Africa representative of the Sites of Conscience (www.sitesofconscience.org).

FUNDRAISING UPDATE: The Schon Family Foundation has made a gift of $10,000 to Heritance. Thank you, Suzanne!

MEXICO: Jean is working this week on a renovation and reorganization of the museum of traditional Mayan textiles in Chiapas, Mexico. Following a series of meetings with the founder and director of the museum, Sergio Castro, Jean has drawn up architectural plans. Christiane Eckert, who is a member of Maya Solidarité, the French humanitarian aid group which is financing the project, is working with Jean and Sergio and will remain on site for six months. In addition to Christiane, a couple living in San Cristobal, Fabien and Nina, will assist in overseeing the project through to completion.

CANADA: The board of the Missisquoi Museum met to review the newly revised 3-year strategic plan, which Heritance has helped to prepare. They also reported on various action items generated at the November Heritance workshops, including a new page in the website and a grant for additional archive staffing.

SOUTH AFRICA: Maureen met with the Founder and Director of Umeebee, Frerieke van Bree. Umeebee, a foundation based in Cape Town, South Africa, which raises money for non-profits by featuring the stories (in text, image & film) of the people served by these organizations. We are exploring ways in which we might collaborate on Heritance's South Africa projects.

COLOMBIA: Camilo Sanchez, the Director of Exhibits at the Maloka Museum in Bogotá, has volunteered to translate the WEMUP into Spanish. Camilo is also the Heritance liaison at Maloka and the person responsible for initiating the Maloka-Heritance partnership. !Mil Gracias, Camilo!

FRANCE: Jean has submitted a project proposal to the Musée de Riquewihr in Alsace. Heritance is experimenting with a new strategy for fund-raising. For museums with funding sources, Heritance proposes to do contract work in exchange for a donation to Heritance.

OTHER NEWS:

• Géraldine, the translator of the French version of the WEMUP and a museologist with the firm Altermuseo in Paris, has just been awarded a three-year fellowship to pursue her doctorate in Mexico. Heritance looks forward to having an additional contact in Mexico. Congratulations, Géraldine!
• Heritance now has a profile on the new website Great Non-Profits (www.greatnonprofits.org). Please visit the Heritance site and, if you can spare five minutes, post your review of Heritance. These reviews are like cash to us at this point in our development!
• Heritance and Toliwaga (www.toliwaga.com) held a meeting to explore a joint venture to create a web-based "open museums". More information to follow in the coming weeks....

Monday 3 December 2007

BLOG WATCH:

• On the concept of "open collections"   [ IN-HERITANCE ]

SOUTH AFRICA: Heritance directors Jean Bermon and Maureen Doyle will be traveling to South Africa on January 20, 2008. They will be meeting with partners from three separate projects (in three different locations) and, thanks to the assistance of Philippe Denis, perhaps the South Africa representative of the Sites of Conscience (www.sitesofconscience.org).

MEXICO: On Friday, Jean met with members of Maya Solidarité, an organization based in Alsace that supports development projects in Chiapas, Mexico, to discuss the Heritance intervention planned in Chiapas for one week starting December 17.

UNITED STATES: Heritance has submitted an application to the Echoing Green Foundation for seed grant money.

COLOMBIA: The reports for the recent November 2007 workshops at the Maloka Museum, Columbia and Missisquoi Museum, Québec are now complete. Participant evaluations from the Maloka staff show satisfaction with their first Heritance workshop and express universal support for the continuation of the partnership.

RWANDA: The Heritance workshop at Kigali Museum of Natural History in Rwanda will take place in March 2008. In the coming weeks, Heritance will send a letter of intent and make arrangements for Jean and Maureen to attend.

Monday 19 November 2007

BLOG WATCH:

• A Heritance Caper   [ IN-HERITANCE ]
• Handmeon: a new relationship to museum objects?   [ IN-HERITANCE ]
• Museums without Borders   [ HANDMEON ]

FRANCE: Heritance Technical Director Jean Bermon met with Robert Lehmann and André Hugel, the Directors of the Riquewihr Museum in Riquewihr, Alsace to review their plans for a building renovation and exhibition installation. Heritance is considering the possibility of conducting a preliminary architectural study on their behalf in exchange for a contribution to Heritance.

COLOMBIA: Heritance Technical Director Jean Bermon is in the Colombian news. A Bogota newspaper featured an article about Jean and last week's Heritance workshops at the Maloka Museum of Science. The article entitled "Ilustre arquitecto visita Maloka" prompted the French Cultural Attaché to invite Jean to a meeting at the French Embassy. Jean, who was greeted enthusiastically by numerous representatives of the Museum and Colombian government, has received requests for new Heritance projects in Colombia.

CANADA: On behalf of the Missisquoi Museum, Heritance Executive Director Maureen Doyle has completed a search for potential funding agencies, mostly corporations with offices in Québec province.

SOUTH AFRICA: Claire Adderly, Curator of the Howick Museum in South Africa, has confirmed that she will be submitting an application for a Heritance project working with the San people of the Kalahari Desert.

FUNDRAISING: Echoing Green is an innovative foundation which provides financial and technical support to social entrepreneurs. It's website is worth a visit, in particular their introductory film. The name is inspired by a William Blake poem by the same name. Heritance will submit a grant application to EG to meet the December 3 due date.

EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH: Maureen attended an orientation meeting for the ILEAD course she will be team-teaching this winter at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. The course is entitled "Who owns the past?" and runs for 8 weeks on Thursday mornings 10-11:30, from Jan.7-Feb.29, 2008 - for details consult the ILEAD Winter 2008 Course Listings.

Monday 12 November 2007

COLOMBIA: Jean Bermon arrived in Bogota, Colombia on Friday and has met with the director of the Maloka Science Museum and held a first day of workshops with the museum's exhibition staff, with whom he will be working for the duration of this week.

CANADA: On November 7, Maureen facilitated a day-long workshop at the Missisquoi Museum in Standbridge East, Québec. The Missisquoi Museum team has achieved many of the goals they set at the Heritance workshop last April, most notably the opening of an exhibit in the newly renovated Wallbridge Barn, the implementation of a new electronic archiving system, and the completion of stage one of the brand new Missisquoi Triangle marketing initiative. The team has set several more goals which they plan to attain in the next year. To learn more, see the project profile.

UNITED STATES: Heritance Executive Director Maureen Doyle introduced Heritance to the Director of SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone), Cindy Ho, who expressed interest in learning more about Heritance and exploring means for Heritance and SAFE to collaborate on projects.

SOUTH AFRICA: Helene Vollgraaff of South Africa has contacted Heritance on behalf of the Western Provincial Museum Service to propose two possible Heritance projects involving the history of the South African Rugby and Football Union (SARFU). According to Helene, South Africa's sport history reflects the political and social history of racism and separation, while at the same time, providing a social activity that cut across racial and ethnic boundaries. The target date for completion of the soccer history project is mid-2010 when the Soccer World Club takes place in South Africa.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: Ivana Udovicic, curator of the National Gallery of Bosnia-Herzegovina (NGBH) in Sarajevo, has sent photos of the museum to assist Heritance in developing a plan for an intervention at the museum. Heritance has proposed the following to NGBH:

• An audit of the actual museum display.
• A workshop oriented towards the program of a new possible museography.
• The conception of an appropriate display dedicated to one main room of the museum, which would serve as the foreshadowing of a global renovation of the gallery.

8 November 2007

WHAT'S NEW ONLINE?

• Heritance Technical Director Jean Bermon's latest blog entry (in French) discusses Heritance's multilingual lexicon: www.heritance.org/blog
• Check out the new Project Profiles for The Abbey of Oelenberg and Mpophomeni Eco-Museum, South Africa - and more to come!

CANADA: This week, Heritance Executive Director Maureen Doyle facilitated a workshop for the Missisquoi Museum staff and board and a representative of the Québec ministry of economic development. They reviewed progress on various action items relating to the museum outreach plan, which the group developed last March.

COLOMBIA: Jean Bermon left for Bogota, Columbia where he will lead a Heritance workshop for the staff of the Maloka Science Museum and offer a building consultation.

MEXICO: Bermon will also be traveling to Mexico to give a Heritance workshop and consultation in Chiapas. He will meet on site at the museum with the representative of Maya Solidarité, Christine Eckert.

NEW CALEDONIA: Heritance received an inquiry for a new Heritance project from a consortium of museums in New Caledonia.

MARKETING INITIATIVES: Heritance will submit an ad to the Beacon Award Journal of SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone). SAFE will distribute the journal at their annual awards ceremony on January 5 in Chicago. This year the Beacon Award will be presented to Dr. Neil Brodie and Dr. Donny George Youkhanna, honoring them for their outstanding efforts at raising public awareness about the devastating effects of looting and the illicit antiquities trade.

29 October 2007:

KENYA:

• With the assistance of Jeff, Mary and Fredrick Manthi, Maureen has submitted a grant proposal for $30,000 to Operation Days' Work (ODW). The funds are slated for the Kenya Prehistory Club project OPERATION TURKANA. With assistance from ODW, the Kenya Prehistory clubs will bring 35,000 Kenyan public school children in Grades 6-12 directly in contact with Kenya's rich prehistoric heritage, including the jewel of the National Museums of Kenya fossil collection -- Turkana Boy.
• By bringing Kenyan prehistory to school children and school children to Kenyan prehistory, OPERATION TURKANA will show at-risk children why Kenya is considered "The Cradle of Humanity", teach them to take pride in, protect and promote Kenya's leading role in prehistory research and provide them with the knowledge, skills and opportunities to set personal goals for education and careers related to Kenya's prehistory.
• This proposed project would also enable 100 public school teachers to receive training and materials to improve their effectiveness in teaching prehistory, and two unemployed university graduates to be employed as the assistant program coordinators. The Kenyan Ministry of Education, Wenner-Gren Foundation and Smithsonian Institute have agreed to support this project. Heritance will post information about the project to the Kenya case study.
• For information about Turkana Boy, visit the website.
• For information about the opposition to the prehistory research and teaching in Kenya listen to the NPR. report: "Kenya's 'Turkana Boy' at Center of Debate"

MEXICO: Heritance and Maya Solidarité have formalized their partnership through a letter of intent. Jean will go to Chiapas, Mexico in December to hold a Heritance workshop and conduct architectural consultations with representatives of Maya Solidarité and the S.Castro Foundation, to plan a traveling storage and exhibit unit for its unique collection of Mayan textiles.

SOUTH AFRICA: The Mpophomeni Ecomuseum Committee (South Africa) met last week to take care of a number of critical tasks necessary to the creation of an ecomuseum in the former Black Township. Heritance has proposed a follow up workshop in January 2008 to discuss the building renovation and exhibit plans that Jean has prepared, and to plan the next phase of the process. To view the architectural plans and photos of the exhibit room mock up, see the Heritance case study for Mpophomeni.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: On October 20, Jean met with Ivana Udovici, curator of the National Gallery in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, to explore the possibility for a Heritance workshop in 2008. Ivana recounted that the museum of art was founded in a four-story department store which had been badly damaged during the war. The recently renovated gallery features the innovative exhibit Retrospectum, an exhibit that is organized by color rather than chronology, artist, theme or other traditional museum schemes.

22 October 2007:

RWANDA: Heritance has confirmed a new partnership with the Kigali Natural History Museum in Rwanda. The tentative plan is to organize a Heritance workshop on site in Rwanda for mid-winter. The goal will be to conduct a building survey of the museum wing, which is under construction, develop an exhibit plan, organize the gorilla skeleton exhumation process, and create a public outreach plan, to include education and marketing. The Case Study will soon appear on the Project Gallery page of this website.

COLOMBIA: Camillo Sanchez of Maloka Museum in Bogota, Colombia is working with Jean and Maureen on Basecamp (our electronic project management system) to develop plans for the November workshops in Bogota, Columbia. Camilo announced Friday that the Museum has just received confirmation of funding for phase II of the Maloka Project. As Camilo wrote: "The (Heritance) workshop couldn´t come at a better time!"

QUÉBEC, CANADA: Heather Darch, Curator of the Missisquoi Museum (Quebec), and Maureen have composed a draft of the agenda for November workshops at the Missisquoi Museum. During this one-day meeting, Heritance will work with the Museum Board and staff to evaluate 12-15 action items from the April Heritance-Missisquoi workshops and put in place a subsequent action plan for the coming six months.

FRANCE:

• The Alsace Museums Association (AMLA), announced that they held a successful "peer evaluation" workshop at an association museum. They followed the model of the Heritance workshops conducted at four AMLA museums in June and July.
• Jean made preliminary workshop visit to the Cistercian Abbey in Oelenburg, France. They would like Heritance to assist them in creating a museum in their Abbey.

October 2007 and earlier

NORWICH, VERMONT: Collaboration with Handmeon explored

RWANDA: New partnership confirmed

KENYA: National Museum Project update

MALOKA, COLUMBIA: New museum partner confirmed

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE: Lifelong learning course on antiquities finalized

NORWICH, VERMONT: Local collaboration explored

MISSISQUOI, QUÉBEC: Nov workshop to explore regional museum idea

NORWICH, VERMONT: Strategy development proceeds at NHS

COLMAR, FRANCE: Consultation to Museum of Natural History

NORWICH, VERMONT: Strategic plan completed

RWANDA: New partner applicant

NORWICH, VERMONT: Heritance application forms now available online

VIENNA / SOUTH AFRICA / QUEBEC: Updates on Heritance initiatives

KENYA: Conference on human evolution well received

CHICAGO: Archeworks-Heritance collaboration explored

MONTRÉAL / PARIS: Bilingual lexicon of museum terms developed

SOUTH AFRICA: Mpophomeni “eco museum of apartheid” plan underway

NEW! Heritance blogs on museum issues

FRANCE: Alsatian museum workshops reap outcomes

Heritance at Kimmelman/NYT lecture

SOUTH AFRICA: "Eco-museum of apartheid" planned

WASHINGTON DC: Lecture at the Corcoran

HANOVER, NH: Hood Museum workshop with Heritance

QUÉBEC: Nature Conservancy to join Mississquoi

VERMONT: Heritance inaugural Board Meeting held

FRANCE: Summer 2007 workshop series in Alsace

Sapin publishes new book on historic churches in Burgundy

Presentation to Norwich (VT) Historical Society

Workshop at Missisquoi Museum, Québec

Heritance announced at Paris conference