Loyd Grossman The Heritage Alliance (THA) Chair, has launched what he calls, ‘the world’s greatest heritage festival’, rousing visitors to get out and about and ‘treasure your treasures’ during Heritage Open Days between Thursday 8 and Sunday 11 September.
THA writes
[Loyd] was speaking to an audience of event organisers and stakeholder representatives from the cultural sector at the Heritage Open Days 2016 launch event at RIBA in London on Tuesday 12 July.
‘Treasure Your Treasures’ is the theme for this year’s festival, which calls on communities to champion their local heritage and show their support for cultural and historic assets on their doorsteps. The theme comes following the results of a straw poll, which showed that 95% of Heritage Open Days organisers had fears about the future of places like museums, galleries, archives, theatres, parks and historic sites in their own communities, which may be facing financial uncertainty. 225 local organisers responded to the survey about their treasures and their level of concern about the effects of funding cuts. They felt overwhelmingly that Heritage Open Days had an important role to play in supporting the future of their local treasures.
Loyd Grossman said the 5,000 free events held during the festival provided the ideal platform to stand up and shout about local treasures, engaging people in heritage as visitors and volunteers, and getting behind campaigns to retain access to places like museums, archives, libraries, galleries, theatres, parks and historic sites.
Find out how you can also register to hold your own event until 1 August
