The Vital Spark Interpretation Conference

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The Vital Spark Interpretation Conference was held from 30 September - 3 October 2007 in the Aviemore Highland Resort in the Cairngorms National Park. This international conference brought together over 300 heritage interpreters from many countries around the world who shared experiences, learned from each other and reinforced the networks of professional interpretation organisations and individual interpreters around the world.

The conference was run by Interpret Scotland and the Association for Heritage Interpretation and was one of the key events of Highland 2007 - a year of events and projects celebrating Scotland's Highland culture and heritage. The name 'the Vital Spark' refers to the name of the Clyde puffer, Vital Spark, in Neil's Munro's Parahandy stories and was chosen to reflect the importance of interpreting our cultural and natural heritage to the public.

The conference was accompanied by a special edition of the Interpret Scotland Journal Issue 16. Edited versions of the keynote papers were published in the Association for Heritage Interpretation's 'Interpretation' Journal (Volume 12 Number 3).

[edit] Conference programme

The Vital Spark featured over 70 speakers who presented papers based upon current interpretation issues and in particular concentrated upon the following conference themes:

- The Vital Spark: interpretation as the driver for cultural regeneration

- Creativity and innovation: interpreting remote and fragile areas

- Voices in interpretation: languages, cultures and communities

- Authenticity and re-interpretation: traditional icons in the 21st century

The keynote speakers at the conference were :-

Professor Sam H Ham, Director of the Centre for International Training and Outreach, University of Idaho, USA.
Professor James Hunter, Director of the UHI Centre for History, Scotland.
Professor Alastair McIntosh, Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, Treasurer of the Galgael Trust and Visiting Professor of Human Ecology, University of Strathclyde, Scotland
Shonaig Macpherson, Chair of the National Trust for Scotland, Scotland.
John Pastorelli, Principal of Ochre Learning, Australia.
Jette Sandahl, Director Experience of Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand.
Susan Strauss, Storyteller, Author and Professor, USA.