HEF News - Historic Environment Forum

Historic Environment Forum Launches the Historic Environment Overview 2022-23

The financial year 2022-23 was another year of challenge and opportunity for the historic environment sector. As the sector continued to respond and adapt to the longer-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, it also grappled with the uncertain economic landscape brought about by the war in Ukraine, ministerial and machinery of Government changes, and the growing risks presented by climate change. But as this edition of the Heritage Environment Overview demonstrates, there has also been much to celebrate and reflect on over the course of 2022- 23. It has been a year of milestones: from the 1900th anniversary of Hadrian’s Wall to the 20th anniversary of The Heritage Alliance, from the Council for British Archaeology’s national youth consultation to the new project partnership made between Age-UK and Historic England. Across the year – and despite operating in difficult circumstances – the sector has shown up and provided opportunities for people to learn, experience and benefit from England’s historic environment.

The Historic Environment Overview 2022-23 is a Heritage Counts product. This year’s edition has been produced by the Historic Environment Forum with support from the National Trust and Historic England.

2022 Year in Review

With 2022 drawing to a close, it’s time to look back at what we have achieved this year.

Watch our Year in Review below.

If you need Alternative Text for the infographics in this video, please visit the following link: https://bit.ly/3PT55Ja

Collaboration

Historic Environment Forum meetings have continued to be a place for strategic collaboration and discussion on some of the important issues affecting the Heritage sector this year – we’re grateful to all members for investing the time to engage in these discussions.

In June, HEF members also met for our annual Foresight Day, where we took stock of recent sector challenges and looked ahead to priority areas for collaboration in the future. Our Foresight Day report for 2022 can be viewed here.

This year, the Historic Environment Forum also look ownership of producing the Historic Environment Overview with the support of Historic England and the National Trust, as well as input from across our membership and beyond. Revisit the 21/22 report here.

Task Groups

Our HEF Task Groups have also been busy this year working on both sector Resilience and Sustainability and Climate Change goals – here are a few highlights from our Task Group work:

This summer, the Resilience Task Group launched the Heritage Sector Resilience Plan, a roadmap to support the sector become more robust in 5 key areas: Skills; Diversity & Inclusion; Climate Change; Strong Governance & Embedding Heritage in Wider Policy. The HEF team and members of HEF are now working towards a Programme of Action to support the delivery of these target actions into the new year and beyond!
Our Sustainability & Climate Change Task Group has also made great progress this year, including running a series of webinar sessions aiming to support the sector on its path to Net Zero.
Task Group members took part in the Speakers for Schools Heritage Panel webinar in the spring, which provided insight on Heritage climate action and career advice, reaching over 300+ 14–18-year-olds.
In November, we launched the HEF Sustainability & Net Zero Resource Page, bringing together all the material shared during TG sessions, including:
- The HEF Net Zero Resource List
- The HEF Net Zero Guide
- Webinar Recordings
- Presentation Slides.

Comms

Our comms work has also grown this year, with an increase in social media followers across the board and some great #HeritageChats held over the year! Thank you to all followers old and new for your continued support.

We look forward to continuing our collaborative work with HEF partners into 2023 and beyond. Thank you to all HEF members for your time and support over the course of the year. Season’s Greetings!

#HeritageChat November 2022 – Heritage Priorities: the long-term view

In November 2022, #HeritageChat partnered with HEF member The Heritage Alliance for a discussion on what issues will matter most for the sector in the short and long-term future.

The chat explored various themes across the week, linking across to some of the priorities identified by The Heritage Alliance as part of this year’s Heritage Debate.

Around 39 Tweets were shared as part of this #HeritageChat, including links to key materials for the sector such as the Historic Environment Forum’s new Sustainability & Net Zero Resource Page.

You can look back at the full conversation by viewing the collection of Tweets on Twitter here.

#HeritageChat October 2022 – The Historic Environment on Film, TV & Other Media

In October 2022, #HeritageChat examined the relationship between the Historic Environment and film, TV and other media. Our #HeritageChat co-host this month was archaeologist, film maker and British Archaeology TV columnist Greg Bailey. The chat explored various themes across the week, from the portrayal of real-life heritage professionals on film, to the impact heritage related documentaries can have on encouraging public participation. Around 120 Tweets were shared as part of this #HeritageChat, including links to articles, podcasts, and sector publications. 48 participants also took part in our end of chat poll, voting TV documentaries as the number one choice for discovering information about the Historic Environment.

The chat had a lively start to the week, with participants discussing both the pros and cons arising from stories from our sector being featured in major films. Mid-week, the chat debated all things TV archaeology, and towards the end of the week we touched on filming in historic places and how associations with film and TV can add to the history or ‘mythology’ of a place.

You can look back at the full conversation by viewing the collection of Tweets on Twitter here.

#HeritageChat September 2022 – Learning Legacies for Young People & Educators

In September 2022, we launched our first ever week-long #HeritageChat. The chat ran from Monday 26th – Friday 30th September, allowing participants to pitch in their ideas and reply to the questions at any time throughout the week. The topic of discussion this month was ‘Learning Legacies for Young People & Educators’. We offered a series of themed questions each day, all exploring sector experiences when it comes to providing or accessing heritage education opportunities for Under-18s.

The chat was co-hosted by Oxford Archaeology, the project leads for the Archaeology Legacy Project, and we were particularly interested to learn more about technological innovation in heritage education.

Participants shared information on what programmes and resources they or their organisations offer to support educators; insights on what methods they believe work well; thoughts on what more the sector can do to support learning; and what factors should be considered when designing and evaluating successful resources.

Around 90 Tweets were shared as part of this #HeritageChat, including links to articles, blog posts, online learning experiences and even a review of #HeritageChat.

Tou can look back at the full conversation by viewing the collection of Tweets on Twitter here.

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