Abstract
In 2023, Croydon will begin its title reign as London’s Borough of Culture. After an ambitious bid by various public and private sector stakeholders, Croydon began to plan a programme that highlights the rich cultural, artistic, musical, and diverse heritage of one of the largest boroughs in London. The Museum of Croydon is behind one of the flagship projects being the Music Heritage Trail. This project is the culmination of work supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Greater London Authority with partnerships across multiple community networks and programmes. This paper is a critical analysis of the community outreach strategy compared to integrative community engagement used in this project through the lens of a political council and local authority owned Museum. This paper further investigates contemporary heritage building and sustainable memory collection to enhance community engagement. The participation component is one that is not always highlighted in the community engagement process after advisory or research purposes. The practice of engaging people in heritage programmes and documenting these engagements should also be considered heritage building and collection. This paper explores the theme of creating sustainable community engagement from the bid writing process through to the launch of the Music Heritage Trail. The analysis consists of qualitative and quantitative results based on different strategies to consider the sustainability and legacy of more contemporary heritage interpretations.
Presenters
Abby PendleburyMusic Heritage Project Officer, Museum Services, Museum of Croydon, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Museum Transformations: Pathways to Community Engagement
KEYWORDS
Music Heritage Trail, Community Engagement, Contemporary Heritage Interpretation
