Title: Conducting Reviews of Contested Heritage in the Public Realm: Processes and Principles for Public Bodies
Speaker: Ben Stephenson (BAS Consultancy)
Registration: click to register
The events of the 7 June 2020, in which a statue of slave trader and philanthropist Edward Colston was dragged from its plinth in Bristol and dumped in the nearby harbour sparked a national debate which continues today, most recently in connection with the acquittal of the ‘Colston 4’. Where media and political discourse focuses on what we should do with our statues and other forms of contested heritage, public bodies have been wrestling with the process of auditing, reviewing and even removing objects from the public realm with very little guidance. This talk focuses on research commissioned by the University of Bristol which looks at various processes public bodies have adopted to frame reviews, and makes recommendations for reviews of contested heritage that are yet to happen.
Ben Stephenson (BAS Consultancy) who authored the guidance for public bodies is a consultant specialising in local economies and culture.
Organiser: heritage@arch.cam.ac.uk