Fresh Insights shared at International Heritage Management Conference in Ahmedabad

Starting from July 29, 2017, the city is witnessing the first of its kind International Heritage Management Conference, where delegates from more than eight countries are present to talk about enhancing the cultural literacy and how economy and livelihood can be boosted through tangible and intangible heritage aspects.

The inaugural ceremony began with a small introductory note, by Debashish Nayak, Director of Centre for Heritage Management and Prof Pankaj Chandra, Vice Chancellor, Ahmedabad University, welcoming the new batch of Master of Management Studies- Heritage Management and congratulating the preceding batch attendees. Prof Amareswar Galla addressed the keynote on the topic of ‘Discursive Encounters with Global Heritage Education’. Galla is an Indian origin Australian-Danish citizen who is currently the Chief Curator of Amaravathi Heritage Town in Andhra Pradesh and carries dozens of accomplishments under his banner. He addressed the audience about his journey as he hailed from a small village in Andhra Pradesh to study in Australia and helping the aboriginal tribes to conserve their cultural heritage. He shared with the audience about his visit to Hoi an, Vietnam and how he had a near death experience in preserving the country’s most significant heritage, the people and their residence. His views on banking on the heritage aspects of India economically and connecting the young generation with the age old traditions were insightful and enriching.

The first day consisted session discussions by international academicians and experts sharing their heritage education experiences and a brief debate on the challenges faced by the Museums of India. The later half of the day was dedicated to the graduating students of Centre for Heritage Management who presented their thesis. The topics ranged from GrughUdyog as an intangible heritage property, Mehrangarh Museum’s economic sustainability and tourism background to Preservation of the Forts of Mumbai and various other topics.

The three day International Conference is set to bring out fresh insights on the lesser discussed topic of Heritage Management. Interesting and potent topics like The future of Heritage preservation, Concerns of language conservation with Sindhi language as a case study and many other interesting topics were discussed.