SUMMER 2007
Americans for the Arts Economic Impact Study
Partner Profile
ARC/NEA Gateway Initiative
2007 List
11 Most Endangered
Historic Places
National Conservation Summit
Scanning the States
Transitions
Washington Buzz
Calendar
Mission
Partners in Tourism: Culture and Commerce is a coalition of cultural service organizations, the travel industry, and federal agencies that provides a forum for collaborative research, education, promotion and advocacy with the common goal of advancing the role of culture and heritage in the travel and tourism industry.
National Partners
and
Federal Corresponding Partners
Cultural Heritage Tourism News
is published by:
© 2007
Partners in Tourism: Culture and Commerce
Editor
Carolyn Brackett
Assistant Editors
Amy Webb
Verna Romero
GOT NEWS?
Send program updates, new initiatives and case studies to cht@nthp.org
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Partner Profile
Each issue of Cultural Heritage Tourism News will profile one national agency or organization that is part of Partners in Tourism.
This issue features:
Brenda Barrett
National Coordinator of
Heritage Areas
National Park Service
How long have you in been involved with heritage areas?
Even though the idea of designating heritage areas as special places began only a couple of decades ago, I feel like one of the old timers. As director of Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation Bureau in the 1980s, I was fortunate to work with innovative people in both the National Park Service and in the Commonwealth’s conservation programs. Even more importantly, I was also able to work with on the ground community leaders to help establish the Pennsylvania Heritage Parks program. The Governor designated the Lackawanna Valley as the first Heritage Park in 1990. I was really energized by the scope of the movement and the partnerships it generated. Heritage areas seemed like the next logical step for the historic preservation field.
The 3rd International Heritage Development Conference took place in Detroit in June. Can you share some of the highlights from this conference?
The 2007 International Heritage Development Conference (IHDC) was full of highlights so it’s a challenge to pick out just a few. For me personally, one of the most exciting moments came on June 19, when the Alliance of National Heritage Areas entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federation des Parcs Naturels Regionaux, an association of 45 regional nature parks in France. The agreement builds on more than two years of dialogue between the two organizations and signals a new era in international exchange for the heritage development movement.
Another highlight came on June 20, during a day of hands-on lab visits in the Detroit region. As part of the program, I had an opportunity to explore Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit and home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the country. Our stop at the Arab American National Museum was especially interesting as were the other destinations we visited throughout the day. Other highlights of the conference included a keynote address given by filmmaker Ken Burns, a visit to the Henry Ford Museum and, of course, the stimulating conversation with other folks involved in the heritage areas field.
What national trends are you seeing in the heritage area movement?
Over the past five years interest in heritage areas has taken off. Last October, 10 new National Heritage areas were designated, and the two oldest areas were reauthorized to extend their federal funding and their support from the National Park Service. Our office has files on hundreds of proposed initiatives. The movement is definitely moving west with more proposals from the other side of the Mississippi. The proposals are also growing more diverse, involving new and previously underrepresented communities. The recently established Gullah Geechee National Heritage Corridor and the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area in northern New Mexico are just two examples of this shift. Finally, we are all trying to understand what makes a heritage area initiative successful, so that this knowledge can be applied to future initiatives. In partnership with the Alliance of National Heritage Areas, we are investing in research to not only better evaluate heritage area outcomes, but also to share these best practices and lessons learned with as broad an audience as possible.
Does your office work with state and regional heritage areas in addition to nationally designated ones?
Our primary focus is on the nationally designated areas or those proposed for national designation. However, there is lots of information sharing that goes on at conferences, in workshops and on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps it is my background in state heritage programs, but I think that state and local programs will prove to be an integral part of the future direction of the heritage areas movement. The flexibility of their approaches not only allows for new and exciting innovations, but also nurtures the capacity of fledgling areas for potential national designation. Today only four or five states have thriving heritage area programs. It would great to see more state tourism, historic preservation and conservation programs join forces and develop heritage area initiatives.
What advice would you give emerging heritage areas interested in seeking national heritage area designation?
The best advice anyone can give is “If you want to become a heritage area, act like a heritage area.” That being said, there are some important first steps a heritage areas can take such as building community consensus around the story of a region and assessing the local resources that can tell that story. For those that want to learn more about heritage area designation, I suggest inviting a leader from an existing heritage area or attending one of the Heritage Development Institutes offered by the Alliance of National Heritage Areas. The National Trust for Historic Preservation also sells a booklet Getting Started with Heritage Areas. Finally, heritage areas seeking national recognition need to meet the National Park Service interim criteria for designation, which is available on our web site. If a region starts down this road, they should reach out to those who are already well on their way.
What do you see as the biggest cultural heritage tourism opportunities for heritage areas?
I believe that the heritage areas approach adds enormous value to any cultural heritage tourism initiative. By working on a regional scale, heritage areas can tell a larger story by placing individual historic sites and attractions in a broader context. This adds a new dimension to interpretation and encourages collaboration. Heritage areas can also tackle regional initiatives like unified signage, interpretive trails, guidebooks and web sites. They can encourage visitors to stay longer and have a more in depth, authentic experience. They can involve residents in providing dining and lodging opportunities and in marketing their products, which keeps the visitor dollars in the region.
What is the best way for those in the cultural heritage tourism field to keep up to date on the heritage movement?
For those who want to follow the latest news on heritage area legislation, training opportunities, funding assistance, and publications, I suggest subscribing to the monthly online bulletin the National Heritage Areas: Alliance Update, a partnership project of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas and the National Park Service. You can do this by emailing the editor, Eleanor Mahoney.
Moreover, lots more information can be accessed on either of our web sites,
National Park Service National Heritage Areas or
Alliance of National Heritage Areas.
Brenda Barrett has been the National Coordinator for Heritage Areas at the National Park Service in Washington, DC since 2001. She provides budget, legislative and policy support for the now thirty-seven congressionally designated areas and for proposed heritage initiatives across the nation. She was formerly the Director of the Bureau for Historic Preservation at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the state’s public history agency in Harrisburg, PA.
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