SHARE YOUR HERITAGE

What is Share Your Heritage?
The National Endowment for the Arts provided funding to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for a three-year heritage tourism initiative from 1990-1993.  Through this initiative, the National Trust worked intensively with 16 pilot regions in four states (Indiana, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin).  The lessons learned from this initiative resulted in the five guiding principles and four steps described in the How to Get Started section of this website.

As a follow up to this initiative, the National Endowment for the Arts and American Express provided additional funding in 2001 for the Share Your Heritage initiative, which included the creation of how-to curriculum materials based on the five principles and four steps as well as the development of twenty four cultural heritage tourism success stories.  Share Your Heritage is an initiative of Partners in Tourism, a coalition of national cultural organizations and agencies.

Additional funding from federal agencies including the United States Department of Transportation, the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Endowment for the Arts and the America’s Byways Resource Center was provided to compile an additional nineteen success stories focusing in federally supported initiatives in rural areas.  These case studies formed the basis of the success story section of this website. 

The Share Your Heritage training materials below as well as the additional materials available in other sections of this website allow individual sites, communities and regional efforts to use successful projects and experts in cultural heritage tourism to help address critical issues.

What do the curriculum materials include?
The Share Your Heritage initiative includes how-to curriculum materials to supplement the National Trust for Historic Preservation's five principles and four steps for successful and sustainable cultural heritage tourism. The curriculum materials have been field tested in more than two dozen workshops completed between 2002 and 2005. The materials include best practices, interactive exercises and tips from experts in the field. They are designed to be used in workshop settings. Training materials can be downloaded from the “How to Get Started” section of this website.

How were the Share Your Heritage success stories developed?

The success stories were selected from nominations by key leaders in all 50 states and reviewed by a multidisciplinary review panel, including representatives from the American Association of Museums, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The review panel looked for examples of successful partnership efforts with useful lessons and/or guidance for other emerging cultural heritage tourism projects or programs.  Over time, these success stories have been updated and new success stories have been added to the online collection.

Where can I find the Share Your Heritage curriculum?

The Share Your Heritage curriculum is available as downloadable pdf files on this website.  You will find some curriculum materials listed below.  Curriculum materials related to specific principles and steps are available on the web pages describing each principle and step.  These curriculum materials can be used in workshops or as part of a cultural heritage tourism planning process.

1. Cultural and Heritage Tourism – The Same, or Different?
Cultural tourism, heritage tourism, cultural heritage tourism. Where do these terms overlap, and what are the differences between these terms?

Download this handout in Russian  

2. Getting Started in Cultural Corridor Development
If you are developing a cultural corridor, this step-by-step checklist covers the critical actions that you will need to take.

Download this handout in Russian

3. How Does Your Statewide Program Measure Up?
How can statewide programs in cultural or heritage tourism measure their impact? This series of 10 questions will help statewide programs take a closer look at what they have accomplished.

Download this handout in Russian

4. Cultural Heritage Tourism Glossary of Terms
Cultural heritage tourism brings together a variety of fields such as tourism, the arts, preservation, museums, humanities and others—and each field has their own “alphabet soup” of terminology. This glossary of terms will help stakeholders speak the same language.

Download this handout in Russian

5. Five Principles Summary
A one-page summary of the five guiding principles for successful and sustainable cultural heritage tourism development.

Download this handout in Russian

6. Four Steps Summary
A one-page summary of the four basic steps for getting started or taking your cultural heritage tourism program to the next level.

Download this handout in Russian

7. How to Organize Successful Events & Celebrations

A series of handouts with tips to help you:

• Consider your options and decide what kind of event or celebration is right for you.
• Find out about the responsibilities that the event manager will be taking on.
• Understand what it will take to put the event together (finding a location, identifying the audience, scheduling, etc.).
• Develop a checklist to implement and evaluate the event.
• Learn about 12 ways that you can “kill a festival”.
• Consider the “Top 8 Do’s and Don’ts in Event Planning.

8. Cultural Heritage Tourism Creates Jobs
A 2-page information sheet with statistics from the Travel Industry Association on tourism jobs in the United States as well as descriptions of the diverse tourism related employment opportunities.

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