New futures for Heritage Open Days
Heritage Open Days in Birmingham click for original podnosh flickr image
We’ve just received this form the Heritage Alliance:
New future for HODs with The Heritage Alliance, Civic Voice and the National Trust
We are delighted to announce that The Heritage Alliance will be part of a partnership of three charities, with Civic Voice and the National Trust, which will take on responsibility for the national co-ordination of Heritage Open Days (HODs) as of 1 October 2011.
HODs is England’s largest grassroots heritage event, delivered by an army of volunteers across the country (except London, which has Open House London) annually on the second weekend in September. Following the demise of the Civic Trust in 2009, which used to co-ordinate HODs, the future of the event had been uncertain. English Heritage, which rescued the event in 2009 and currently co-ordinates it at a national level, will continue to fund HODs until March 2015 and will remain responsible for Heritage Open Days in September 2011. Click here for English Heritage’s statement.
Our Chairman, Loyd Grossman, said: “We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Civic Voice and the National Trust as one of the three charities taking Heritage Open Days forward to a strong, sustainable future. Run by volunteers for the benefit of their local communities, it’s the largest voluntary cultural event in England; with over a million visits last year and over 40,000 volunteers giving up their time to share their passion and knowledge with their neighbours. We all know how extraordinarily popular our heritage is with people up and down the country, and Heritage Open Days gives us all an opportunity to showcase that heritage and the outstanding voluntary effort and commitment that makes it available to all.”
The priority of the new consortium will be to work with the event’s stakeholders up and down the country to develop a long-term vision and strategy for the sustainable future of HODs. Keep an eye on the HODs website and Twitter feed for news and details of the 2011 weekend.
Good luck.
