Launched in November 2020 as a digital re-imagining of Scotland’s Community Heritage Conference, this event series has grown rapidly in popularity and attracts attendees and speakers from right across Scotland and beyond.
Scotland’s Community Heritage Conversations (SCHC) was developed to provide an engaging and approachable forum for sharing experiences and opportunities, discussing emerging policy and practice, and supporting one another through new and innovative solutions as we moved through the pandemic towards recovery and renewal. Previous Conversations have celebrated resilience within community groups, looked at adapting through digital, discussed exciting new ideas in youth empowerment and examined the connections between heritage and wellbeing.
All SCHC events are free to attend and comprise a blend of talks followed by a Q&A, networking opportunities and a lively panel discussion. Those of you familiar with the Community Heritage Conference will also be pleased to know that the rapid-fire One Minute Mayhem, a 60-second ‘open mike’ soapbox, also has a popular slot on the agenda.
The conversations are delivered through a partnership of Historic Environment Scotland, Archaeology Scotland, The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and the Scottish Council on Archives, who together coordinate a wide range of contributors from public bodies, third sector organisations, and community groups.
Previous events
As the SCHC events were created as a response to the Covid pandemic, all of the events hosted in 2020, 2021 and 2022 were held online. These were recorded by our partners Archaeology Scotland.
Watch SCHC event recordingsThe Conversations evolved in 2023 and in September of that year we hosted Scotland's Community Heritage Conversations 2023: Exploring Potential, our first-ever full-day hybrid event. The event brought together community groups, volunteers, and heritage professionals to discuss resilience and celebrate grassroots heritage amidst ongoing challenges. This continued in November 2024 with Scotland's Community Heritage Conversations 2024: Connect and Create Capacity. Both of these free events were fully booked and had packed agendas with speakers, Q&A sessions, panel discussions and workshops, all available to attendees joining us either online or in person.
Watch this space for details of our 2025 conference!
Please feel free to share these events with your networks as there are many people, groups, and communities we haven’t yet reached who could have a big positive impact on the Conversation.
To find out more about any of our events or how you can get involved with SCHC, you can contact the committee via developmentandcommunity@hes.scot.
