Developing Your Event Or Project

What is a heritage event?

This year, National Heritage Week celebrates the full return of in-person events. Events can take on a wide range of formats, including walking tours, lectures, craft workshops or demonstrations, concerts, exhibitions and festivals. If you are organising an in-person event, consider the following questions:

• What is the goal of the event? What would you like attendees to learn or experience?
• What size audience will ensure the best experience for attendees?
• Is your event welcoming to diverse audiences, including those new to heritage or new to your community?
• Is your event accessible? Can you do anything further to improve accessibility?
• Is your event sustainable? Are the materials you use environmentally friendly? Are you sourcing from your locality? How do people get there? For tips on organising sustainable events, check out this article from European Heritage Days.

Organisers are welcome to create hybrid events, for example live stream an in-person event on Zoom, Facebook or YouTube. Running a hybrid event may help you to reach a non-local audience or include those who cannot access the event in-person. If you plan to live stream your event, be sure to include the appropriate link when filling out the submission form in the Organisers’ Portal.

What is a digital heritage project?

Following their popularity over the last number of years, National Heritage Week once again invites organisers to create digital heritage projects which will be shared on the Heritage Week website. The results of your digital project should be presented in a format that can be shared widely, for example an online talk or exhibition; a video; podcast or oral history recording; a PowerPoint presentation or blog; through your community’s or organisation’s newsletter; via an interview with a local radio station or newspaper; or through a dedicated website or social media account. For tips on creating and sharing digital projects, visit our Technical Resources page and our Webinars page.

If you would like to organise both an in-person event and a digital heritage project, please note that you must fill out a separate submission form for each in the Organisers’ Portal.

Heritage resources

Below are some key resources that can help you get started designing your heritage event / project. Visit the Useful Links page for a list of some of Ireland’s heritage organisations.

101 Event Ideas for National Heritage Week 2023

Need some inspiration for ideas? Our 101 Event ideas guide will give you the inspiration for running your own events during National Heritage Week.

European Heritage Days 2023: Living Heritage

This guide provides an overview of European Heritage Days’ 2023 theme of living heritage and outlines how you can support traditions and practices that may be disappearing by hosting events on them. It also provides guidelines for best practices in supporting cultural heritage and ideas for planning Living heritage events.

Heritage Resource Guide: Making Connections with the Past and Present

This Heritage Resource guide compiles a range of online heritage resources including archives, digital collections, data bases and inventories, GIS applications, video, mobile apps, most of which can be accessed freely on personal devices. It covers numerous subjects, e.g. archaeology and history, architecture, coastal and marine, habitats and species, museums and collections.

Heritage: All-Inclusive!

This guide from European Heritage Days 2021 highlights how heritage organisers can celebrate regional and national diversity to welcome all to participate in our rich heritage.

Guidelines for Sustainable Heritage Events

Use these guidelines to make your event a more sustainable event.

NHW Sustainable Events Guide

NHW Sustainability Checklist

Ireland's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Take a look at the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage for inspiration for your project. The inventory exists to promote, protect and celebrate Ireland’s living cultural heritage. It provides official State recognition of cultural practices all around Ireland.

Oral History Network of Ireland

The Oral History Network of Ireland brings together individuals, local history groups and academics, collecting and using oral history, so that each can learn from the other. It offers advice and training on how best to carry out oral history projects including ethics, interview skills, etc.

The Irish Archive Resource

This portal will link you to archival collections throughout the island of Ireland. Archives are the documents and records that relate to people, places, organisations, and events. You can use this portal to locate archives relating to your area of interest or research topic.

Ask about Ireland - Libraries

Explore the exciting online content from Ireland's public libraries. Collections include digitised articles, photos, audios, illustrations, drawings, indexes and historical documents.

HeritageMaps.ie

Find or identify heritage sites and explore heritage data sets anywhere in Ireland. The HeritageMaps.ie viewer provides access to national heritage data sets in map form, while incorporating additional contextual data from a wide range of online sources.

‘Adopt a Monument Research’ toolkit

Find out how to begin a research project on a local monument with this useful toolkit from the Heritage Council.

Engaging the Public During Works To Traditional Buildings

This publication will be useful for building owners, contractors, tradespeople, local authorities and community groups setting out to engage the public
with conservation skills and the importance of traditional buildings.

National Monuments Survey

This is an interactive map viewer where you can zoom into any part of Ireland and learn more about an archaeological monument.

Placenames Database of Ireland

This database of placenames in Ireland contains a glossary and distribution map, more than 7,000 toponymic sources and other features.

Coastal Heritage Directory

A natural and built coastal heritage resource, advising on how to identify heritage features in your own local area.

National Archives

The National Archives holds a wealth of information about Ireland’s past. Use the search bar in the online catalogue to find out more.

Online time machine

A Heritage Council tutorial for primary school children, their teachers and parents presented by Heritage in Schools Specialist, John D. Ruddy.

Gardening for Biodiversity

This useful booklet offers great ideas for what you can do to support wildlife in your garden. It's produced by Local Authority Heritage Officers across Ireland, with help from the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Heritage Council.

Care, Recording and Conservation of Graveyards

Take a look at these fantastic resources about the care, recording and conservation of graveyards, which were developed with LEADER funding by Galway Rural Development and Galway County Council.

Traditional Building Skills

This resource page on traditional building skills provides helpful information on how historic buildings (i.e. constructed before World War 2) can be repaired and maintained.

Noticing nature in your local park

Join Heritage in Schools expert, Dr Paddy Madden on this Heritage Council tutorial for primary school children and their parents, which will help them to identify some of the wildlife they might see on their springtime walks.

Backyard BioBlitz

Join Heritage in Schools experts Fionn and Jonathan Angus in this tutorial for primary school children, explaining what a BioBlitz is, and what equipment and guides are useful for blitzing the garden at home.

Design & Crafts Council Ireland

Here you will find a series of short videos showcasing a range of crafts and skills, including weaving, felting and pottery.

IFI Player

Hosted by the IFI, The Loopline Collection Vol II includes ‘Hidden Treasures’ – a four-part documentary series looking at heritage and traditions in Ireland.

How to make a biodiversity map of your garden

Heritage in Schools expert Michéle's step by step tutorial shows you how to draw a biodiversity/habitat map of your garden so that you can record where the different garden species are located. Your map can help you plan improvements to increase the biodiversity of your garden.

Climate Change and Historic Towns: Adapting to Change

This document from a conference in 2019 shares the stories of 12 Irish towns and how they responded to climate threats to their built, natural and intangible heritage.

Trinity Disability Service

Explore this page to learn about how you can make your social media posts and profiles more accessible.