Part B — KEY THEMES

Engagement

Aim 02

Promote public awareness and engagement with the DVMWHS by presenting its Outstanding Universal Value through formal/informal learning, events, volunteering, interpretation and encouraging research.

Context

The DVMWHS has enormous value as a resource for engagement. The Property is an adaptable, valuable resource and can act as a source of inspiration and connection, providing a sense of place and an understanding of human achievement which still influences our everyday life.

This aim encourages a holistic focus on communicating and transmitting the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the World Heritage Site in engaging and fun ways. All of the sites and organisations within the Partnership have their own contributions towards the Outstanding Universal Value and/or stories of the Derwent Valley Mills.

It is recognised that some sites have dedicated engagement staff and some rely on volunteers – others have no dedicated engagement role. Although engagement can contribute to economic and development aims e.g. tourism, it is the intrinsic importance of transmission and understanding that is paramount, as identified in Article 4 of the World Heritage Convention.

Since 2014, there has not been a World Heritage Site coordinator to specifically support learning and research or the Learning and Research aims and objectives of the Management Plan. In 2016, a Learning and Research Panel was formed for the DVMWHS, bringing a greater learning focus to what was previously the Research and Publications Panel.

A research framework has been established for the DVMWHS and provides a structure for researchers to assist in developing a wider and deeper understanding of the DVMWHS and its OUV.  This can be utilised by both professional academics and local individuals and organisations.

The DVMWHS Partnership sees the arts as a key mechanism to engage local, national and international communities with the DVMWHS’s unique culture and heritage, and its Outstanding Universal Value. For this reason, arts engagement has been included within this Aim, however it should be seen as a thread running through all the aims.

The potential of the DVMWHS as a catalyst for creativity has developed since its inscription with the aim of bringing the World Heritage Site to life for both residents and visitors. A Public Art Strategy exists for the World Heritage Site.

Objectives and Actions for 2020-25

Obj 2.1

Communicate and develop a wider, and more thorough, understanding of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site’s Outstanding Universal Value.

ACT 2.1.1
Investigate securing additional resource to ensure delivery, co-ordination and advancement of the engagement objectives and actions.

ACT 2.1.2
Develop standardised training materials and use them to deliver an annual training day for engagement staff, site management and volunteers across the DVMWHS that focuses on OUV.

ACT 2.1.3
Develop a set of pre and post visit activity materials which sites and organisations can use with a range of audiences to help communicate OUV.

ACT 2.1.4
Seek opportunities for sustainable joint projects or funding which help to tell the story of the whole World Heritage Site, making it a coherent whole for all visitors and residents.

ACT 2.1.5
Recognise and explore the use of the DVMWHS and its relict landscape setting for improving health, well‐being and inclusion. Work with communities and other agencies in endeavouring to make these opportunities accessible for all.

ACT 2.1.6
Monitor, where possible, the engagement work across the DVMWHS, so that more targeted activities can be developed to engage audiences that are under-represented.

ACT 2.1.7
Through activities such as ‘Spirit of Place’⁵, develop a standardised non-technical description of the DVMWHS. From this description, a series of messages, including taglines and themes, will be developed. This will enable the story and OUV of the DVMWHS to be communicated simply and effectively to the widest possible range of audiences.

ACT 2.1.8
Across the DVMWHS Partnership, work to develop a coherent awareness and communications plan which clearly focuses on OUV and the reasons for inscription. This should include contributing to an annual newsletter/e‐news provision, social media output, visitor guides, promotional material and marketing.

ACT 2.1.9
Identify and recruit champions and patrons who can utilize their high level profiles to share the story of the DVMWHS, and act as advocates.

ACT 2.1.10
Continue to develop and grow links with other WHSs and explore other international links which help to communicate the OUV and global significance of the DVMWHS, including less positive themes, such as slavery.

ACT 2.1.11
Deliver biennial training on the OUV of the World Heritage Site for the management structures of organisations in the DVMWHS, including their trustees and directors etc.

⁵ ‘Spirit of Place’ is a National Trust initiative to distil and understand the essential qualities of a site so that they can inform management decisions.

Obj 2.2

Recognise and promote the value and importance of collections in helping to tell the stories which relate to the DVMWHS and its OUV.

ACT 2.2.1
Monitor the current known collections and respond appropriately where any threat to their security or care is identified.

ACT 2.2.2
Explore the use of these collections, and encourage greater public access to them, in line with the research aims in Objective 2.4, to further enhance the understanding and transmission of the DVMWHS and its OUV.

ACT 2.2.3
Seek and support the acquisition of collections and artefacts which enable a greater understanding of the mills and their communities.

ACT 2.2.4
Develop relationships, communications and exchanges with other organisations, individuals and museums to identify where collections exist which contribute to the story of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.

ACT 2.2.5
Create and promote a mechanism to ensure all archaeological research and fieldwork relating to the World Heritage Site is appropriately submitted in report form to the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record.

ACT 2.2.6
Seek to establish an ‘artefacts amnesty’, encouraging people to come forward and donate, to appropriate collections within or relating to the DVMWHS, artefacts which help in the understanding and appreciation of the Site’s Outstanding Universal Value.   

Obj 2.3

Continue to develop a strong core formal learning offer from the key sites and organisations, with explicit links to the key stories and OUV of the DVMWHS, including accredited learning and linking to the national curriculum where appropriate.

ACT 2.3.1
Support sites and organisations in collaborating and sharing best practice to ensure a wide ranging core formal learning offer is available across the WHS, which communicates the key stories and OUV.

ACT 2.3.2
Seek opportunities for jointly delivered formal learning projects which link the DVMWHS and its communities to other WHS sites nationally and internationally and with the key stories of the site (water, industry, textiles, social change, slavery etc.)

ACT 2.3.3
Work with formal learning providers in and around the World Heritage Site, to inspire them to engage directly with their heritage, developing a sense of pride and ownership in the site. This should include opportunities to develop employability skills, working creatively, entrepreneurially and practically.

ACT 2.3.4
Encourage sites and organisations to establish formal information and data sharing arrangements in line with legal requirements.  This will enable capturing of data about current visitors and audiences so gaps can be identified, audiences can be targeted and evaluation data can be used to continually develop and improve opportunities (See also 5.1.4).

Obj 2.4

Encourage, develop, direct and share research, in accordance with the DVMWHS Research Framework, to ensure a deeper, accurate and developing understanding of the OUV and stories relating to the WHS.

ACT 2.4.1
Create a robust mechanism which enables research findings to be reviewed and then incorporated into, and provide direction for, all engagement, e.g. interpretation, presentation, formal and informal learning and events.

ACT 2.4.2
Deliver a series of events, including an annual review, which encourage the use of the research framework across universities, researchers and local interest groups.

ACT 2.4.3
Capture research that provides additional understanding and evidence relating to Attributes (including in the surrounding landscape, buffer zone and beyond) and encourage its inclusion on the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. 

ACT 2.4.4
Work with the DVMWHS Educational Trust to deliver publications which support the dissemination of knowledge about the entirety of the Derwent Valley Mills and their communities in line with Objective 2.1.

Obj 2.5

Develop a cross-site informal learning strategy for different audiences e.g. young families, older families, adults, independent young people etc., with explicit links to the key stories and OUV of the DVMWHS.

ACT 2.5.1
Produce an informal learning strategy which is inclusive and accessible to all.

Obj 2.6

Create an achievable Interpretation and Presentation Action Plan for the whole DVMWHS. This will combine appropriate elements from the emerging interpretation and presentation approaches across the site.

ACT 2.6.1
Convene an Interpretation and Presentation Task Group which includes representation from the relevant sites, land owners/managers and organisations to ensure the action plan is coherent, relevant and fit for purpose.

ACT 2.6.2
Develop processes and activities which encourage all partners to work collaboratively and cooperatively to ensure accuracy, appropriateness and consistency in the telling of the stories pertaining to the DVMWHS and its OUV, e.g. producing recorded expert-led tours as guidance.

ACT 2.6.3
Ensure all interpretative material is appropriately evaluated in line with the evaluation procedure set out in Section 24.

ACT 2.6.4
Implement appropriate way-finding schemes to maximise audience engagement with the DVMWHS and its components, particularly from public transport hubs and strategic car parks.

ACT 2.6.5
Maximise opportunities, where appropriate, that enable a greater use of digital technology to deliver engagement.

Obj 2.7

Continue to expand the volunteering opportunities and increase the volunteer numbers across the DVMWHS.

ACT 2.7.1
Continue to compile and promote the range of volunteering opportunities available across the World Heritage Site, including on the DVMWHS website and social media.

ACT 2.7.2
Establish a DVMWHS Volunteer Co-ordinators network to share, discuss and explore volunteering opportunities.  This should explore the option for accredited DVMWHS volunteer training, covering a range of skills, sites and organisations. It should also explore the development of site-wide transferable volunteer role descriptions, including offering qualifications where appropriate, and provide opportunities for the sharing of best practice.

ACT 2.7.3
Provide appropriate support materials and an annual training programme to empower volunteers to better understand and promote, protect and conserve the whole of the DVMWHS and its OUV and to provide an enjoyable, meaningful and rewarding volunteer experience.

ACT 2.7.4
Seek and maximise opportunities to recognise, celebrate and award the significant contribution that volunteers make to the on-going engagement, maintenance and protection of the DVMWHS.

ACT 2.7.5
Promote the benefits of volunteering in the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, including for health and well-being.

Obj 2.8

Enrich the DVMWHS offer for visitors and residents through events which creatively tell the stories of the DVMWHS, its Outstanding Universal Value and unique selling points.

ACT 2.8.1
Develop a timetable leading to a co‐ordinated site-wide approach to events planning to maximise effort and cross-site collaboration and support.

ACT 2.8.2
Ensure that events planning takes into consideration significant anniversaries relating to the DVMWHS and its OUV – including but not limited to the 20th anniversary of inscription, 250th anniversary of Arkwright’s first mill at Cromford and 300th anniversary of Derby’s Silk Mill, all in 2021.

ACT 2.8.3
Encourage the sharing of event details in a defined format and in line with the timetable in 2.8.1 to enable maximum promotion from the central DVMWHS website and social media channels.

ACT 2.8.4
Review and evaluate the DVMWHS Discovery Days Festival annually, exploring avenues for development and delivery in terms of focus, theme, direction and audience. This should consider alternative mechanisms which deliver the equivalent or better levels of engagement and learning for a broad audience and take into consideration lessons learned from the Great Place Scheme.

ACT 2.8.5
Explore the potential for working with other Derbyshire sites in developing a festival or similar events which build on the county’s Georgian-era heritage, e.g. Chatsworth and Buxton Crescent.

ACT 2.8.6
Continue to deliver and develop a comprehensive walks and talks programme from the organisations, partners and volunteers in the DVMWHS, including provision for self-led walks and exploring opportunities.

Obj 2.9

Promote arts activity through the DVMWHS to engage people with the unique culture and heritage of the DVMWHS.

ACT 2.9.1
Review and update the DVMWHS Public Arts Strategy.

ACT 2.9.2
Promote the innovation and making inspired by the industrial heritage of the DVMWHS through arts activities.

ACT 2.9.3
Deliver a Creative Programme.

ACT 2.9.4
Encourage reference to arts activity in partners’ strategic plans to help secure a legacy of arts engagement.

ACT 2.9.5
Investigate, support and deliver the broadest range of arts engagement which maximises audience participation and helps to tell the story of the DVMWHS and its OUV, including more challenging aspects (eg slavery). These could include artists in residence, time-limited installations and works in the public realm (including performances), such as more targeted arts activity in Discovery Days and through projects within the DVMWHS Great Place Scheme.

Obj 2.10

Recognise and maximise the contribution that the Arts and Media make to engagement with, and understanding of, the cultural heritage of the DVMWHS.  (This Objective needs to be read in conjunction with OBJ 4.5).

ACT 2.10.1
Promote the DVMWHS and its OUV to broadcast media, film, literature, performance and the wider creative industries, to encourage them to share the stories with wider national and international audiences.

Obj 2.11

Develop activities, with partners, that will help attract a more diverse range of audiences to visit the DVMWHS. This objective has strong links with Aim 4.

ACT 2.11.1
Investigate the viability of a ‘branded’ marathon/ half-marathon/ triathlon or park run to encourage new users to the DVMWHS.

ACT 2.11.2
Look into the possibilities of food trails or distinctive cuisine or drink which can be marketed to potential visitors.

ACT 2.11.3
Investigate and develop cultural experience packages e.g. 21 things to do before you’re 21 in the DVMWHS, links to other local events (e.g. Wirksworth Festival), hidden heritage etc.

ACT 2.11.4
Explore the possibility of a bookable guided tour of the DVMWHS on a bus or minibus.

Obj 2.12

Provide, where and when resources allow, support and knowledge for heritage interpretation, conservation, restoration and learning projects within the wider valley and sub-region, to ensure related heritage areas and attractions in the vicinity can benefit from proximity and connections to the DVMWHS and its OUV, and work for the wider collective benefit of the county.

ACT 2.12.1
Monitor requests and encourage communication from partners and similar bodies in the sub-region, and provide assistance, when able, for interpretation and other projects.