How Might Perceptions of Heritage Be a Barrier to Engagement?

What is this advice about?

This advice is for anyone interested in examining and challenging existing perceptions of heritage. We know that many people perceive heritage as “not for them”, irrelevant to their lives, or inaccessible. On this page, we outline some of the perceptions people may have that prevent them from engaging with heritage and suggest ways to challenge these.

What are the key points?

Why might people feel like heritage isn’t for them?

There are many reasons why people don’t engage with heritage as visitors, volunteers, active participants in heritage projects, or members of the heritage sector workforce.

They may feel that heritage isn’t “for people like me” if they cannot see anyone who looks like them represented in heritage. They might feel intimidated, or like they don’t know enough to participate or engage.

It might be that newer communities to England feel that their heritage is elsewhere, or that heritage professionals don’t do a good enough job of showing how other cultures have shaped English heritage.

Research conducted by WHO reveals that a number of people feel “out of place” in traditional heritage settings, including neurodivergent people, those with mental health conditions, and young children. 12% of minority ethnic participants reported feeling out of place in heritage settings, compared to 6% of their White counterparts. These perceptions are a significant barrier to engagement for certain groups.

There is also the (often correct) perception that heritage is prohibitively expensive to engage with, which is a significant barrier for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as being physically inaccessible for disabled people. A National Audit Office study identified that heritage sites are seen “as the most difficult form of culture for disabled people to access physically, both to get to and to get around once there.”

Others may perceive heritage to be irrelevant to their lives or uninteresting.

How can we change these perceptions of heritage?

Heritage is everyone's business. The heritage sector has a lot of work to do to change perceptions of heritage as elitist, intimidating, inaccessible and uninclusive.

Here are some potential solutions to overcoming the barriers caused by these perceptions:

Skills building for your staff and volunteers

Organisations should recognise and address the lack of understanding and skills needed when working with (and for) groups underserved by heritage.

Through investing in training and capacity-building initiatives, you can empower heritage professionals to develop culturally sensitive approaches and tailor their offerings to meet the needs of a diverse audience. This inclusive approach should be implemented throughout your staff team, including your most senior staff, trustees, and volunteers.

Improving accessibility

Improving the physical access of your heritage site or projects will go a long way towards challenging perceptions of heritage not being for disabled people. In addition, there are other ways to address barriers for disabled people. Find out more

Adopting a culture of co-creation

By actively involving underserved communities in creating heritage experiences, organisations can foster a sense of ownership and belonging, ensuring that heritage truly reflects the diversity of society.

Co-creation means going beyond thinking of diverse groups as subjects or audiences and involving them in decision-making processes and throughout every stage of your heritage project or work. This helps to demonstrate in a meaningful way that everyone's perspective is valued and valuable and that everyone can bring expertise of different kinds to understand and interpret heritage.

Improving representation of marginalised or underrepresented people

People are more likely to feel like heritage is for them if they see people like them represented. This might be through exhibitions or projects, those involved in projects, the kinds of heritage stories you tell, or the imagery you use to market your events and your work (providing it is done authentically).

Diversifying your workforce

This is more of a long-term commitment. Workforces should aim to be reflective of the societies they serve, so make strategic plans towards increasing the diversity of your workforce, your volunteers, and your trustees. Find out more

Growing future active participants, volunteers, and visitors

Building a truly representative heritage sector is a long-term aim, as well as making other more immediate steps to remove barriers of perception, start young, work with local schools, youth groups and young people organisations to create opportunities for young people and children to build skills, connect with others through heritage, and to grow their pride in the places they live and visit.

Exploring heritage outside of traditional heritage settings

Heritage is all around us, and by working with communities where they are in their local areas, you can challenge perceptions that heritage is all about palaces and country estates. For example, Historic England's Everyday Heritage Grants are aimed at projects about working-class histories that celebrate more relatable stories.

Get to know your local communities and understand what's important to them. It might be a sports venue, a community centre, a pub or a park; there is a rich heritage to be explored in all of these places.

Building a legacy of inclusion

Work to reduce barriers should not be tokenistic or considered a box-ticking exercise. Building sustainability and legacy into programmes aimed at marginalised groups is essential. Perceptions aren't changed overnight and won't be 'solved' following a one-off project. Embed ongoing efforts to challenge perceptions and barriers into your strategies and long-term planning.

How can we measure if perceptions of heritage are changing?

Consider measuring the changes in perceptions amongst the communities you work with through surveys or focus groups. This will help give you a steer as to which approaches work best. It might also motivate you to see the ways in which your efforts are helping to make people feel like heritage is for them.

A simple way to do this is to produce a survey for participants to complete at the beginning and the end of your project. If it's a long-running project, you might want to survey participants during the project too. You could ask them to what extent they agree and disagree with statements such as:

• "I feel like heritage is for me"
• "I am interested in getting involved with other heritage projects"
• "I feel proud of the place I live/my local area"
• "I feel that my heritage is recognised and celebrated"

Remember to leave free-text boxes too for participants to complete, and ensure there are alternative and additional ways to capture how they feel about their involvement and heritage (for example, 1-to-1 conversations, focus groups, and regular check-ins).