Field of Presentation

Art, Folklore, History, Multiple projects in multiple heritage settings

Session Proposal

Making use of multiple modes of engagement, museums and heritage sites provide rich experiences that bring history and cultural heritage to life using authentic spaces, stories, and objects to encourage reflection, inquiry, and discussion. The use of live performance - theatre, dance, mime, song and spoken word, storytelling, etc. - has created new modalities of engagement as the well-established field of museum theatre has increasingly embraced interdisciplinary and contemporary forms of performance practice to create new formats for museums & heritage learning. This presentation will showcase six projects, which took place in Brussels, Belgium between 2008 and 2013, and that sought to combine heritage interpretation and performance in a way that was either inclusive of multiple languages simultaneously, or which opted for a non-verbal approach in order to overcome language barriers. 

Professional Bio

Rebecca Shelley is a producer and programme manager specialised in arts education and public engagement in heritage settings. A graduate of Rose Bruford College, UK (European Theatre Arts) and the Erasmus Mundus MA in International Performance Research (University of Arts Belgrade, RS and University of Warwick, UK), she has been working with cultural institutions, heritage attractions and civil society organisations for around twenty years – primarily in Belgium, Greece and the United Kingdom. She is co-founder and co-chair of the museum theatre company Heterotopia, which focuses on the promotion of performing arts in the interpretation of cultural heritage, and she currently serves as a trustee of the UK branch of Europa Nostra; the pan-European federation for cultural heritage.