The Antonine Wall once separated people—can we use it to connect people through storytelling? As a symbol of imperial power, the site’s narrative has often centred on dominant groups, leaving many voices unheard.

Held at The Hunterian, this workshop aimed to counter bias in World Heritage education and meaningfully engage refugees with the stories of the Antonine Wall. Participants immersed themselves in, and critiqued, the site’s interpretation by exploring Verecunda’s life and indicating the wall (barrier), a bridge (connection), and a door (curiosity).

Storytelling, creative writing, and group discussion enabled participants to share personal and cultural narratives. This participatory approach fostered trust, transformed barriers, and enabled two-way learning.

The workshop demonstrates how storytelling can dismantle walls, build bridges, and open doors for all.

While Edinburgh is a city of contrast, can it be a city of integration? Edinburgh’s architecture and layout stand out for their differences. But do the people and culture integrate in this diverse city?
During the workshop, participants used photography to capture intangible elements and express their personal narratives, enriching understandings of Edinburgh’s heritage. Through these creative methods, they critically engaged with the city’s colonial history and its ties to slavery, reflecting on whose stories are included or excluded. Participants offered thoughtful suggestions for incorporating a wider range of perspectives into future heritage interpretation.

The workshop demonstrated that valuing lived experience and diverse viewpoints is crucial for interpreting Edinburgh’s layered history and creating a more inclusive sense of belonging.

To address interpretation gaps at HONO, we used digital heritage elicitation as our main methodology. Participants engaged remotely with interactive 3D models of Neolithic monuments, sharing perspectives that traditional approaches might overlook. The workshop encouraged participants to act as creators, identifying gaps and bringing contemporary meanings to the sites through artistic and reflective practices.

Drawing on their diverse worldviews, participants showed that heritage interpretation is inherently shaped by personal and cultural frameworks. The workshop demonstrated that digital and participatory methods can deepen emotional connections, foster creativity, and enable heritage interpretation to become an inclusive, co-created process rather than one dominated by professionals.

While New Lanark is the physical embodiment of Robert Owen’s utopian vision, can it also become a place where people are empowered to discuss their rights and imagine their ideal society?

In this participatory drawing workshop, held at New Lanark, participants explored ideas of utopia and heritage through drawing and collage. The session included site tours, icebreakers, reflective art-making, and group sharing. These creative activities helped connect participants’ personal ideals with the site’s unique history, while also encouraging open discussion about rights to education, fair living, and decent work.

This workshop showed that creative co-creation can spark meaningful conversations, inspire shared values, and strengthen community bonds.

We aim to transform New Lanark into an agency that fulfils its social purpose. Our goal is to evolve to stay relevant to our community and to widen access for visitors. This workshop at New Lanark, based on a worldview-oriented education model, combined site tours, photography, and reflective exercises. Refugee youths shared their visions for an ideal world, using cameras to capture their impressions and engaging in creative exercises that linked the site’s heritage with discussions of human rights and future aspirations. 

Building on our previous Antonine Wall storytelling workshop at the Hunterian Museum, this session held in Kirkintilloch delved deeper into the contemporary significance of the Antonine Wall.

We delivered a readers theatre featuring three stories: one about a Roman soldier, one about a Caledonian girl, and one about a child who inherited both cultures. Each narrative drew on the empathic themes introduced in the first workshop, highlighting personal, cultural, and geopolitical complexities of life along the Wall and linking them to relevant museum objects.

The workshop, held in collaboration with the Auld Kirk Museum, used personal storytelling and historical artefacts to create a creative space where diverse voices could be heard. This approach enabled participants to reimagine the Antonine Wall not as a boundary but as a meeting place rich with empathy, connection, and shared meaning.

At the end of the ‘We Share World Heritage’ project, we invited all participants and supporters to join a final reflection at the World Tea House Workshop. Centred around the ritual of sharing tea, this event embraced the World Café methodology to foster open, creative discussion and genuine community spirit.

Participants rotated through three themed tables—Wall, Bridge, and Door—each offering a different flavour of tea and a carefully crafted set of questions:

• Wall: explored memorable moments and challenges associated with World Heritage Sites, and what they symbolise for individuals.

• Bridge: focused on connections and transformations made through the project, such as building bridges between cultures and insights gained.

• Door: invited imaginative thinking about the future, encouraging participants to envision ideal heritage experiences and new possibilities.

Outcomes from the workshop included strengthened connections, a deeper collective understanding of heritage, and a wealth of insights and creative ideas to guide future actions. The event concluded with gift-giving, celebrating the shared journey of all involved.