ANVPAH-VSS seminar - Heritage and architecture mediation and promotion: the role of the guide

The seminar emphasised the fact that alongside heritage professionals, including architects, curators or historians, a new group of staff skilled in mediation has emerged, namely guides and speakers.

The aim of the seminar was to give more detailed consideration to the role of guides and their place in the world of work, with an analysis of the existing situation and the start of a debate on the difficulties associated with these professions. The seminar is one of a series of events around the themes the ANVPAH-VSS has opted to focus on in 2006: training programmes and courses of study, conversion courses and job harmonisation, and professional mobility, amongst others.

The Scientific Director of the International Rivers and Heritage Institute, Vincent Perthuisot, gave a presentation during the session devoted to training for professional guides, on courses with a focus on heritage and on guiding in particular, in French universities. He covered in detail some examples of these courses offered by the universities in the Val de Loire. He was supported by Mieke Overlaet, a guide and speaker in Angers, who also holds a teaching post at the University of Angers.