During the first week of December, Edinburgh World Heritage in partnership with KMKD hosted a leadership school as part of project KORU – an initiative, funded by the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, to help protect the rich cultural heritage of the southern Turkish cities of Mardin and Antakya.
The week revolved around a series of talks, workshops, lectures and outdoor games to teach students and professionals alike the many leadership skills involved in undertaking heritage projects.
 
The programme was framed around the issue of sustainability in the World Heritage Site: delegates were split into groups and were tasked with coming up with a new vision for the Tron Kirk, an iconic building at risk on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Topics covered included energy efficiency of historic buildings, inclusive governance in tourism and the importance of the public realm – key issues to be explored by the AtlaS.WH project.
 
The ideas put forward by the delegates for the Tron Kirk on the final day of the leadership school were innovative, creative and showed a real depth of knowledge of all the issues raised during the week. Organising such an intensive event was excellent preparation for future activities to be undertaken as part of the AtlaS.WH project.
 
URL:
https://www.ewh.org.uk/project/koru-project-turkey/