5th Annual Conference: Heritage Management Education and Practice

Heritage in the post-COVID-19 World was the theme of our last conference^[1] which concluded with a few key takeaways for pursuing heritage management in the days to come. Among them, the two most pertinent themes are proposed for a rigorous follow-up in the fifth edition of the conference – heritage economics and digital technologies. The two threads deserve a full conference deliberation for each topic separately but our intent is to explore their intersections with each other to articulate ways in which we can work creatively and sustainably. We invite thinkers, practitioners, and learners who are comfortable with either or both of these thematic areas to join us in these deliberations at Ahmedabad University and share your expertise to find innovative ways of managing the diverse and rich heritage that we live with.

One of the key revelations of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as many recurring disasters has been the lack of recognition of many sectors pertaining to arts and cultural heritage. This was reflected in the confusion and ignorance about their skills and creative practice when it came to accounting for relief and support systems to revitalize the economy after the pandemic disruption. On the other hand, it is also heartening to see that many in such communities survived the impact of the pandemic as they were creative enough to understand their sector and (re)position quickly into the changing scenarios. Among many other scenarios, this is what brings us to delve deeper in the upcoming conference – to reflect on the broader theme of heritage economics and emerging opportunities brought in by the digital technologies.

We propose to engage in many cross-cutting areas of inquiry like the following but not limited to:

• economics of arts and arts management (crafts are also arts)
• traditional economies and their relevance to today’s society
• Cultural Resource Accounting
• prospects of cultural economics
• digital empowerment to artists and artistes
• digital technologies as an engaging too for heritage management including arts restoration
• economics of arts conservation
• innovations during the COVID-19 pandemics (both in economic and technology perspectives)

^{[1] Just for reference here, the themes or our conference series had been like this:
International Conference on Heritage Management Education and Practice (umbrella theme always)
2017: Exploring Connections across Disciplines and Stakeholders
2018: Developing Integrated Approaches
2019: Ensuring Fair Access and Inclusion in Heritage Management Processes
2022: Heritage in the Post Covid-10 World}