ARA 2023 Conference “Communities” programme is live
The programme for our 2023 Conference in Belfast 30th August to 1st September “Communities” is now live on the conference website here. This will be updated on a regular basis.
Our 2022 Conference in Chester was a great success, building on the excellent programme we provided last year we have been excited to receive a wonderful range of proposals for this year’s programme.
Keynote Speakers
Our three keynotes are now confirmed, they are:
Dr Peter Crooks, Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer in Medieval History, Trinity College Dublin & Founding Director, ‘Beyond 2022: Ireland’s Virtual Record Treasury’
Emma Markiewicz – Director of the London Metropolitan Archives.
Emma joined London Metropolitan Archives as Director in early 2022 and is responsible for developing and delivering a large-scale audience development programme to re-imagine how we engage people and make our collections accessible to everyone. Before joining the City of London Corporation, Emma worked at The National Archives for over 15 years in roles facing the public, government and archives sector and on a diverse range of topics including fundraising, apprenticeships, advocacy and digitisation programmes.
Jayne Brady - Head of Civil Service in Northern Ireland
The Thursday keynote for our ARA Conference in 2022 was from David Smith, from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. David is also the UK Government's Head of Profession for Knowledge and Information Management Professionals. It was David's first time at the ARA Conference and when ARA Communications Manager, Deborah Mason, caught up with him after his speech, she asked him about his experience of the conference.
Six tracks to follow
There are six tracks to the programme this year to make it easier for people to plan their attendance and follow particular streams:
Archives & Records
Conservation
Record keeping profession
Users and communities
Digital
Information Governance
Some topics cross all streams – in 2018 we made a commitment to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of what we do and there is a great line up of talks, panels and workshops for all those interested in this topic. We also have the return of ‘Is It Okay’ the fringe session led by Jenny Moran (pictured below with Villy Magero and Saman Quaraishi) which proved to be one of the hits of 2022.
Villy Magero, Jenny Moran and Saman Quaraishi at the ‘Is it Okay?’ fringe event Chester 2022
Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and Inclusion means many different things and we have sessions on:
Accessibility: Sarah Trim-West on Assistance dogs in archives – aiding our journey towards a more inclusive sector and Diversity and Inclusion Allies, Philip Milne-Smith and Iida Saarinen on Accessibility: From Recruitment and retention to serving our users
Language: Niamh Ni Charra on Archives and Minoritised Languages, Lindsey Loebig on Understanding harmful language statements.
LGBTQIA+: Lindsey Gillespie on Representation matters: LGBTQIA+ community engagement and collections building at PRONI and Louise Nelson – Creatively Engaging – Exploring LGBTQI+ history thought the Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard Archives.
Women: Claire Lanigan on Archiving Activist Communities – The Archiving Reproductive Health project’s work building relationships with grassroots feminist organisations.
Ethnicity/Faith: Elise Bath – Recovery and Repair – supporting Jewish family histories of holocaust in Britain.
Inclusive practice: Jenny Shaw – Power, Control and Experience: challenges at the heart of developing inclusive archive collections.
Speakers are coming to Belfast not just from the five countries we represent as ARA UK & Ireland (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) but also from USA, Netherlands, Australia, Japan and Zimbabwe.
Zoe Reid, Keeper, National Archives Ireland, speaking at ARA Conference, Chester 2022
Conservation
There is as always a very strong Conservation stream with the usual fascinating case studies and explorations of new as well as tried and trusted techniques. This year we also have presentations on a range of topics that will be of interest to both conservators and the whole recordkeeping profession including:
Phillipa Räder – Founding a Community Interest Company – a new way of conservators working together in Wales,
Elizabeth Hébert – Building communities in the digital age: the role of social media in connecting the stewards of cultural heritage,
Saya Honda Miles – Green Archives – Mitigating the environmental impact of the archives with designated storage for photographic material
Victoria Stevens – Kintsugi Conservation – community conservation as a tool for improved wellbeing.
David Smith - Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities - 2022 Keynote speaker
Advocacy and engagement
Advocacy and engagement continue to be a strong theme across all the strands of the conference and presentations include:
Karyn Williamson on Advocacy for All – Getting the most from the Explore Your Archive campaign and
Natalie Adams looks at Stakeholders and business change – engaging stakeholder communities in the development of the Deposit Service, a new digital preservation tool for Cambridge University Library.
In a somewhat different context Barry Houlihan, Sarah-Anne Buckley, Leanne McCormick and Cate O’Neil present on Archival outreach, engagement and collaboration with the care experienced community.
And Tony King and Lauren Moon-Schott present on Understanding the value of priceless – a case study in stakeholder consultation.
Book now to get your early bird discount!
Book before 3rd May and get an early bird discount on your Full Delegate Rate.
ARA Member's also get a significant discount on the non-member rate:
ARA Member rates:
Early Bird Full Conference Member Rate (includes accommodation) £595
Full Conference Member Rate (includes accommodation) £650
Non member rates:
Early Bird Full Conference (includes accommodation) £730
Full Conference Rate includes accommodation) £780
The Full Conference rate includes:
Welcome reception Tuesday, reception and dinner Wednesday, Gala dinner Thursday.
3-day conference attendance including lunch and refreshments.
2 nights’ accommodation (Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st) at the Europa Hotel Belfast
Other rates are available including Full Conference, and day delegate rates.
Further information and booking can be found here.
If you have any questions about booking, need to pay via an invoice to your organisation etc, please get in touch at araconference@opening-doors.org.uk
ARA Members will need to have their membership ID handy when booking as membership will be checked during registration.
Bursaries
We are pleased to be able to offer the following bursaries this year:
4 ARA Bursaries
4 Ancestry Bursaries
2 Diversity Bursaries
1 New Professional Bursary
We are currently fundraising for the New Professional Bursary - if you'd like to help someone starting out in their career and give them the opportunity to attend the ARA Conference please give a fiver (or more - or less) via our giving platform.
You can read about the experience of last year's New Professional Bursary recipient here.