Engaging Place, Shaping Futures Conference Theme

For fifty years, interpreters across Canada have helped people connect with places, stories, and each other. Over that time, interpretation has shifted—from instructive and expert-driven approaches toward more facilitative, dialogic, and community-centred practices—while remaining grounded in strong foundations of knowledge, place-based learning and visitor experience. These shifts have been influenced by growing recognition of multiple knowledge systems, including Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and relating to place.

Engaging Place, Shaping Futures invites interpreters to reflect on the ideas, values, and practices that have shaped the field, while critically exploring how interpretation must continue to evolve in response to changing social, cultural, and environmental contexts. Grounded in the Kingston region’s layered natural, Indigenous, military, and cultural histories, the conference understands Indigenous presence, knowledge, and relationships to place as enduring and foundational—not historical footnotes, but living contexts that shape interpretation past, present, and future.

This includes a wide spectrum of approaches—from traditional media such as exhibits, panels, guided tours, and publications, to interactive, participatory, and co-created experiences.

This theme is intentionally broad, allowing space for diverse voices, sites, and approaches, while providing a coherent narrative arc for the conference: where we have been, where we are now, and how we move forward together.

Sub-Themes (Proposed Streams)

These sub-themes are designed to be interconnected rather than siloed. Proposals may align with one or more areas and are encouraged to reflect the ways Indigenous perspectives, knowledge systems, and relationships to land, water, and community inform interpretive practice across contexts. Technology, AI, and digital tools are intentionally embedded throughout the streams, reflecting how technology now shapes interpretation alongside theory, ethics, place‑making, and visitor experience.

1. Foundations, Voices, and the Evolving Practice

Understanding interpretation through time, dialogue, and shared authority

This stream explores how interpretation has developed over five decades and how the field continues to evolve through dialogue, collaboration, and diverse perspectives. It considers the foundational ideas that shaped interpretation practice while examining how interpreters are adapting their work in response to new social, cultural, and ethical contexts. It considers both established interpretive approaches and emerging practices.

Topics may include:

• The role of traditional interpretive media (e.g., exhibits, panels, audio tours, publications) in shaping visitor understanding
  
• Revisiting and updating legacy interpretive materials and exhibits
  
• Balancing accuracy, authority, and multiple perspectives in both personal and non-personal interpretation
  
• The evolution from one-way communication to dialogic and participatory approaches
  
• How interpretation theory and practice have evolved over five decades
  
• What has endured—and why
  
• Teaching and re-teaching “Interpretation 101” for new generations
  
• Intergenerational learning and professional memory
  
• Facilitating dialogue rather than delivering conclusions
  
• Interpreting contested and difficult histories
  
• Indigenous-led and co-created interpretation
  
• Building trust and relevance through collaboration
  
• Ethical considerations around technology, AI, authorship, and data in interpretive storytelling
  
• How technological shifts—from analog to digital to AI—have influenced interpretive thinking and methods
  

2. Place at the Centre: From Local Stories to Shared Meaning

Interpreting place in a connected world

This stream highlights the central role of place in interpretation, exploring how natural and cultural landscapes shape the stories we tell and the experiences we create. It considers how local narratives can open pathways to broader conversations about identity, history, and stewardship.

Topics may include:

• Designing place-based exhibits, signage, and self-guided experiences
  
• The role of orientation spaces, visitor centres, and exhibits in shaping first impressions of place
  
• Scenic viewpoints, trails, and landscape interpretation without direct facilitation
  
• Using digital media (apps, audio guides, AR) to extend place-based storytelling
  
• Local stories as gateways to national and global conversations
  
• Interpreting natural and cultural landscapes together
  
• Urban, rural, marine, and small-site perspectives
  
• Kingston and the surrounding region as living case studies
  
• Community connections to place and belonging
  
• Using digital and immersive tools to support—not substitute—place-based connection

3. Designing Resilient and Meaningful Experiences

Sustaining interpretation through innovation, care, and practice

This stream focuses on how interpreters design engaging experiences and sustain their work in times of environmental, social, and institutional change. It highlights practical approaches to creating meaningful visitor experiences while supporting the resilience of interpreters, organizations, and sites.

Topics may include:

• Designing effective interpretive panels, exhibits, and self-guided trails
  
• Creating layered experiences that work with or without staff presence
  
• Exhibit design for accessibility, durability, and changing content
  
• Maintaining and refreshing interpretive media over time
  
• Blending personal and non-personal interpretation for deeper impact
  
• Environmental, social, and institutional change and their implications for interpretation
  
• Supporting small sites and limited resources
  
• Interpreter well-being and professional sustainability
  
• Designing meaningful visitor experiences and engagement
  
• Outdoor, embodied, and wellness-based interpretation
  
• Informal learning, play, and experimentation
  
• Measuring impact and quality visitor experience
  
• Adapting practice while maintaining quality experiences
  
• Thoughtfully blending in-person, digital, and hybrid interpretive experiences
  
• Digital tools and AI as supports for capacity, access, experimentation, and resilience
  

Please visit our call for proposals page to learn about submitting a session.