Professional Development
Perfectionnement professionnel
Interpretation Canada hosts a variety of professional development opportunities through the year. These activities aim to inspire and engage members, encouraging them to reflect upon and share their professional practice. Interprétation Canada tient une vaste gamme d’activités de perfectionnement professionnel au fil de l’année. Ces activités ont pour but d’intéresser et d’inspirer les membres et de les encourager à réfléchir et à échanger sur leur pratique professionnelle. |
“Inspiring Montgomery” Exhibit, Green Gables Heritage Place (Parks Canada). Photo: Parks Canada Exposition « Inspiring Montgomery », site patrimonial Green Gables (Parcs Canada). Photo: Parcs Canada |
Current Offerings
Check back, or watch for the next Interpretation Canada members’ newsletter, for future upcoming professional development events. To stay informed about future sessions, sign up for our newsletter.
Pedagogy and Play: Testing Ideas in Exhibition Design
October 27, 12–1 PM MST
Presenter: Aida Ali, Senior Manager, Education, Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art
Join Aida Ali as she shares learnings from the testing of play-based activities as tools for visitor dialogue at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto, ON.
In this session, participants will explore how the Gardiner Museum created an exhibition anchored in play and multi modal learning to test out new interpretive approaches during a period of renovation. Co-curated with the Education team, the exhibition featured hands-on activity stations as tools for visitor dialogue, which also helped us gather real-time feedback to inform our permanent gallery redesign.
This session will be a 20 minute presentation with 40 minutes of small-group dialogue.
The session is ideal for museum professionals looking to bring more experimentation, collaboration, and visitor voice into exhibition design.
Attendees will leave with: A framework for treating exhibitions as iterative rather than fixed final products; a model for cross-departmental collaboration; strategies for designing activity stations and label-writing processes that surface multiple institutional voices; approaches for building visitor feedback loops that can inform future programming and space design.
Presenter bio:
Aida Ali (she/her) is an educator who has held positions in teaching, teacher training, community engagement, and leadership development in schools and museums across four countries, with a focus on creating educational spaces that foster a sense of belonging. Aida has an M.Ed. in Art and Art Education with a concentration in Museum Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. with honors in Classical Archaeology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is currently the Senior Manager of Education at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto, and serves as co-chair of the professional organization Gallery and Museum Engagement (GAME).
Cost to attend:
- IC Members: this event is free, but we invite you to choose to donate $10 to help IC cover costs of planning our professional development sessions
- Non-members: $60
From Interpreter to CEO: A Journey in Purpose, Connection, and Conservation
November 10, 1–1 PM EST
Presenter: Dolf deJong, CEO, Toronto Zoo
Join Dolf DeJong, CEO of the Toronto Zoo, as he reflects on his career journey from park interpreter to leading one of Canada's foremost conservation organizations.
Through stories, lessons learned, and moments of unexpected opportunity, Dolf will explore how the skills at the heart of interpretation—connecting people to nature, inspiring curiosity, and creating meaningful experiences—have shaped his leadership path and continue to guide his work today.
This session will offer insights for interpreters at every career stage on the lasting impact of their profession and the many directions it can lead.
Presenter bio:
Dolf DeJong is the Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Zoo, where he leads one of Canada’s largest conservation and wildlife organizations. His career began as a park interpreter, helping visitors connect with nature through storytelling, education, and shared experiences in the outdoors. Over the years, he has held leadership roles in parks, conservation authorities, botanical gardens, aquariums and the Toronto Zoo, always guided by a passion for inspiring people to care for the natural world.
Cost to attend:
- IC Members: this event is free, but we invite you to choose to donate $10 to help IC cover costs of planning our professional development sessions
- Non-members: $60
Cancellation policy:
If you wish to cancel your registration and are a non-member who has paid for a ticket, please note that refunds are only offered if the cancellation is made 72 hours or more in advance of the event. No refund will be issued if you cancel within the 72-hour period. Refunds can only be offered via e-transfer and may take 1-2 weeks to be processed. To request that a refund, please email info@interpretationcanada.ca. Non-attendance at an event does not qualify for a refund.
Activités actuelles
Consultez cette page ou surveillez l’arrivée du prochain bulletin d’Interprétation Canada pour connaître les activités de perfectionnement professionnel à venir.
Les détails sont affichés dans la langue de chaque offre.
Previous Offerings
Personal Interpretation is Effective and Should be Supported
Presenter: Glen Hvenegaard, Professor of Environmental Science, University of Alberta
Join Glen Hvengaard as he shares learnings from data analysis on personal interpretation.
Personal interpretation is widely used in many park, wildlife, and tourism settings, but managers rarely evaluate its effectiveness. Looking at the hard data collected over a period of 2 years from 11 provincial parks, 1672 surveys, 135 evaluations, this new research from Alberta will demonstrate the value of interpretation and can help interpretive planners and frontline staff manage and improve target outcomes from personal programs.
This 40-minute presentation with a 20-minute small group dialogue session is suitable for front line interpreters, supervisors, planner, and managers.
Drawn Lines: Labour, Management, and the Strike That Shaped EBPARKS
Presenter: Christopher Sulots, Supervising Naturalist, East Bay Regional Park District, Redwood City, California
Join Christopher Slots as he explores the history of the union of East Bay Regional Parks (EBPARKS), touching on the evolving relationship between labor, interpretation, and the communities we serve.
In this session, we will step away from interpretation practice to look at how unions can shape workplace structure. Join Christopher Sulots for an exploration of the history of the union of East Bay Regional Parks (EBPARKS), California. Christopher will touch on the evolving relationship between labour, interpretation, and the communities we serve.
By the end of the session, participants will have gained insight into how historical labour decisions continue to shape workplace structure and interpretation today and connect labour history to the interpretive work of public-facing institutions. Such insights can inform a reflection on an interpreter's own position within that legacy.
This session is suitable for park interpreters, rangers, and frontline staff, union members and stewards, or anyone in public lands or cultural heritage work interested in labour history.
How Historic Chinatown Tours have Transformed Urban Development in Calgary's Chinatown
Presenter: Alice Lam, Founder, Friends of Chinatown, Calgary
Join Alice Lam as she shares a session outlining the power of historic Chinatown tours and the impact that the Friends of Chinatown have made to revitalizing Calgary Chinatown over the past decade.
Sharing diverse perspectives when interpreting Canadian history can have a tangible impact on city planning. In Calgary, historic Chinatown tours influenced urban development. By the end, participants will understand how interpretation can have a positive and tangible impact on local communities.
This 30-minute presentation with a Q&A session is relevant for tour guides and historical interpreters.
JOINT NAI & IC SESSION—More Than Small Talk: Making Interpreter Networks Actually Work
Host: Jacquie Gilson, InterpActive, and IC Chair
Join members of NAI and Interpretation Canada for a lively, one-hour InterpTalk networking session that goes beyond swapping business cards (or LinkedIn requests). As Interpretation Canada looks to grow networking opportunities, we’re curious—what actually works when it comes to connecting with each other?
This is a chance to swap stories, share ideas, and learn across borders about how networking can truly support our work—and maybe even make it more fun.
We’ll explore questions like:
- Which connections have actually made a difference in your work or your impact with visitors?
- What can we learn from how interpreters connect in different contexts?
- If you could design your ideal networking experience, what would it look like—less awkward icebreakers, more… what?
JOINT GAHI & IC SESSION—More Than a House: Rethinking Macdonald’s Story
Presenters: Tamara van Dyk and staff of Bellevue House
Explore how dialogue is reshaping the interpretation of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Presenters Tamara van Dyk and staff of Bellevue House will share how multiple perspectives, including Indigenous voices, invite visitors into meaningful conversations about Canada’s past.
Cross-Disciplinary Interpretation: Art, Science, and School Learning
Presenters: Shirin Divanbeigi and Madalina Raduta, Aga Khan Museum; Julie Jones and Martin Fischer, Ontario Science Centre
Join our presenters as they discuss their collaborative school-museum partnership. A Q&A will follow the presentation.
This session introduces collaboration, outlines its learning goals, and examines the value of school–museum partnerships. The presenters will share how they developed and implemented cross-disciplinary interpretive approaches.
The Aga Khan Museum and the Ontario Science Centre collaborated to reinterpret the Aga Khan Museum’s collections for school audiences through both artistic and scientific ways of thinking. Grounded in object-based learning and inquiry-driven pedagogy, this partnership created interdisciplinary pathways for engaging with Islamic art.
Breaking Barriers: Inclusive Interpretation in Action
Presenter: Barbara Myers, Aequum Global Access Inc.
Join Barbara Myers for this two-part session on making interpretation inclusive for everyone.
- For Interpreters: Learn how to communicate in ways that reduce barriers, challenge stigma, and foster inclusion.
- For Program Managers: Discover how to invite, register, and accommodate persons with disabilities—both physically and digitally—so everyone can fully participate.
Inspiration Knows No Borders: Interpreters Inspiring Each Other Across Landscapes and Lines
A partnership between Interpretation Canada and NAI
Join your fellow interpreters from across Canada and the United States for a free, interactive webinar that celebrates the power of shared inspiration.
Dr. Jacquie Gilson will draw from her doctoral research on inspiration in interpretation to explore what keeps visitors, staff, volunteers, and organizations energized and engaged—especially in times of challenge. Together, we’ll reflect on how we can support one another across borders, share ideas that uplift, and most importantly, discover ways to stay inspired in our own practice.
IC Connects Discusses
How Do We Best Interpret Difficult Stories?
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EDT
What defines difficult stories and how do we interpret them in meaningful and engaging ways?
You asked for this topic! Now, it’s time to add your voice to the conversation in the first of Interpretation Canada’s 2025 Professional Development sessions. This is not a lecture—this session will be driven by participants, featuring real discussions, shared experiences, and collective learning.
Come prepared to contribute your insights, share your stories, and exchange valuable resources with fellow interpreters from across Canada. If you can, please bring examples of relevant policies and procedures from your institution.
This interactive, conversation-based workshop will not be recorded.
Interpreter Training Exchange: Ideas, Feedback, and Enhancements
August 15, 2024
Summer is coming to a close! Now is a great time to reflect back on training and how it helped you have a successful season. Joining your colleagues in this session you'll have the opportunity to discuss interpreter training, share valuable experiences, and suggest meaningful improvements for future training. Benefit from the insights and expertise of IC board members Jacquie Gilson, a seasoned trainer, and Shaney Nadalin, a recent trainee, who will guide us through a series of thought-provoking questions.