Tourism Business Engagement

Shaped by Industry, Shared with Pride

Shaped by Industry logo

Shaped by Industry, Shared with Pride was a collaborative cultural tourism initiative, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and led by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

The Department for Communities and Tourism Northern Ireland supported the grant scheme set up to mark the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage, to fully realise the potential of heritage as a means of attracting in-ward investment, boosting tourism and stimulating regeneration in Northern Ireland.

Shaped by Industry Toolkit

The Shaped by Industry, Shared with Pride Toolkit shares the learning and experience gained from the Shaped by Industry – Shared with Pride cultural tourism project. The Toolkit aims to support continued interest and innovation in the use of participative theatre to exploit and develop the potential of our underused industrial heritage. An important aim of the Toolkit’s resources are to show how it is possible for heritage sites and tourism businesses to work together, on a participative theatre project, and achieve positive outcomes for both these enterprises.

The Toolkit learning resource is likely to be of interest to:

  1. Local heritage sites who would like to be involved in a tourism-heritage initiative using participative theatre
  2. Tourism businesses who are interested in developing a partnership with local heritage sites
  3. Volunteer groups who want to contribute to a participative theatre project through research or acting.

The Toolkit’s learning resources are available as a series of downloadable resources below:

European Year of Culture Heritage logo

Background

The Shaped by Industry, Shared with Pride project was delivered by Mid and East Antrim Museum and Heritage Service as the lead partner acting for Council. Two other partners were involved: creative partner, Big Telly Theatre Company delivered the participative theatre performances at the four industrial heritage sites involved, and Carrickfergus Enterprise was responsible for tourism business engagement.

The Shaped by Industry, Shared with Pride project delivered the following approved purposes between August 2018 and November 2019:

  1. Creation of 40 short participative theatre performances, to animate and connect four industrial heritage sites along the Causeway Coastal Route. The four sites are:
    • Whitehead Railway Museum
    • Glenarm village
    • Flame Gasworks museum
    • The Heritage Hub at Carnlough Town Hall and harbour
  2. The heritage sites were promoted in alignment with local tourism businesses and acted as natural staging posts by creating a way into these by engaging and repeatable performances. This process was kick started by a Coffee with Colin tourism business engagement session delivered by CEO of Hospitality Ulster, Colin Neil.
  3. A closing seminar to share the learning and foster networking was delivered at The Linen Hall Library, Belfast and featured Jonathan Lloyd, UK/Ireland Representative for the European Route of Industrial Heritage.
  4. A Shaped by Industry toolkit will be available as a downloadable resource on the Mid and East Antrim Council website and promoted through Carrickfergus Enterprise as a legacy of their Coastal Communities funded East Antrim Coastal Way and Glens Coastal Way projects. 

 MEA BC logo  Big Telly logo  Arts Council NI logo  Carrickfergus Enterprise logo     

Tourism Northern Ireland logo   Heritage Lottery Fund logo  Department for Communities logo