Press Release
Making the Coal Mining Heritage Accessible to a Worldwide Audience with the support of the Heritage Council.
As we celebrate Heritage Week, its an opportune time to look at how Covid 19 has impacted the way we access heritage. The pandemic has indeed severely impacted the arts, cultural and heritage sector worldwide: with many museums having to shut their doors for the best part of two years.
It has made the sector more dynamic and has accelerated the pace of digitisation with many organisations making content accessible through websites and apps.
One such project is Castlecomer Discovery Park, who are now nearing completion of the digital copy of their coal mining museum.
“A digital transformation of our museum ensures access to and engagement with the associated heritage. In-person and remote visitor experiences will be enhanced significantly and enables an inclusive experience by eliminating geographic, physical disability and financial barriers to access. Our existing education and outreach programme will be augmented through more user-centred onsite visits and offers opportunities for impactful remote curriculum-linked learning” Nichola Salmon Education Officer at Castlecomer Discovery Park.
Thanks to The Heritage Council’s “Community Heritage Grant Scheme” the Discovery Park accessed funding to create a Virtual tours of the existing museum which will be available to download as an app.
“Preserving our coal-mining heritage has been a key local concern since the mines closed in 1969. In 2007, the coal-mining museum opened in Castlecomer, providing a permanent acknowledgement of the area’s identity & sense of place. This digital project provides an equality of access through modern, accessible digital platform, affirming the importance of Castlecomer and North Kilkenny’s mining heritage by sustaining the museum content into the future. The digital tour experience will reach diverse audiences connecting our coal-mining heritage with audiences & mining communities across Europe & the world. We are looking forward to the diaspora from Kilkenny accessing this platform” Kathy Purcell
The digital tour and app is being created by Digisoft, a Cork based tech company with extensive experience in developing digital visitor cultural experience solutions to tourist attractions e.g. EPIC, Crawford Gallery.
“We would like to thank the Heritage Council for this support, this project will ensure that the story’s of the miners will be open to a much wider audience. We also think it’s something our dear colleague and friend Seamus Walsh would appreciate, Seamus passed away this year and he was passionate about keeping these stories alive.” Kathy Purcell, General Manager.
Castlecomer is also delighted to be involved in Heritage Week 2021, it is running a family friendly nature trail “Be a Nature Detective” on 19th & 20th August. Book online at www.discoverypark.ie/booking
The app will be available in October 2021.
