Applications are now open for Adopt a Monument 2019.
Is there a much loved monument in your area that you would like to learn more about? The Heritage Council are seeking applications from community groups across Ireland for their Adopt a Monument scheme.
The scheme is a way of bringing monuments into the heart of your community. Our heritage is rich and diverse so a monument can be anything including ring forts, lime kilns, sites associated with the travelling community, or modern sites.
For communities, the Scheme offers a way of promoting pride in our monuments. It also offers opportunities to develop and understand the story of your locality and to work collaboratively together. From mentoring and training to assistance with funding applications and community events, the Heritage Council works in partnership to help to develop a deeper understanding of the monument and its place in the landscape and the team work with the communities to create and implement bespoke plans for each project.
There’s a nice article with tips and hints for the process here from Arbata Heritage:
https://www.abartaheritage.ie/tips-for-your-adopt-a-monument-application/
Some of the stuff you will need to consider includes:
- Landowner & Consent: The group must establish who owns the site. Has the landowner given consent for the monument to be put forward for the Adopt a Monument Scheme and for access to the monument? Do they agree with your long-term aims and objectives? The landowner’s enthusiastic consent is fundamentally vital to your application.
- Site Status: The Scheme is unable to consider applications from National Monuments under the guardianship of the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Any sites that are designated as such are immediately deemed ineligible for this scheme. To find out whether your site in Leitrim is already a listed please visit here.
- Your Community Group: This seeks to understand the makeup of the proposed community group. Applicants should be a group with a clear organisational structure, with the potential for a positive and inclusive steering committee that will drive the project to success. From experience, participation in Scheme, like most heritage projects, ends up becoming far too onerous and demanding to fall on the shoulders of one person. An ideal group would be made up of a diverse section of the community who all bring their different interests and strengths to the project.
Application forms – below – must be submitted to: adoptamonument@heritagecouncil.ie by 28th February 2019
Adopt a Monument Application Form PDF
Adopt a Monument Application Form MS Word
https://www.heritagecouncil.ie/projects/adopt-a-monument
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