Every year Hertfordshire County Council’s Museums Development Team launch the Hertfordshire Association of Museums Awards (HAM Awards). This year Dacorum Heritage were up for two awards.
We are excited to announce that we received the HAM Inclusion Award for our project on Fireworks and Festivals.
The award was extremely competitive this year, with seven other museums in the running. We were shocked to learn we had been chosen, especially as we are so inspired by and admire the work of our fellow nominees.
Our main aim for Fireworks and Festivals was to capitalise on the theme and get to know those in our community including local faith groups and cultural organisations, who would not necessarily have connected with us in the past. We did this by inviting them to share their local heritage and festival stories, and to take part in the project.
We had conversations with different communities such as Dacorum Indian Society. We created opportunities for them to take part and they did so by providing materials to display and helping to present these materials in the correct way. The society even created dance shows which not only helped market the exhibition and encouraged people to visit, but also created the celebratory feel and linked together the festivals information with our history of Brocks Fireworks.
We would like to thank Dacorum Indian Society, in particular Jay Vaid.
