Our History

Interpreting Our Heritage was written for the US National Park Service by Freeman Tilden. This is still a seminal work for interpreters.

The Society for the Interpretation of Britain’s Heritage (SIBH) is founded at a meeting in London under the chairmanship of J Geraint Jenkins and with the support from the Carnegie UK Trust.

The Carnegie UK Trust awarded Manchester Polytechnic funding to set up the Centre for Environmental Interpretation to promote ‘the idea of interpretation through the collation and development of both the philosophy and techniques of interpretation’.

The Carnegie Interpret Britain Awards are launched. Later awards were sponsored by other organisations.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is founded. Since then, many interpretive projects have benefitted from its support.

Interpret Scotland is established as an interagency initiative among Scottish organisations concerned with heritage conservation, management and interpretation. It ran until 2022.

SIBH is rebranded as the Association for Heritage Interpretation.

To mark AHI’s 25th anniversary, the Awards were relaunched and expanded, with three years of funding from English Heritage.

Interpret Wales is formally launched at the AHI conference in Swansea in September 2001. Previously, it had been known as the Welsh Environmental Interpretation Group, an informal group comprising the main organisations with interests in environmental and cultural interpretation in Wales. It ran for 17 years.

The Vital Spark Conference, organised by AHI and Interpret Scotland, is held in Aviemore as a once-in-a-generation event attracting more than 300 delegates from around the world.

Interpret Europe is founded in Cerklje na Gorenjskem, near Ljubljana, Slovenia. The organisation is the European Association for Heritage Interpretation, which undertakes a variety of initiatives, including training, throughout Europe.

The AHI Awards are relaunched as the Discover Heritage Awards for excellence in cultural and natural heritage interpretation.

AHI becomes a founding member of the Global Alliance for Heritage Interpretation, an informal association of membership organisations.

The AHI Awards are re-named the Engaging People Awards, which run every two years.

AHI’s 50th Anniversary Conference is held in Cardiff and St Fagans National Museum of History, with support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund Interpretation Gold project.