NEW YORK, NY.- World Monuments Fund announces the launch of “World Monuments Watch Day,” comprising a series of celebratory and educational events to be held at cultural heritage sites around the world. A new component of WMF’s biennial World Monuments Watch program, Watch Day is intended to encourage local engagement with these treasured places, while also raising global awareness of their vital importance both to the communities in which they are located and to our shared human history. All of the places celebrating Watch Day are on the 2012 World Monuments Watch.
Some thirty sites on five continents will participate in Watch Day events on selected dates through October 15, 2012. From Argentina to Poland, and from Madagascar to Japan, local communities have designed activities that range from workshops in traditional building techniques, to programs for schoolchildren, blessings, festivals, concerts, and more. (See attached list of participating sites.) WMF, which invited the 2012 Watch sites to take part in the program, has provided all participants with an activity kit containing classroom materials, children’s activity pages, downloadable logos for use on banners or T-shirts, and small grants to support events and publicity.
World Monuments Fund President Bonnie Burnham states, “Heritage sites are critically important to the economy, identity, and daily lives of the local communities in which they are located. Moreover, as eloquent monuments to human civilization and culture, they are also of global importance. WMF hopes that the Watch Day events will highlight the urgent need to conserve and care for these irreplaceable treasures.”
Watch Day participants will record their activities on videotape, and WMF will edit the results into a dynamic short video highlighting the diverse connections between the monuments and the people who live with them. The video will be featured at a number of events in December (details and dates to be announced), and will be available on WMF’s website (www.wmf.org), and circulated widely via social media.
