As part of Edinburgh World Heritage's Heritage Leadership School, we're hosting talks and discussions with heritage industry leaders. Learn about the many and varied paths to leadership - and discover the tools you'll need to develop your leadership skills for the future.

The evening will cover three main elements. These are:

Strategic planning
How to take a mission and vision and make it reality as well as how to maintain this.
Exploring the balance of opportunity versus the vision.

Confirmed speakers include Xerxes Mazda, Director of Curation at the National Museum of Scotland, and Barbara Cummins, Director of Heritage at Historic Environment Scotland.

Their short talks will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A, where you can ask all those burning questions about the heritage industry.

Also, join us afterwards for a drinks reception.

The Heritage Leadership school is a week of professional development skills-based training for heritage students and professionals. Led and developed by Edinburgh World Heritage, with thanks to our partners at KMKD in Istanbul, the National Museum of Scotland, the British Council and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Xerxes Mazda

Xerxes is Director of Collections at National Museums Scotland, where he is responsible for five curatorial departments and the collections services team, covering all four museums that make up the National Museums, and the National Museums Collections Centre.

He was previously Deputy Director, Engagement at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada where he looked after all the visitor experience, including galleries and exhibitions, education, web, publications, design, front of house, visitor research, diversity, marketing, membership, volunteers and programming.

Prior to this he was at the British Museum as Head of Learning, Volunteers and Audiences. Trained as a scientist, Xerxes began his museum career at the Science Museum in London in many roles which included curating the Communications collections as well as working on exhibitions and galleries. He is interested in the role that collections play in the visitor experience and runs museology training in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Find out more.

Barbara Cummins

Barbara Cummins is Director of Heritage at Historic Environment Scotland. Prior to joining the organisation, Barbara spent 18 years working in Scottish local government where she gained extensive experience in dealing with significant and high-profile planning cases.

She has a BA Honours degree in Geography from the Queens University of Belfast (with first arts Archaeology, Economic History and Social Anthropology), a Postgraduate Diploma in Town and Country Planning from Heriot Watt University, is a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and has a Masters in Business Administration from Edinburgh University.

She is a member of the Scottish Executive Committee of the Royal Town Planning Institute in Scotland.

Find out more.

Bridging the Gap: exploring the path to leadership in heritage