Re-imagining International Sites of Enslavement – RISE – brings together managers of sites around the Atlantic with a connection to the slave trade. This knowledge-sharing programme is a collaboration between INTO and the American National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP).

Practitioners working at INTO member sites come together in monthly webinars to share their experience of interpreting the history of slavery with their peers.  Elon Cook-Lee, Director of Interpretation and Education for historic sites at the NTHP, co-leads this programme with INTO.

25 site directors from INTO members around Africa, the Caribbean, America and Europe participate in a programme of peer-to-peer learning, structured around open conversations. Meetings happen roughly monthly and are themed according to the priorities of participating organisations.

Where possible, site directors also exchange best practice in person via a series of bilateral visits and attendance at INTO conferences.

Our next in person meeting will take place 30 June – 2 July 2025 in Bristol, as part of our partnership with the University of Bristol. If you would like to take part in this meeting, please fill in the form below. The deadline for applications for bursaries is 15 May 2025.

Register your interest here

University of Bristol Partnership

For 2025 – 2028, RISE has partnered with the University of Bristol’s UKRI-funded research programme on Plants, Enslavement and Public History, which aims to develop innovative routes into the public history, memory and heritage of transatlantic enslavement through the under-developed area of plants, gardens and outdoor green spaces in ways which centre a praxis of care and healing.

As part of this partnership, Dr Zakiya McKenzie has joined INTO and is supporting us with running the RISE programme. Dr McKenzie is organising a number of in-person meetings and will coordinate a round of small grants for participating trusts, which will allow INTO members to test the research themes in interpretation at their sites.

Get in touch

If you work for an INTO member and would like to get involved in the RISE programme, please contact us at info@into.org

Focussing on the institution of racial slavery that was prevalent across the Atlantic from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, RISE covers the following themes:

• Re-imagining heritage sites – equitable and respectful interpretation strategies
• Fundraising and development
• Staff recruitment, training and retention
• Leading change, board diversity and ethical stewardship
• Tourism and engaging the Black diaspora
• Inclusive marketing and communications strategies for reaching domestic and international audiences
• Site rentals and event hosting – weddings and celebratory events
• The next generation: education and outreach
• Facilitating respectful visitor behaviour – selfies, re-enacting and history theatre
• Ideological controversies and their impact on historic site interpretation