Events

2026 IDDRR Event – AICCM 2027 disaster calendar launch and panel discussion

Community-led Disaster Response Webinar – 13 October 2026

This year’s theme for the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is “Resilience Starts at Home”. AICCM, in collaboration with Blue Shield Australia, is hosting webinar to explore this theme with a focus on community-led disaster response in Australia and New Zealand.

The event will feature an expert panel of four women working in and with communities in the field of disaster response and resilience. Sharing case studies and insights, the panelists will highlight how disaster resilience starts in the community. 

The event will close with the launch of AICCM’s 2027 Disaster Preparedness calendar. 

Topic: Resilience Starts at Home – Community-led Disaster Response
Time: 12:30 – 2:00 pm AEST
Date: 13 October 2026
Location: Online
Link to Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__Nzt2wBFQwyhWIOVVNhCzg

Panelist Bios

Carolyn McLennan is a Senior Conservator at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. She has worked as a museum conservator and cultural heritage consultant in northern Australia and neighbouring countries over the past thirty years, taking a holistic, community-led approach to caring for collections. As an objects conservator, her work involves preventive and remedial conservation, education and training, exhibition development display and touring, collection governance and tropical museum building design. Her research interests are cultural heritage conservation in tropical environments and the role of conservation as soft diplomacy. 

Vanessa Keenan is the Recovery Coordinator – Victorian Bushfires at the Australian Red Cross. Vanessa is a professional emergency management practitioner, Black Summer bushfire survivor and has over 20 years experience working in and with the museums and collections sector. She developed Red Cross’ first playbook for the establishment of the Australian Emergency Fund, supported the establishment of the Victorian Emergency Relief Fund and in the wake of the Porepunkah tragedy, managed temporary memorials across the State. She also responded to the Bondi attacks. Vanessa curated Arbour Festival, a nationally recognised creative recovery initiative in the wake of the Black Summer bushfires and serves her community as Chair of Eastern Riverina Arts. 

Vicki-Anne Heikell MNZM (Te Whānau ā Apanui) is the Iwi and Community Preservation Advisor at the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. Vicki-Anne works with iwi, hapū, marae, and community organisations to build capability in the care and stewardship of documentary heritage collections. Her work focuses on community-led approaches that support the preservation of cultural heritage, strengthen local capability, and enable communities to care for their own collections and knowledge. She was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2021 for services to heritage preservation and Māori. 

Vicki Edmunds is the Bushfire Recovery Manager at Blue Mountains Council and has worked at the Council in a number of roles.  With a restructure in July 2019, Community Development was added to Vicki’s portfolio which also included Community Disaster Recovery.  Hitting the ground running with the 2019/20 summer fires, Vicki led the Council response to Community Recovery.  With an ongoing and ever-increasing interest in Disaster Recovery, Vicki is now involved with the Australian Library & Information Association Blue Shield Australia partnership and more recently as a Red Cross DRAMA Mentor. 

International Conference on the Inclusive Museum, The Future of Museum Narratives,

Chau Chak Wing Museum at Sydney University 22-24 September 2026.

 

AMaGA National Conference Together: people, power and politics, 

3-5 November in Canberra. The theme is Together: people, power and politics

Sustaining Intangible Cultural Practices in Contexts of Forced Displacement

Over 120 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide, and this number is expected to continue rising. Displaced people often face significant barriers to maintaining and passing on their intangible cultural practices, including oral traditions, performing arts, traditional crafts, rituals, and festive events. These challenges can add to the challenges of displacement: cultural practices play a vital role in wellbeing, identity, and social connection. When such practices are disrupted, international efforts to safeguard at-risk intangible cultural heritage are also undermined.

Sustaining Intangible Cultural Practices in Contexts of Forced Displacement has three key aims:

  • to map existing knowledge about the main challenges involved in practising, passing on, and sustaining cultural practices in situations of forced displacement, and to identify possible solutions;
  • to identify practical ways for displaced individuals and groups of people to sustain their cultural practices, and for host societies, governments, civil society organisations, researchers, and others to support those cultural practices and their human bearers; and
  • to develop and share resources that inform research, policy, and practical initiatives aimed at supporting cultural sustainability in contexts of forced displacement.

WUN is providing funding to support this work, including the activities of local working groups, the international working symposium, and the dissemination of project outcomes.