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The Foundation - Philosophy

The Heritage Community Foundation is committed to communicating the importance of heritage-for personal, community and societal integration and growth. The Foundation's over-arching purpose is to build the knowledge and skills to enrich the lives of individuals and communities through the preservation, study, communications and enjoyment of heritage in all its aspects-historical, natural, cultural, scientific and technological.

Heritage Days photo, courtesy of the Heritage Days foundationAt its best, the study of heritage is not just another discipline in the range of subject areas included in the curriculum at whatever level. It informs all subjects because it is really the study of human generations-their work, their understandings and preoccupations. It dwells on the matter of continuity between generations. Equally, it is the knowledge of the watersheds in human experience that provide the framework for how communities and individuals understand themselves. It goes beyond the narrow study of history or the activities of museums, historical societies, archives and other heritage organizations.

A key aspect of the study of heritage is story-the stories of one's own life, the lives of others, of communities, familiar and strange. Heritage Community Foundation programs and initiatives seek to develop an educational imagination that is sensitive to all of those layers of individual, group, community, provincial and national identity.

The Trustees and Staff recognize the important role that heritage plays in society even, as now, when this role is not generally recognized. Heritage is more than a discussion and appreciation of the past, the knowledge of important historical events and people, and the preservation of objects and records. It provides a balance in society, in general, and the role everyone plays in civil society. This latter term is used to explain the complex relationship between governments, the business and non-profit or voluntary sectors. Each person is contributing to the development and growth of society and to the world around us. The Foundation also value the use of new information technologies for public engagement in heritage.