PUSH/
Bezalel Academy
Tour Guide Training Session
Old Gesher and Beit Shean
September 18, 2008
Executive
Summary
Download PDF of Tour Guide
Training
Table of
Contents
1. Agenda
2. Session Overview
3. Site Visit Participants List
1.
Agenda
September 18, 2008
7:30 Depart Jerusalem
9:30 Introduction Discussion overlooking the Jordan River
at Old Gesher
10:30 Coffee Break
11:00 Introduction to the PUSH Project and Shared Heritage
Presented by Professor Michael Turner, PUSH Project
Manager, Bezalel
11:30 Multiple Narratives Discussion
Moderated by Avner Goren, Archeologist and Cultural Tourism
Expert and Dr. Doron Bar, Bezalel Academy
12:30 Nahariym Experience Sound and Light Show
13:00 Lunch Break
14:00 Panoramic Overview of Jordan River, the Rotenberg
Power Station, Peace Island and the future Jordan River
Peace Park from "Michal's Lookout".
15:00 Drive to Beit Shean
16:00 Beit Shean Site Visit
18:30 Community and Site Discussion
Moderated by Rami Haruvi, Environment and Cultural Heritage
Program Planner and Professor David Guggenhim, Bezalel
Academy
19:15 Dinner
20:00 "Beit Shean Nights" Sound and Light Show
21:00 Depart for Jerusalem
2. Tour
Guide Training Session Overview
The PUSH – Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Tour Guide
Training Session focused its activities at the two pilot
sites selected by the PUSH project in Israel; Beit Shean
and Gesher. The PUSH project has been engaged with the site
managers, local tour guides and community members from both
pilot sites to jointly develop plans for integrating the
concept of shared heritage into site development. The tour
guide training aimed to present a model for how site
managers and tour guides can present the concept of shared
heritage to visitors through discussion and through site
design. The Bezalel Academy tour guide training session
thus aimed to provide participants with new tools for
addressing the unique aims of the PUSH project at the pilot
sites including:
1. Develop and strengthen understanding of the concept of
shared heritage by placing a site's multiple narratives at
the center of site design, future development plan and
visitor interpretation.
2. Advance the concept of cultural tourism through design.
3. Develop understanding of region's rich history, cultural
heritage and multiple narratives.
The tour guide training session was led by two long time
PUSH participants Archeologist and Cultural Tourism
Specialist Avner Goren and Rami Haruvi, Environment and
Cultural Heritage Program Planner. The day's activities
began upon arrival to Old Gesher where the group engaged in
a preliminary discussion about the concept of shared
heritage and its importance in understanding our history
and our neighbors held alongside the Jordan River.
Subsequently, Professor Michael Turner, Bezalel Academy's
PUSH Project Manager presented an overview of the PUSH
project and the project's major accomplishments,
highlighting the important contributions to the project
from PUSH Peer Reviewers Neil Asher Silberman, Director of
the Center for Heritage and Society at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst and Professor Simon Goldman,
King's College, University of Cambridge. Dr. Doron Bar
followed with a presentation focused on the role of
multiple narratives in presenting history. This
presentation was followed by a discussion among the
participants centered upon the role that multiple
narratives play in the presentation of a site's narrative
moderated by Avner Goren.
Participants were then invited to view the "Nahariym
Experience" sound and light show at Old Gesher followed by
a group lunch. After lunch the group went up to "Michal's
Lookout" overlooking the Jordan River, Rotenberg Power
Station, Peace Island and the future Jordan River Peace
Park. There the discussion focused on the linkages between
the PUSH pilot sites and other sites in the area.
The group then traveled to Beit Shean where Avner Goren led
them through the rich layers of the Beit Shean National
Park. Instead of entering through the main gate of the park
PUSH participants walked up the Caanaite and Egyptian tel
before descending into the Roman-Byzantine city below. At
the site's Roman Theatre Rami Haruvi and David Guggenhim,
Bezalel Academy Professor and Architect led the group in a
discussion about the importance of fostering linkages
between site and community. Following dinner the
participants were invited to the Beit Shean Nights sound
and light show before departing for Jerusalem.
3. Tour
Guide Training: Participants in Alphabetical
Order
Michal
Ashkanazi, Bezalel Academy
Nisim Bados, National Parks Authority, Beit Shean
Nirit Bagron, Site Manager, Gesher
Dr. Doron Bar, PUSH Team, Bezalel Academy
Lari David, Financial Officer, Bezalel Academy
Yael Delange, Tour Guide
Meron Doctori, Tourism Course Coordinator
Anat Dror-Sharp, PUSH Team, Bezalel Academy Student
Assistant
Pinia Ein Mor, Tour Guide
Kinneret Ben-Amram Fligelman, Vice President of Finances
and Administration, Bezalel Academy
Eliazar Frankenberg, National Parks Authority
Eitan Giddelson, Tel Hai College
Avner Goren, Archeologist and Tour Guide
Architect David Guggenhim, PUSH Team, Bezalel Academy
Rami Haruvi, Environment and Cultural Heritage Program
Planner
Sigal Har-Zion, Tour Guide, Gesher
Ziv Hesid, Tourism Course Coordinator
Maoz Inon, Jesus Path Initiator
Nir Kinan, University of Haifa, School of Tourism
Raanan Kislev, Israeli Antiquities Authority
Ran Kleinman, Site Manager, Gesher
Elizabeth Koch, PUSH Project Coordinator
Sol Levia, Tourism Coordinator Emek HaMayanot
Ofer Levin, Nahariym Park
Zeev Margalit, National Parks Authority
Dovi Mensor, Ministry of Tourism
Tali Omer, Galilee Development Authority
Itzchak Rachamim, Tour Guide, Beit Shean
Omri Salmon, Site Director, Gesher
Yehuda Shamesh, Tour Guide, Beit Shean
Ayelet Tapiro, Emek Hefer Community Organizer, Friends of
the Earth Middle East
Noga Tavor, Tour Guide, Beit Shean
Moris Temakh, Tour Guide
Tzvika Tsuk, National Parks Authority
Professor Michael Turner, PUSH Project Manager, Bezalel
Academy
Rebecca Wagmister, Kibbutz Degania Bet
Noami Yagan, Bezalel Academy
Ruti Yhazakali, Ministry of Tourism