Celebrate World Heritage Day with “Controversial Monuments on Retrial,” a free webinar about new approaches to addressing monuments of oppression. In collaboration with The Alliance for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage (ARCH International), and the staff of Memento Park in Budapest, Hungary, our panelists will analyze unique solutions applied to case studies around the world and the strengths of incorporating public law in contemporary public spaces.
Sign up here: bit.ly/3lE26JX
Tuesday, April 18th at 3:00pm EDT
Sophia Schultz is the Director of International Programs at ARCH International. Her journey into a career in cultural heritage management began with her interest in contemporary art and the Middle East. Ms. Schultz’ involvement with ARCH began shortly after the founding of the nonprofit, while she was a M.Sc. Middle East Politics postgraduate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, UK. Before that she completed her B.A. Cultural Sciences at the European University Viadrina close to Berlin. Earlier in her career, Ms. Schultz worked in media, monitoring media relating to the Middle East, terrorism, and U.S. foreign policy. As part of her work for a women-led foundation promoting freedom of expression in Iran, she focused on creating platforms for Iranian artists and civil society members. She has published essays in art catalogs and worked on contemporary art and film projects, such as Reach, Grasp, Move, Position, Apply Force 2015, 00:40:50, 720p50, color, sound by artist Kajsa Dahlberg and is a member of the Selection Committee of the San Diego Latino Film Festival.
Dr. Cheryl Benard studied Islamic Studies and International Relations at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon and holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Vienna, Austria. She was a senior analyst and program director in the National Security Research Division of the RAND corporation, At RAND she worked on issues of counter-terrorism, national security and post-conflict reconstruction. Before joining RAND Corporation she was a senior analyst and program director for European and U.S. think tanks. She is the author of more than 20 books about the Middle East and post-conflict societal reconstruction, including Veiled Courage, Civil Democratic Islam, and Women in Peace-Building.
Dr. Benard founded ARCH International in 2009 as a consequence of being continuously impressed, during her travels, with the resilience and creativity of individuals and groups who were determined to hold on to treasured aspects of their culture even under the most trying circumstances. Most often, they were up against a vastly superior opponent, but they still did not give up. As a member of a military family, she grew up in post World War II Europe, where she saw destroyed cities rise anew and populations take hope from the rebuilding of their monuments, buildings and traditions.
Judit Andrea Holp is a tourism expert, a story-teller-tour-guide, who has been working in the travel industry for 22 years. In this period of time Judit tried herself in every possible field of the hospitality business: she managed a restaurant, a wine and chocolate specialty shop, organized educational and leisure trips, worked in tourism product development, gained success in sales, showed excellence in customer care, tried herself as a journalist, and has always been a dedicated tour guide of her beloved city, Budapest.
Judit finished her studies as an Economist in Tourism and Hospitality at the Budapest Business School – University of Applied Sciences and attended a semester for business management in Koper, Slovenia at the University of Primorska. In her early professional life she used to work and live in Greece and Slovenia.
She started working for the company supporting the operation of Memento Park and the Budatower 14 years ago, and she has been a managing partner for 4 years. Judit is responsible for daily operational tasks, such as HR, PR and communication, customer care, group arrivals, tour guiding, product development, training and education, cultural collaborations or anything that comes up. The management is made of herself and the managing director, so taking care of two historic tourist attractions keep them fresh, focused, and busy.