Coastal Connections: Keeping history alive through storytelling

Rural resilience researcher, Dr. Sondra Eger hosts another episode of Coastal Routes Radio, a radio program made up of an international collaboration of communities, scholars, activists, and others who are dedicated to supporting the health, resilience, and sustainability of coastal communities around the world. Coastal Connections is a volume of Coastal Routes Radio, produced in partnership with the University of Guelph and Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland. For more information, visit their website: https://coastalroutes.org/coastal-connections.

On this episode, Dr. Eger is joined by Dr. Brennan Lowery, a post-doctoral researcher at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador and Joan Simmonds, manager of the French Shore Interpretation Center in Conche. Conche residents were determined to preserve their home, place, and heritage, and redefine Conche not as a dying outport fishing community, but as a culturally and historically rich place to keep the stories of Conche alive.

Joan tells stories about how the tapestry and center came to be and how it is creating new economic opportunities in the region, creating a diverse cultural tourism industry. Dr. Lowery and Joan also give us a taste of a new augmented reality project they are collaborating on through Grenfell Campus of Memorial University, with funding by Mitacs, that will bring new digital technologies to share traditional, cultural, and historical places in the region, giving visitors a window into Conche’s past, and visually see it.