The Saving Places Community Screening Toolkit
This toolkit has been developed by the Heritage Canada Foundation in collaboration with PTV Productions for History Television’s television series Saving Places.
To download a printable version of the toolkit, click here.

About this Toolkit & Community Screenings:
The purpose of the toolkit is to raise awareness about endangered places, and mobilize local communities around the local screening of Saving Places. Community screenings are a great way to host discussions and to encourage local communities to engage in the preservation of historic places. The toolkit will include everything one needs to organize a community screening of Saving Places – and more: it will engage them in saving endangered sites featured in the TV series and provide opportunities for taking action locally and nationally. The toolkit will be available online and as a hardcopy.

We have tried to make this toolkit detailed and comprehensive to empower you to organize the best event possible, and we realize that some sections will not be applicable in every case. For example, if you run a monthly lecture series at a local church, you may decide that you don’t need to do any media outreach because you have a regular audience that normally comes to your events. That’s fine! We are making suggestions, but you will have to decide what is best to reach and impact your audience.

Community screenings require the purchase of a licensed DVD. For details about obtaining a DVD for community screening purposes, visit www.ptvproductions.ca. When organizing a screening, you may want to order extra DVDs to sell at the event – think of them as a fundraising tool.

Getting Started With Your Saving Places Event

Step 1: Identify Objectives

Step 2: Identify Organizers

Step 3: Define your audience

Step 4: Get informed

Step 5. Locate a venue: Choose a historic building to host your event

Step 6. Get the Word Out and Publicize your Event!

Step 7. Provide the basics

Step 8. Post-screening discussions

Step 9: Follow Up


Getting Started With Your Saving Places Event

Consider your organization’s goals and needs – and use the television series to support them in a practical way. Before any show screening, you should consider the following:


Step 1: Identify Objectives
Identifying objectives will lay the foundation for your event planning. Think about what you’d like to get out of the event, how it can benefit your organization, and what is realistic. Here are a few suggested objectives (these are not mutually exclusive!):

• Raise awareness about the issues faced by heritage buildings – the impact of high-rise development on historic neighboorhoods, demolition by neglect, lack of funding and legislation for building rehabilitation and the benefits of restoration. Think of solutions and opportunities for a particular building or an issue that is important in your community. For example, identify endangered churches in your community and use the screening as a way to involve residents in saving them. They can become great tourist attractions and impressive locations to host concerts and events.


• Heighten visibility and spotlight the importance of your work by connecting it with the issues raised in the television series.


• Build bridges between heritage activists, community members and local politicians.


• Educate community members about conservation solutions and demonstrate why historic places are worth protecting.


• Establish coalitions with other organizations and/or governments and inspire the development of new programs that address the issues facing our historic built environment. For example, you may want to partner with a local environmental group to help raise awareness about the benefits of retaining windows rather than tossing them in landfills.


• Engage general audiences around how to be more conscious about their environment. Engaging people in heritage consumption will by create a market demand for historic places.


• Prompt local decision-makers and business leaders to get more involved in protecting heritage places and educating the public. You may want to get support for a Doors Open (http://www.doorsopencanada.ca/) event in your community or instigate heritage restoration incentives for property owners.


• Raise visibility for your organization / Fundraise for your organization. Note that you can buy more DVDs at a bulk rate to sell as a fundraiser for your organization or to help save a specific place in your community. Contact PTV Productions (http://www.ptvproductions.ca/) by telephone (416) 531-0100 or by email: info@ptvproductions.ca

Step 2: Identify Organizers

To ensure success and maximize outreach, you may want to put together a small group of people to organize the screening. Perhaps view the Saving Places episodes together first to help pinpoint your community issues and the screening aim before allocating tasks.


The organizers will be involved in:

• Your Mayor, council members, local and federal politicians


• Locating a venue


• Identifying technical requirements – projection and sound


• Getting a copy of the episodes


• Publicizing the screening and/or invite an audience. Put up posters, send emails, write letters. Allow enough time between sending the invitation and the screening date. If it is important to have someone like the Mayor there, find out when they can attend before setting the screening date.


• Assigning a person to lead the discussion following and investigate discussion points for the community.

There may be community organizations you can partner with who have some of the resources required to hold a screening – a hall or local cinema, projection equipment etc.


Step 3: Define your audience

Once you determine your objectives and identified organizers consider who would be interested in participating in your event. The information you send to participants may have to be tailored to their particular interests.


Suggested participants include:

• Your Mayor, council members, local and federal politicians


• Home owners


• Historical societies


• Environmental groups


• High school to university students (construction technology, engineering, architecture, history, urban planning and business students may have a particular interest in the topic)


• Heads of schools – Principals, Teachers, Guidance Counsellors, Student Councils


• Real estate agents


• Construction/Restoration companies


• Community partners who offer services in your area – eg Lions Club, Rotary


• Local community media – radio, newspaper, television

Step 4: Get informed

Know your issues. Do some research to understand the challenges and opportunities related to your event’s objectives.


Step 5. Locate a venue: Choose a historic building to host your event

If you are not in a media space like a lecture theatre or cinema, try to provide some basics. Good projection, comfortable seating the ability to darken the space and a decent speaker set up for sound. Test your equipment before the screening starts. Many bodies in a space will soak up sound – you may need to lift the film volume when your audience is there.


You may choose to offer a refreshment area, ensure this does not pull people away from the discussion following.


Step 6. Get the Word Out and Publicize your Event!

Publicity helps get people to attend your event, and also raises awareness for those who can't be there! You may want to spread the word through mass e-mails and through social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. You may also want to work with partner organizations, put posters and flyers up in your community, or even send press releases to local media.

• Think of a catchy title for your event


• Think about accessible parking options and list them on the invitation


• Get the word out and publicize the event!

Step 7. Provide the basics
 

• If not in a media space, be sure that good projection is provided. Consider renting a heritage building and researching its historical significance.


• Seating that's comfortable


• Space for refreshments


• Sign-in for audience -- include name, address, email address, and organizational affiliation (so your organization and your partners can stay in touch with your audience; put them on a mailing list or listserv).


• Think about accessible parking options and list them on the invitation.


• Make sure your event is accessible to all people with disabilities, including your site, the promotion materials, presentations and handouts. Invite people to request accommodations. Remember many films can be shown with subtitles. Be sure to inquire about wheelchair accessibility and make that also available on the invitation.


• Identify a facilitator for the audience discussion or a small panel of experts.


• Identify some actions for your audience that will allow them to engage more directly, especially if the subject is on a social justice issue. Community partners can likely provide suggestions for action steps.


• Offer an additional resources sheet for the audience to take home and learn more about the issue. You may want to provide a list of actions that participants can do to protect local historic places (see section How You Can Get Involved in Protecting Historic Places)

Step 8. Post-screening discussions

Assign time following the screening for discussion. Allow 45 minutes for discussion about the series and another 45 minutes if you also want to discuss some actions that can be taken.
 

• The discussion leader should set a respectful tone to open the discussion. It may be easier to begin if you allow people to respond to the series before starting to engage in how similar issues affect your community and what can de done to help. Remind the group that this is meant to be a dialogue rather than a debate, and ask that people focus on listening rather than simply preparing to make their own points.


• Identify some actions for your audience that will allow them to engage more directly with the issues. Community partners may be able to provide suggestions for action steps. If you are able to, have some literature available for people to take with them if they are seeking help or want to provide help. (Get pamphlets from agencies, produce handouts with local phone numbers, print the “need help” page of this website.)


• Your screening and discussion may have raised awareness in your community about many issues. There may be many people who want to become involved in some way. Pass a form around to collect peoples' contact details so you can keep contact and meet again to start implementing some of the actions people discussed.

Step 9: Follow Up
 

• Follow up with any attendees who asked for information about how to organize their own screening.


• Thank key community members for coming, ask what they thought of the film and event, and find out if they have any ideas about next steps to take. Point them towards the Heritage Canada Foundation website.


• Complete any action steps you are responsible for, such as mailing letters, contacting schools or agencies or following up with media.


• Contact us and let us know how your screening went!