Individual Members

Annemarie Pothaar MA BA

Member of EXARC since
Country
the Netherlands

Ms drs Annemarie Pothaar (1977) Master of Arts in Heritage Education & Interpretation.

After studying a bachelor degree of Leisure Studies in Rotterdam NL, Annemarie finished her Master of Arts degree (2001) in the UK at Newcastle University and was supervised by Dr. Peter Stone, one of the UKs leading specialists in heritage education.

Since then she is working in the Netherlands at a national park, historical museums, archaeological open-air museums and the Dutch Royal Armouries. In the new town Almere Annemarie created the archaeology outreach programme and has worked for the Zuiderzeemuseum on research and education. The last five year she has worked for traditional museums but also as the project manager for the Half Moon 1609 replica ship. Her main trade is as a Visitor Experience and Heritage Interpretation research professional, making educational programmes, managing up to 100 volunteers and programming heritage activities and as a funding officer.

Annemarie is a visitor experience and interpretation developer, specialised in engaging visitors through a variety of interpretive techniques and encouraging learning in informal and formal heritage encounters. She is charmed by the use of live historic costumed interpretation, but makes use of the full possibilities of the interpretive mix, to find the right medium for each situation. She uses the latest insights and methodologies on cultural heritage-, intergenerational- and family learning to develop informal learning solutions. Her motto is engage, relate, reveal from Freeman Tilden. Social Inclusion in heritage education and Interpretation is a new development topic.

In her time off, you can find her in museums and heritage sites, performing live historic costumed interpretation and visiting international museums and heritage sites to get new ideas and compare best practices. Continuous professional development is very important to her and Annemarie plays an active role in European partnerships programmes by sharing knowledge and hosting workshops.