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Webinar Date: Thursday, July 30, 2026; 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Event Information:
Museums and heritage organizations often face a shared challenge: how do we help people connect with difficult histories they have not lived through themselves? This webinar explores practical ways to engage contemporary audiences with histories that may feel distant, complex, or emotionally challenging.
Drawing on current Canadian research on Holocaust education, alongside community heritage work in Victoria’s Chinatown, the session uses place attachment as a practical way to think about how museums and heritage organizations build meaningful connections between people, place, and historical memory. Speakers will discuss approaches that strengthen visitor engagement and help make difficult histories relevant without oversimplifying them. Participants will leave with inspiration for designing programs and interpretive strategies that honor complexity, foster connection, and support thoughtful learning in museum and heritage settings.
Presenters:
- Dr. Ann-Kathrin McLean, Assistant Professor, Royal Roads University
- Ching Hei Cheung (Chris), Program Associate, Royal Roads University
- Linda Tzang, Associate Director, Victoria Chinatown Museum
About Dr. Ann-Kathrin McLean
Dr. Ann-Kathrin McLean is an Assistant Professor at Royal Roads University. Her research addresses the relationship between collective memory, Holocaust remembrance, and sites of trauma. Understanding this relationship is vital as we see a revival in fascist populism worldwide. She specifically focuses on how young adults engage with Holocaust memorial sites and articulates how this generation transfers a new form of (post)memory, namely the Zone of Transitional Memory.
About Ching Hei Cheung (Chris)
Chris Cheung is a graduate of the MA in Tourism Management program at Royal Roads University. His research focuses on cultural identity and heritage preservation in tourism contexts. Specifically, his thesis addressed how the local community in Victoria’s Chinatown forms attachments to place amid ongoing urban change. He has volunteered with the Victoria Chinatown Museum and has previous experience in tour operations and hospitality across different regions, which informs his hands‑on approach to interpretation and education.
About Linda Tzang
Linda Tzang is the Associate Director of the Victoria Chinatown Museum. She has extensive experience interpreting the Chinese Canadian experience for museums. She was the Local History Curator for the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum & Archives of Greater Vancouver, oversaw the completion of Vancouver’s Chinatown Storytelling Centre and created Meet Lee Sing Yen, an exhibit at the New Westminster Museum commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Chinese Immigration Act. From 2005 to 2018, she was the Curator of Cultural Communities at the Royal Alberta Museum. There, she curated Chop Suey on the Prairies: A History of Chinese Restaurants in Alberta and created a digital interactive on Calgary’s Chinese Smallpox Riot of 1892, arguably the largest anti-Chinese event in Canadian history. She also led the interpretation team for the new human history gallery for the newly constructed Royal Alberta Museum which opened in 2018. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia and holds master’s degrees in history (McMaster University, Ontario) and Museum Studies (Leicester University, UK).
Cost & Registration:
Free for Members ($15 for non-members)