The ICA Caribbean Regional Branch (CARBICA) is pleased to announce a webinar taking place on Wednesday, 27 May 2026, from 16:00 to 18:00 CET (Paris time), entitled Risk Mapping Cultural Property. The webinar will feature contributions from the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab (CHML) and CARBICA representatives, including Kaitlyn Fitzgerald, Sonia Dixon, Abby Maher and Bill Welsh (CHML), as well as Max Scriwanek, President of CARBICA and Valerie Martens-Monier (CARBICA).
This project had been selected by the ICA Programme Commission (PCOM) under the 2025 Call for Projects and has received a grant to develop and make available an online Risk Map. This initiative builds on a wider programme to map cultural heritage across the Caribbean region, with a particular focus on risk scenarios such as hurricanes, flooding, sea-level rise, and other natural hazards.
KEY INFORMATION
Date
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Time
16:00–18:00 CET (Paris time). To confirm the date/time of this session in your time zone, please use the following link.
Language
English. No other interpretation will be provided.
Date
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
Time
16:00–18:00 CET (Paris time). To confirm the date/time of this session in your time zone, please use the following link.
Language
English. No other interpretation will be provided.
The mapping work has been carried out in cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab (CHML), an initiative of the Smithsonian and the Virginia Museum of Natural History. As archives and other cultural heritage institutions are particularly vulnerable to water-related damage and other disaster impacts, this tool is intended to be of interest to the wider ICA community.
This webinar will present the risk mapping tools and their capabilities, share selected case studies of their use in disaster response, and explain how open-source data is gathered and used to support the mapping process. It will also introduce the CARBICA project and its work on making risk maps publicly accessible.
Agenda
The webinar will bring together presentations from CHML and CARBICA on the development and application of risk mapping tools for cultural heritage. It will cover the main features of the mapping approach, including its use for documenting and monitoring heritage sites, as well as examples of how it can support disaster preparedness and response. The session will also introduce the CARBICA risk mapping initiative for Curaçao and its broader relevance for safeguarding cultural heritage in the Caribbean and beyond.
Speakers
Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab (CHML)
- Kaitlyn Fitzgerald
- Sonia Dixon
- Abby Maher
- Bill Welsh
Caribbean Branch of the International Council on Archives (CARBICA)
- Valerie Martens-Monier
- Max Scriwanek (Moderator)
Biographies CARBICA Members
Valerie Martens-Monier
Valérie Martens-Monier is a paper conservator at the National Archives of Curaçao, where she has worked since 2016. She trained at the French conservation program IFROA (now INP) in Paris, graduating in 1992, and subsequently held positions at museums in France and the United States, as well as in private practice in the Netherlands.
As one of the few paper conservators in the Caribbean, she was commissioned by the Dutch Government to conduct post-disaster damage assessments following Hurricane Irma in 2017 on St Maarten. This led to further missions in Dominica and the British Virgin Islands. She is currently active in the Caribbean Heritage Emergency Network, advocating for disaster preparedness and risk management across the region.
Max Scriwanek
Maximiliaan Scriwanek is Director of the National Archives of Curaçao, President of the Caribbean Branch of the International Council on Archives (CARBICA 2023–2027) and co-chair of the Caribbean Heritage Emergency Network (CHEN). He is a member of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of the Memory of the World Programme.
He chairs the National Committee of Blue Shield Curaçao. He is elected as Vice President of the Asociación de Historiadores Latinoamericanos y del Caribe (ADHILAC).
He completed his master’s degree in history at the State University of Utrecht (Netherlands), focusing on the relationship between the Netherlands, Venezuela and Curaçao at the beginning of the 20th century.
