Resilient, sustainable and participatory practices: Towards the GLAMs of the commons

Project Information

GLAMMONS

Grant agreement ID: 101060774

DOI

10.3030/101060774

Project closed

EC signature date 2 June 2022

Start date 1 October 2022

End date 30 September 2025

Funded under

• Culture, creativity and inclusive society

Total cost

€ 2 948 000,00

EU contribution

€ 2 948 000,00

Coordinated by

PANTEIO PANEPISTIMIO KOINONIKON KAIPOLITIKON EPISTIMON
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GLAMMONS (Resilient, sustainable and participatory practices: Towards the GLAMs of the commons)

Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The GLAMMONS project reimagines Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums (GLAMs) as dynamic, participatory and commons-oriented organisations, that thrive on community engagement, meaningful participation, and co-creation. The project addresses current challenges of the GLAMs sector by exploring commons-oriented solutions focused upon participatory management, financial sustainability, openness, and accessibility.

GLAMMONS unpacks its Major Objectives (MO) in three Scientific Objectives (SO) and two Policy Objectives (PO):

MO A: Develop new conceptualizations through the ways that the commons theory and practice can provide a new transformative power for the GLAMS and the local communities
SO1: Develop new understandings about the current and post-pandemic challenges that GLAMs face.
SO2: Develop new approaches about the sustainable financing and resource management of the GLAMs.
SO3: Develop new conceptualizations of the cultural commons perspective for the local communities

MO B: Produce evidence-based policy recommendations for more participatory and inclusive management and more efficient and resilient financing of the GLAMs through arrangements of the commons.
PO1: Define resilient communing practices through evidence-based research
PO2: Produce policy recommendations for the GLAMs of the commons

More specifically, the project addresses the following specific needs:
-Need for new methods and models for the sustainable financing of (under-funded) GLAMs.
-Need to embrace and enable participatory management practices for GLAMs to become more inclusive and relevant to their surrounding communities.
-Need to evaluate the economic and social impact of the pandemic on the GLAMs’ sector.
-Need for GLAMs to become fully embedded in cities’ life through participatory management.
-Need to enhance GLAMs’ role in sustainable regional development
-Need for GLAMs to further promote processes of social value-creation and trauma healing
-Need for a digital commons-based strategy for sharing knowledge and communication through and about objects and collections
-Need for new digital tools for co-creating arts and heritage content with user communities

Against this background, GLAMMONS delivered the following outcomes:
- Explored new ways of participatory cultural management and sustainable financing for museums and other cultural institutions, during and after times of crises such as the coronavirus pandemic.
-Ensured better access to cultural heritage and engagement with local communities, to preserve and strengthen social cohesion through inclusive and participatory procedures.
-Strengthened the sense of belonging to a common European space while respecting cultural and ethnolinguistic diversity, as well as developing an awareness of cultural pluralism.
-Promoted the role of museums and other cultural institutions in well-being, health, resilience, social inclusion and society’s dealing with trauma and post-crisis recovery.
-Fostered the role of museums and other cultural institutions in sustainable economic growth and regional development.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the second reporting period (M13–M36), all researchers and partner organisations actively contributed across all WPs, ensuring strong scientific, implementation, dissemination, and management progress.

Main Achievements include:

Empirical experiments: Three real-world experiments were conducted through structured workshops with independent cultural organisations in France (Le Consortium, Dijon), Greece (Oral History Groups), and Germany (Schwules Museum, Berlin). These experiments tested a novel methodological approach to analysing governance rules, decision-making processes, and challenges in commons-oriented GLAMs.

RESCAPER+ / MAZOMOS ROUTES application: The mobile ethnographic research application was further developed and validated within the project, enabling participatory documentation of cultural commons through georeferenced multimedia data. The application progressed from TRL 6 to TRL 9, was fully deployed and validated in real operational conditions, and demonstrates readiness for wide-scale adoption. It supports open, participatory, and commons-oriented cultural practices.

Code of Conduct for GLAMs: A Code of Conduct was developed, setting out principles for open access, ethical practice, community participation, collaborative creation, and volunteer engagement in commons-oriented GLAMs.

Skills-development toolkit: A practical toolkit was produced to support cultural professionals in applying commons practices, covering participatory governance, financial sustainability, inclusive cultural production, digital media, and monitoring and evaluation.

QUALITY EVALUATOR+ (QE+): A value-based evaluation framework was developed to support commons-oriented GLAMs in assessing cultural and social value beyond traditional economic indicators, benefiting organisations, funders, and policymakers.

Blueprint for Digital Strategies for GLAMs: A practical guide was delivered to support GLAMs in designing participatory digital strategies for governance, communication, co-creation, and data sharing.

Policy engagement: A Policy Brief and a high-level Policy Workshop with European Commission policy officers were organised, contributing directly to policy recommendations on recognition, funding, monitoring, and digital capacity building for commons-oriented GLAMs.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

GLAMMONS advanced the state of the art by establishing “GLAMs as Commons” as a new framework for participatory cultural governance, financing, and digital transformation. The project delivered replicable models that: (1) redefine participatory management and sustainable financing for GLAMs beyond crises; (2) ensure inclusive access and community-led heritage making; (3) foster a shared European belonging through cultural pluralism; (4) position GLAMs as spaces of care, well-being, and post-crisis recovery; and (5) embed cultural commons in sustainable regional development. Through its interdisciplinary research, digital tools, policy outputs and open-access resources, GLAMMONS empowers cultural institutions to operate as resilient, community-driven ecosystems that generate social, cultural, and economic value aligned with Horizon Europe, the New European Bauhaus, and the European Green Deal.

GLAMMONS LOGO