The Horizon2020 Research and Innovation CultureLabs (2018-2021) project investigated, proposed, and tested in practice participatory models that create bridges between institutional and communities’ cultural heritage, with a particular focus on the engagement of migrant and refugee communities. In dialogue with ongoing practices in the field, the findings and achievements of the CultureLabs project come to offer a timely and fresh perspective on the social role that cultural heritage can play. How can cultural heritage institutions promote social inclusion and particularly the inclusion of under-represented or marginalised communities? And how can digital technologies facilitate the adoption of socially purposeful and participatory practices in this context?
In order to gain a better understanding about the current situation in the intersection of cultural heritage and social innovation, the CultureLabs project has collected and analysed multiple perspectives from institutional and community actors involved in the field. The research findings of this analysis shed new light to the complex relationship between migrant communities and Cultural Heritage institutions and have guided the contributions of the project, which can be categorized along three dimensions: the digital technologies dimension; the policy dimension; and the practical one.
The technical dimension
CultureLabs has developed an online platform that aims to streamline and facilitate the organisation of participatory projects. The platform makes openly available and searchable a rich pool of resources, including policies, methodologies, digital tools, descriptions of past participatory projects representing good practices, as well as novel ideas for new projects that can facilitate social innovation through culture. These resources, which we call “ingredients”, can be combined in various ways to form a “recipe” that describes the process of carrying out a participatory project. Through a well-defined template and multiple functionalities, users are guided to capture the “internal” knowledge of projects, by including information about the steps followed, the challenges encountered, tips and resources that can be useful for the replication of similar projects in the future. The platform also offers a set of added-value functionalities that allow users to collaborate with each other on a common project and adapt existing recipes to their own needs.
The practical dimension
Four different recipes for participatory projects have been implemented as pilot actions in Finland, Italy, and the United Kingdom, to demonstrate and evaluate in practice how various means of creative interactions with cultural heritage can engage different migrant and refugee groups, with the ultimate aim to promote intercultural understanding and social inclusion.
- “Zoom In On Heritage” in Helsinki, Finland was led by Museovirasto, the Finnish Heritage Agency, and involved members of the Russian-speaking minority and a group of women migrants.
- “More in Common” in Manchester, UK was led by the People’s History Museum and created opportunities for people with diverse backgrounds living in Greater Manchester to meet, discuss, and explore what they have ‘in common’.
- “Bridging Culture Through Arts” in Ancona, Italy was led by Cooperative Sociale Marche Onlus and brought together migrants and locals living in a neglected neighbourhood with multicultural variety.
- “So distant, incredibly close” in Pisa was led by Fondazione Systema Toscana and engaged sub-saharan migrants and women with several migration backgrounds living in the area of Pisa.
The policy dimension
Building on the empirical findings of the needs analysis, the literature research of past and ongoing participatory projects, and on the hands-on experience gained from the pilots, CultureLabs has also produced a set of policy recommendations which can be useful for policy makers at the EU, national, regional and local levels as well as decision makers in museums and other organisations from the Cultural Heritage sector who wish to assume a socially active role and engage with communities and in particular with migrant and refugee communities.
