Museums hold an unequalled responsibility to communicate the shared history and “cultural, political and economic ties” between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Museums have enormous capacity to reach all levels of community, from towns to remote villages, and can be neutral spaces for building social cohesion and reconciliation in a variety of contexts. By focusing on the theme of “Museums and Community: Concepts, Experiences, and Sustainability in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean”, the EU-LAC Museums project (September 2016 – January 2021) has created a common vision for community-based museums, and reinforced mutual understanding and cooperation between regions in line with the aims of Horizon 2020 INT12 (2015), and the EU-CELAC Action Plan.
We are a consortium of 35 academics, museum professionals and policy makers working in Scotland, Portugal, Spain, France, Peru, Chile, Costa Rica and the Caribbean, brought together through the networks of the European and Latin American Regional Alliances of ICOM (
http://icom.museum(si apre in una nuova finestra)).
The project overall objectives are to:
1: Increase the knowledge area of EU-CELAC relations in the museum world by researching the concepts and experiences of sustainability in museums and communities in the two regions, with a special focus on heritage technologies and histories of migration as they relate to these communities.
2: Enhance sustainable development and social inclusiveness in the museum sector in remote rural and island locations through dialogue between academics, policy makers, museums, and local communities.
3: Create a common and sustainable vision for community museums ratified by ICOM, and in line with EU-CELAC and JIRI actions.
4: Make available and to celebrate knowledge generated by the project to all potential users, museum professionals, and decision makers through an ambitious web portal and an extensive dissemination programme.
5: Ensure rigorous evaluation of project methods and outcomes for future EU-LAC platforms, and to build long-term sustainable relationships between institutions in EU and LAC, and especially within our partner countries.
