Following an Open Call for Local Good Practices, the European Heritage Hub identified exemplary initiatives in the cultural heritage field that contribute to the green, digital, and social transformation of our society. 

In the Sharing Local Stories webinar series, we invite you to discover how these practices have been implemented on local and regional levels. In collaboration with partners of the Hub and participants from the open call, we highlight inspirational stories and practical examples while engaging in a wider conversation on the role of cultural heritage in an urban context.

The second edition, titled ‘Sharing Local Stories: Social Transformation in Cultural Heritage’, will be held online on Friday, 15 November 2024, 11.00-12.30 CET. It will focus on the social aspect of the triple transformation, while also highlighting the connection with the digital and green dimensions.

Programme

The event will address key questions for the sector:

• How can we increase citizen participation in the field, creating a stronger sense of belonging and community?  
• What strategies can be used to develop impactful projects that remove barriers to accessing cultural heritage?
• How can inclusive governance processes be effectively implemented?

During the event we will showcase three practices from Portugal and Spain: 

• Bordalo Pinheiro Museum Continuity Project – Lisbon, Portugal

The Bordalo Pinheiro Museum’s mission is to study and publicise the work of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846- 1905), a multifaceted artist with an important graphic and ceramic oeuvre. Alongside his enormous talent, Bordalo was also an artist of values, a fighter against injustice, for freedom and active citizenship, using humour as a tool for these purposes. With the Continuity Project, this Museum in Lisbon goes outside its walls and takes on a dynamic conception of its role in the community, contributing to social transformation through active citizenship.

The Continuity Project of the Bordalo Pinheiro Museum’s Educational Service is the result of long-term partnerships with schools and social solidarity institutions with a view to creating places where people can share their thoughts on the society we live in, inspired by Pinheiro’s artistic vision and humorous criticism. Within this framework, the Museum defines a theme together with the partner institution, each time taking into account the diverse audience of the project.

• Gesto do Fado (Fado Gesture) – Museu do Fado – Lisbon, Portugal

Gesto do Fado is a visual archive of fados aiming to bring Deaf people closer to Fado music, serving as a reference for translations of the poems and lyrics in Portuguese Sign Language.

In partnership with Access Lab, a company dedicated to increasing access to culture and entertainment for people with disabilities and with Mãos que Cantam project, a choir composed of Deaf people, which uses Portuguese Sign Language (LGP), the Fado Museum and EGEAC (a municipal company responsible for the preservation, promotion, and management of some of the most iconic cultural spaces in Lisbon and holding major cultural events) launched Gesto do Fado, producing a selection of interpreted fado videos. The previous study of the poetry by the Deaf performers was a major part of the process. 

• The Medieval Garden – Growing green for social inclusion and historical disclosure – Barcelona, Spain

The Medieval Garden at the Museum of the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes aims at the archaeological recovery of a historical space and the academic research into medieval horticultural practices. At the same time, the initiative has been conceived as a social inclusion project and as an opportunity to open the Museum to groups at risk of exclusion. The project invites people with disabilities into its daily operation through the care of the whole process of cultivation. Another aspect of the project is related to sustainability affecting three main areas: the urban transformation with the incorporation of new green areas; the reduction of ecological footprint in terms of energy and water expenditure; and the locally based consumption and healthy food provision to communities. 

The initiative is located in a high-density urban environment of Barcelona, making use of a decades-long disused space. In a time of great difficulties due to the challenges generated by the drought, a historic hydraulic circuit has been recovered that naturally supplies the garden. The museum also uses the garden to develop workshops and visits with the goal to show a specific era and historic lifestyles that took place in this female monastery over centuries while reflecting on contemporary themes of sustainability and social inclusion. Read a full story about the initiative here. 

About Sharing Local Stories

The Sharing Local Stories series is being developed by the partners of the European Heritage Hub pilot project. This second webinar is implemented by Eurocities, Europa Nostra, and Centro Nacional de Cultura. A recording of the first webinar of the series, exploring the theme of digital transformation in cultural heritage, is available here 

This webinar is free-of-charge but registration is compulsory. Register by 14 November 2024.