The project consortium is made by the following partners:
The Project is funded by Erasmus+ Programme of the EU with the focus on ecomuseums sphere, with partners on Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
UJA - Universidade Jaén
Jaén, Spain
Department: Campus de Excelencia Internacional en Patrimonio
UJA (ES) is a university coordinating a Centre of International Excellence on Heritage (CEI Patrimonio), gathering 10 Andalusian public universities.
The University of Jaén (UJA or UJAEN) was established in 1993. In addition to the principal campus Lagunillas, located in Jaén, the university has two satellite campuses in Linares and Úbeda. The University is divided into seventeen centres: five faculties, two higher schools in Engineering, six research centres and other four centres of higher education (SagradaFamilia de Úbeda Centre, Centre of Advances Studies in ForeingLanguges, Postgraduate Centre and PhD School). It offers undergraduate and postgraduate studies to more than 17.000 students.
UJA leads the International Cultural and Natural Heritage Campus of Excellence (CEI PatrimoniUN10 in Spanish; http://www.ceipatrimonio.com/). It was founded in 2009 as an international reference in education, research, development, transference to the society and innovation in the areas included in the Cultural and Natural Heritage. Its activity focuses on improving teaching and science. It is integrated by allten public universities in Andalusia (10) and has an Experts Network with 745 members. Among the projects it carries out is the ‘Club de la Innovación’ (Innovation Club), dedicated to promoting the exchange of experiences with foreign universities and research centres. In, 2020, the Junta de Andalucía (Regional Government) has approved a CEI PatrimoniUN10 project entitled “Natural and Cultural Heritage in Andalusia: sustainable management of the tourism, heritage recovery and social-economic transference”.
This project has two main goals, a) to create an innovation cosystem around heritage tourism that contributes to the generation and transfer of knowledge and creativity, and b) to generate a new sustainable model of heritage tourism, which contributes to diversification, the fight against seasonality and spills economic development in Andalusia.
Sebastián Juan Bruque Cámara, Vice-Chancellor (vicerrector) of Internationalization and Chief Coordinator in the EcoHeritage Project.
Juan Carlos Castillo Armenteros, President of CEI Patrimonio, y Academic Coordinator in the EcoHeritageProject.
Rosel Giménez Ruiz, Technician-coordinator of the Campus of International Excellence in Cultural Heritage. Ecoheritage project supervisor.
José Antonio López Sánchez. Leading Researcher Ecoheritage project. Member of CEI Patrimonio.
Manuel Parodi-Álvarez. Researcher Ecoheritage project. Member of CEI Patrimonio.
On Projects Advising SL
Granada, Spain
OnP (ES) is a consulting enterprise specialised in project managing, monitoring and evaluation.
On Projects was born in 2014 as a project managing consulting enterprise. Its main focus is advising enterprises, associations, public bodies and other entities in managing, monitoring and evaluating public funded projects. On Projects staff has a wide experience in managing projects in the framework of many European Programmes (including 6th and 7th framework programme, Horizon 2020, Life, Progress/EaSI, Creative Europe and of course LLP and ERASMUS+) with a special focus on rural development and cultural/natural heritage.
On Projects belongs to a wide network of partners in the cultural/natural heritage sector which constantly provide feedback and direct contact with the main stakeholder of this domain, including the target group of this project.
On Projects staff successfully managed European training projects in several areas, amongst which cultural and natural heritage, including around ten LLP multilateral projects and thirty ERASMUS+ projects. Actually, On Projects is cooperating with several organisation related to this sector at European, national and local level.
The UAH (ES) is a university represented in the project by the Department of History and Philosophy where a specific line of research has been developed to study the evolution of social museology in Spain.
The University of Alcalá offers 40 Undergraduate degrees and 53 Research Masters Programs in different areas of Arts and Humanities, Health Sciences, Technological Sciences, Social and Legal Sciences and Science to its students. In 2019 there were a total of 14.803 enrolled students. The department involved in this project is the Department of History and Philosophy where, for years, there has been specific training in heritage management and cultural management. The teaching staff associated with these studies come from disciplines such as: communication, marketing, art history, history, museology and philosophy. His specialties are: the development for cultural management, the new social environments for the participation of culture, and the social innovation as a way of managing heritage.
At the university and in the team of researchers from the Department of History and Philosophy we understand participation is not a minor issue, collective well-being depends on it. One of the participation methodologies is the formula of the ecomuseums (or community museums). In Spain the cases of this are limited, but those that exist (in Asturias La Ponte-Ecomuséu, in Catalonia the Ecomuseu de les Valls d'Àneu, or in Andalusia the Ecomuseo del Río Caicena) are examples of sustainable development of territories and communities, especially the participation of the population, especially the adult.
Answering contemporary ethical and political disaffections has led down in two paths. The first one has placed into the worry about how to educate citizenship The second one is devoted of the reflection on culture because the approach to the contemporary world is done not from more or less basic needs, but from cultural creations that let us "touch" the world in one way or another.
MINOM - International Movement for a New Museology
Lisbon, Portugal
Non-governmental organisation/association
MINOM-ICOM (PT) is an international network working on community museums, ecomuseums, museology institutes, groups focused on the organization of local cultural activities, cultural management and mediation, and grassroots cultural institutions.
MINOM (International Movement for a New Museology) is an international organization affiliated to ICOM (International Council of Museums). Based broadly on a concern for social and cultural change, MINOM brings together individuals who are dedicated to active and interactive museology. It is open to aIl approaches which make the museum an instrument for identity building and development within the community. MINOM supports cooperative relationships between users and professionals, as well as intercultural collaboration. MINOM was founded in 1985, in Lisbon, Portugal, during the 2nd International New Museology Workshop. This official foundation was the result of the 1st International – Ecomuseums / New Museology Workshop in Quebec (Canada) in 1984, when museologists from 15 countries adopted The Quebec Declaration as a reference point for the movement. Its ideological origins are found in the Santiago Declaration adopted in 1972 in Chile.
Help each other, learn from each other’s strategies of using heritage and museums as a tool to combat injustice, to foster development in communities, to foster dialogue. For us, these are not just words, they are part of a project of society, with more solidarity. It is a debate not about organizations or objects, but about people. Essentially the sharing of human experiences and techniques which too often are litt1e because of the uncertain finances and the isolation which are common to many expressions of new museology: ecomuseums, neighborhood museums, local museums, popular and community museums. Encouragement of innovative museum initiatives. Regional and international meetings of members and non-members. A continuous exchange of ideas on the goals of museology and museography. Communication by the simplest and most direct means. Enthusiasm shared by our members.
To this Project, the MINOM-ICOM is articulated with the regional grouping MINOM-Portugal given its geographical proximity and its intervention in the field of social Museology and in particular Ecomuseology. Thus MINOM International and MINOM-Portugal make available to the project their accumulated knowledge about the Portuguese ecomuseological reality, as well as their network of museologists, academics and other professionals working in the field of Ecomuseology.
Aida Rechena, Manager in the EcoHeritage Project and President MINOM Portugal
ULHT (PT) was the first university in Portugal to ensure specific teaching of museology at the masters and doctoral levels.
Lusófona University (ULHT) is a non-profit HEI belonging to COFAC, which is also a non-profit cooperative integrating 10 HEI in Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. It was recognized by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal in 1998, and is the largest private university in the country. The university has a student body of 10.000 students and 1000 teachers, offering 44 undergraduate Degrees, 45 Master Degrees, 9 PhD’s programs, and 42 Post-graduation courses.
The Department of Museology is integrated to the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Education and Development (CeiED), focusing on Sociomuseology, Public policies for education, Heritage and Global citizenship. It promotes heritage in a broad sense, expecting that museums are understood as a resource for cognitive justice and social inclusion in different domains. Since 2018, the UNESCO Chair "Education, Citizenship and Cultural Diversity" is placed at CeiED, being coordinated by the Department of Museology.
It acts since 1993 within the framework of Sociomuseology, which is based on the so-called social museology and its different forms: Community Museums, Ecomuseums, Neighborhood Museums, Local Museums etc. This epistemological approach – Sociomuseology - brings together concepts and concerns such as citizenship, cultural diversity and social commitment to the University’s academic programs (MsC and PhD).
The Department of Museology gathers a group of professors, scholars and highly specialized professionals holding PhD degrees in the area of Museology / Sociomuseology and coming from a wide range of academic backgrounds and cultures. It publishes the Journal of Sociomuseology (internationally indexed) since 1993, with at least one annual collection of articles and essays. The research activities are developed at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Education and Development (CeiED) which is an R&D unit evaluated and financed by the National Foundation for Research and Technology (FCT).
Almeida Damásio - Manager in the EcoHeritage Project
UNIMIB (IT) is a university that has been working for years on the concept of community and sustainable local projects as a tool for the development of marginal rural territories.
The University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB) is a young & dynamic multidisciplinary University, founded in 1998 and is located in Milan, amongst the most dynamic and international regions in Europe. The University offers academic excellence, cutting-edge laboratories and interdisciplinary research funded in the framework of national and international programs. With 14 Departments and 2 Schools, UNIMIB offers 32 bachelor degree courses, 38 Post Graduate, 17 PhD programs, 30 specializations in the Medical field and 36 Master programs to approx. 33,000 students.
Since its inception, the Department of Sociology and Social Research has been ranked as the best in Italy for the quality of research and teaching in social and political sciences, as stated also by the national research ranking (ANVUR, 2013).
The department of Sociology of the University of Bicocca boasts high profile skills in the research and planning of sustainable tourism and rural development strategies, as well as a rich network of local and international stakeholders of ecomuseums and sites of historical interest and territorial marketing. It has been working for years on the concept of community and sustainable local projects, as a tool for the development of marginal rural territories.
Ecomuseo del Paesaggio di Parabiago - Comune di Parabiago
Parabiago, Italy
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In 2008, the landscape ecomuseum of Parabiago (Italy) was founded in the Milan urban contest, characterised by inhabitants’ inability to understand the value of the living heritage. It is a cultural institution established inside a local Agenda 21 project. The ecomuseum is managed by the Municipality of Parabiago. It was accredited by Lombardy Region in 2018.
The Ecomuseum of Parabiago was designed, and is working “with” the community, according to the logic of the participatory planning and active citizenship. For the Parabiago Ecomuseum, the process of participation is at least as important as the results and the outcomes of the planned action. In fact, the interaction of the local actors is essential in order to create a sense of place and community. The aim is not only the realisation of participatory activities, but also triggering cooperation agreements with citizens, for the care, management, and regeneration of the cultural heritage and the landscape in accordance with article 118 of the Italian Constitution.
In this way, the ecomuseum becomes a facilitator that makes people able to release energies, and share resources inside the community itself, for the common interest. Through participation processes, the people empowerment, the large use of principles of subsidiarity and coresponsibility, the ecomuseum facilitated the work of a wide network of stakeholders; this network was able to mapping the heritage, to take care of it, to manage and regenerate it. The ecomuseum is working not only to implement but also to inspire, also beyond its border, methodological, relational and social changes. Such changes, in turn, contributed to modify the landscape.
The ecomuseum participates in the activities of the network of Italian and Lombardy ecomuseums and the international DROPS platform for ecomuseums and community museums.
Raul Dal Santo, Research Teacher Trainer
Silvia Dossena, Technical
Lucia Vignati, Technical
Fundacja Miejsc i Ludzi Aktywnych – MILA
Kraków, Poland
Foundation of Active People and Places (PL) supports local development based on natural and cultural heritage and involvement of local communities. One of main foundation’s activities is dissemination of the ecomuseum concept in Poland. Its expert has worked out and implemented an original methodology of developing ecomuseums and has initiated and supported the development of several ecomuseums.
MiLA has operated since 2010. It uses interactive, participatory methods and cooperates with various local actors: municipalities, NGOs, entrepreneurs, informal groups. MiLA’s activities are focused on three thematic domains: social dialogue, heritage tourism and local entrepreneurship.
MiLA Foundation supports local communities to develop ecomuseums in Poland for over ten years and its main expert, Barbara Kazior since 2000. Development of ecomuseums in Poland has been one of basic MiLA’s objectives and activities. Knowledge, experience and cooperation with ecomuseums and ecomuseum experts from all over the world allowed to work out original methodology of creating ecomuseums, adjusted to specific Polish circumstances, that has been used to support development of ecomuseums in Poland. Foundation contributed to development of ecomuseums in Poland in two ways: by disseminating the concept by means of presentation at conferences and trainings (e.g. Three Cultures Ecomuseum, Festive Land – Roztocze Ecomuseum, Blue San River Land Ecomuseum, Elbląg Channel Land EcoMuseum, Silesian Weavers Ecomuseum, Heather Land Ecomuseum, Living Tradition – Lubelszczyzna Ecomuseum, Noteć River Valley Ecomuseum), and supporting the process of their development (e.g. Ecomuseum of Carp Valley, ‘Frog Land’ Ecomuseum, Oberih Ecomuseum in Ukraine, Ecomuseum of Dunajec River Villages).
MiLA has worked out specific methodology to implement ecomuseum concept. It works with communities in order to launch ecomuseums as well as support existing ecomuseums to develop and meet the quality standards of presenting local natural and cultural heritage. MiLA supports cooperation between ecomuseums in Poland and abroad and it keeps contacts with ecomuseums all over the world to exchange information, knowledge, skills and experiences to improve their operation.
Barbara Kaizor, Coordinator in the EcoHeritage Project
