Open City Museum A participatory and community-led initiative to promote diversity, mutual understanding and the arts

Devised and implemented by Cuartel - Headquarters for art & culture, Bressanone/Brixen, South Tyrol (I) ! 

A participatory and community-led initiativeto promote diversity, mutual understandingand the arts

  Open City Museum uses a participatory and community-led approach to facilitate community development and social cohesion in contemporary pluralistic societies, from the people and for the people. !It seeks to actively engage all members of society, particularly youth and persons with migratory background, to promote mutual understanding and living together through the arts. !It is based on an understanding of the notions of “museum” and “public space” as spaces for active citizenship and culture. Drawing on this, it also temporarily revitalises unused places. !Its innovative participatory approach, based on collaborative public-civil partnerships, emphasises the democratic role of citizens by effectively engaging the public and all interested actors in every phase of the project.

OUR AIMS

Promoting engagement and active participation of the pluri-cultural society in artistic and cultural activities"• To promote active participation in, and accessibility to, the cultural and

artistic activities for all members of the society, particularly youth and new citizens or persons with a migration background;

• To value and recognise cultural diversity, community experience and knowledge of multicultural realities as local strengths and assets in the conception and realisation of the activities.

  Promoting mutual understanding and living together"• To create occasions for the mutual knowledge, dialogue and sharing of

experiences between all members of society; • To promote awareness and knowledge of the local cultural, artistic and

historical heritage; • To explore and sustain cultural, aesthetic and identity values in the society

in order to promote and enhance cultural diversity and cultural inclusion. Promoting community development and social cohesion through the arts"• To utilize works of art as a tool for the development of cognitive and social

skills, the production of knowledge, and the fostering of creativity and innovative thinking.

• To involve the public in the processes of conception, realisation and fruition of art community-based projects.

• To create partnerships between public cultural institutions, public offices, universities and educational institutions, civil society organisations, the independent cultural scene and the private sector, that share the common goal of improving social and community development and social cohesion.

Our aims

Intercultural education activities, museum didactics, participatory art projects, public art initiatives, workshops, art exhibitions and talks are some of the activities that characterise the project’s participatory approach.

We collaborate with museums, cultural centres and galleries, public offices, universities and educational institutions, civil society organisations, the independent cultural scene and the private sector. !Open City Museum thus promotes key democratic values by encouraging people’s sense of responsibility and ownership for cultural and other common goods and of commitment to sustainable social and community development; by promoting freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression; by promoting respect, dignity and equality of opportunity in pluri-cultural societies; and by nurturing a common sense of belonging. !!

Together for a common goal

Creative and participatory

The project staff, together with professional artists, specialists and/or facilitators, empowers people to actively lead, and participate in, conceiving, planning and implementing the activities. For instance, young people with migrant background define the guided tours and are the real guides to the museum’s collection and exhibitions. They accompany adults through the rooms and try to explain and involve the visitors thanks to their personal stories. In this way young people enhance their role inside the society through an active behaviour. People also suggest the format and content of an exhibition, and evaluate the actions. Moreover, they tell their life-story, chose how they want to be portrayed in photo exhibitions, and act as gatekeepers to contact and engage the neighbourhood and other members of the migrant communities.

Open City Museum has created new settings for community, social and cultural development, and for the active engagement of citizens in the cities of Bolzano/Bozen, Bressanone/Brixen and Chiusa/Klausen (South Tyrol, Italy). It has promoted intercultural dialogue and social cohesion by raising awareness about the positive value of cultural diversity. It has empowered local people to actively lead, and participate in, conceiving, planning and implementing cultural and artistic activities. !2011: “Cultural diversities in Chiusa”, a community-led art project implemented in collaboration with the Civic Museum of Chiusa/Klausen, various local organisations, a local young artist and local residents. It consisted in various workshops and mediation courses for youths with migratory background that led to the devising of guided tours in their mother languages to the museum’s collection. A co-created photographic exhibition triplicated the usual visitors’ flow to the museum. The project thus strengthened the local migrant community’s sense of belonging by introducing them to the town’s heritage as well as by allowing them to share their own cultural heritage with all inhabitants. It also empowered young people by giving them authority and positions of responsibility as well as migrants by giving them voice and visibility in the town’s public spaces. !2012: “Chinese everyday people”, arts-based community development project and a photo exhibition, juxtaposed a collection of snapshots from 1970s/1990s China with a series of portraits of Chinese people living in Brixen/Bressanone. Guided tours in the local official languages and Chinese to local heritage sites accompanied the exhibition. Avoiding a folkloristic representation, the project established a strong connection between the local Chinese community and the town’s heritage. !2013: “Cinescope - the art of freedom”, a contemporary art exhibition and a series of public talks conceived and implemented in collaboration with the international artist collective Butch-ennial for a unused public space in the city of Bressanone/Brixen. The activities were promoted by Terra Institute, the universities of Bozen/Bolzano and Innsbruck (A), and the Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development recognized by the United Nations University. ! !!!!

Our main experiences

2013: “Common portraits of diversity”, a public art exhibition co-created with the Community Centre of Oltrisarco-Aslago/Oberau-Haslach, a cultural association, the Photographic Association of Bolzano and a local artist. Photos depicted various people who have lived in one neighbourhood of Bolzano for the last 50 years as well as new citizens from different countries and created a dialogue between the residents of the neighbourhood. !2014 (ongoing): “Young Futuremakers”, a platform encouraging creativity, and promoting and celebrating diverse forms of active citizenship.

www.opencitymuseum.com"info@opencitymuseum.com

Open City Museum Booklet by Martha Jiménez Rosano is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.opencitymuseum.com. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.cuartel.de.