Museums can make a difference in the lives of the people and communities, by being an arena for participation, intercultural dialogue, and by catalysing personal processes of identification and belonging to a community. Experiencing that one is not alone with one’s experiences and discover ways in which they are related to social processes such as migration, for example, can change a person’s lifeworld. Relating to and learning from other people, who have experienced and conquered similar experiences as oneself, can foster community and empower the individual by giving hope and affirmation that one is not alone. The parallels between former and newer migration processes can be engaged as bridges between the current and future common cultural heritage in Europe. To facilitate this, museums must work in participation with audiences locally, as well as reaching beyond the local and national level. This is a challenging order, which will be pursued through thorough cooperation.
Enhancing cultural dialogue and raising the awareness of common history and values and thereby reinforcing a sense of belonging, is the focus of all actions in this project. As museums with access to a uniquely tangible and intangible cultural heritage, we have chosen E. Legacy of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 as our main priority. Nevertheless, as one will find below, in the description of the activities, I-ON relates in some way or another to all the main objectives. Among the concrete outcomes of this project, one finds the testing of innovative approaches to audience development, the organization of cultural activities on several geographical levels and the development and transfer of skills, competencies, and know-how.
This project will raise awareness of common history and values through the collection and dissemination of experiences from seven former migration processes in Europe. We will unfold and transmit common features of migration in European history from past to future generations, involving former migrants and their descendants in the collection and dissemination of experiences from factual historical contexts. Hereby, we aim to reinforce the sense of belonging to a common European space to contemporary migrants, as well as to those who have settled and to the hosting communities.
I-ON does so by:
In sum, the project aims to assist inhabitants to take up and sustain a European identity and a diversified common cultural heritage by bridging historical and contemporary experiences of migration in Europe.
