OPEN DOORS. PARTICIPATORY MUSEUMS TODAY, curated by Pierluigi Sacco, is promoted and organised by Fondazione Brescia Musei in collaboration with Fondazione Scuola dei beni e delle attività culturali and NEMO. The events will take place from May to November 2022. NEMO is a proud co-organiser since we want to make sure that museums are actively participating in and steering the transition towards an open and participatory museum sector.

In a press release, Francesca Bazoli, President of Fondazione Brescia Musei, summarises the aim of events: “This series of meetings will foster a full understanding of the transition we have been experiencing in recent years […] from museums experienced as ‘palaces’ to museums as ‘public squares” in which the dynamics of active citizenship are lived and practised”. By introducing more participatory practice to museum operations, the social role of museums will increase, and knowledge access and transfer will become a collective process.

The 9 talks will be live streamed and simultaneously translated into Italian, English and LIS (Italian Sign Language). To join online please register an account at fad.fondazionescuolapatrimonio.it (find more information about the sign-up process below). To join the talks in-person in Brescia, please contact cup@bresciamusei.com. Participation in both online and in-person events are free of charge.

Programme of OPEN DOORS. PARTICIPATORY MUSEUMS TODAY:

• 25 May at 16:30 CEST
  Opening session
• 8 June at 16:30 CEST
  Participation for unity
  Museums can become a centre of social cohesion and a safe and welcoming space for all those suffering from discrimination and marginalisation.
• 15 June at 16:30 CEST
  Participation for possibility
  Museums can become a space of empowerment, where awareness of our human potential and the capacity to develop it can be cultivated.
• 22 June at 16:30 CEST
  Participation for education
  Museums have always been important educational institutions whose mission today is growing increasingly extensive and multifaceted, helping today’s citizens to face and navigate the growing complexities of our world.
• 29 June at 16:30 CEST
  Participation for creating dialogue between differences
  Cultural differences have always been one of the primary resources of humankind, and museums are the place that allows experimentation of new forms of dialogue and mutual encounter.
• 28 September at 16:30 CEST
  Participation for wellbeing
  Scientific evidence is confirming that culture can have very positive effects on psychological and physical wellbeing. Museums can therefore also become spaces where people can enjoy a sense of wellbeing.
• 19 October at 16:30 CEST
  Participation to help us be creative
  Creativity is not only about intuition. Being creative is also about being constantly open to new ideas and new points of view. Museums are spaces to be discovered and that allow us to develop our creative potential day after day.
• 9 November at 16:30 CEST
  Participation as co-creation
  New digital technologies offer us ever more possibilities to make and create together, developing our collective intelligence. Museums are spaces allowing us to try our hand with these new possibilities and their exciting potential.
• 23 November at 16:30 CEST
  Participation as a solution to collective problems
  Culture has always helped human beings solve important issues addressing them from different perspectives. Museums can also become the place where we can together design more effective solutions to our everyday problems.