Awarded small grants 2018 to five museum projects

Since 2013, Cultural Heritage without Borders has used grants from different donors to finance and administer the Small Grants programm of the Balkan Museum Network. In the last five years 27 projects have been funded with more than 100.000 euros. 2018 call, just like the previous two, has been enabled with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation through the project “Crafting Access”.

We are very happy that the interest for the call was very high and we have received 22 project proposals.

As the result of the evaluation and selection process the grants will be offered to following museum projects: Association Istarsko Ecomuseum Vodnjan “Eco-printing: sustainable culture”; Museum of the Macedonian Struggle – Skopje “Open museums – Improving access and inclusion of blind and visually impaired visitors”; History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Museum of Vojvodina Community voices and museum interpretation/reinterpretation of the common past”; Institute and Museum Bitola and Zenica City Museum “Touching Art”; Regional Museum Gorazde “Inclusion of disabled people in the museum and making the preconditions for the souvenir shop”.

We would like to thank all the applicants.

Find our more about the awarded projects by continuing to read.

Eco-printing: sustainable culture

Association “Istarsko – ecomuseum from Vodnjan” with this project aims to enhance all that makes our peninsula (lstria) an excellent habitat. The Ecomuseum is not a museum that works in a building, but in a specific climate in which the aim is to preserve and promote the heritage of human labour. The collection of the Ecomuseum consists mainly of everyday objects and tools used by the Istrian over the centuries. Part of the heritage of lstria has always been multiculturalist and inclusive for all groups of people, and in Vodnjan the agricultural heritage has been particularly highlighted. The project combines both: integration and valorisation of rural culture in an innovative way. After the call and the preparation of the workshop, the process of eco-printing on textiles will be learned in five workshops, which will be exhibited. In addition, the entire project is presented in a video.

Open museums – Improving access and inclusion of blind and visually impaired visitors

National Institution Museum of the Macedonian Struggle – Skopje follows the idea of open museums, which are easily accessible to all groups of visitors. That is why it is important to improve the access and involvement of blind and visually impaired visitors in our institution. There is already a catalogue on Braille letter for the permanent exhibition. Over the years, we have established a collaboration with a State School for the Blind so that their students can be included in the educational programs of our museum. To increase the permanent accessibility of the museum for these visitors and not only for projects, we will make some improvements in the permanent museum exhibitions, such as the implementation of an audio guide, introduction of tactile objects and maps, basic training of the museum guides which will also be open to staff of other museums. This increases the quality for blind and visually impaired visitors, museum professionals and museum institution.

Community voices and museum interpretation/reinterpretation of the common past

History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Museum of Vojvodina possess the heritage of the Second World War and Socialism with the corresponding collections of photographs, works of art, 3D objects and archive documents. Selected objects from these collections are (re)interpreted from today’s perspective with the involvement of the younger and older local communities in Sarajevo and Novi Sad. The connection to the past is very different for the two target groups. Younger people are less connected with the more recent past, while older people are witnesses of this epoch. At the beginning, the knowledge of the two museums is processed and exchanged. On this basis, the target group discusses the (re)interpretation. This results in the exhibition, which extends the participation of the museum visitor through questionnaires before all collected data and findings are made available to interested parties in the form of a publication.

Touching Art

The project links the museum collections of the NI Institute and Museum in Bitola and the City Museum in Zenica and will be implemented in both museum buildings. Originals (mosaics and objects) from both collections and locations are selected for replicas. The project activities make the representative museum exhibits accessible to disabled people, which is not currently the case. Many museum objects within the exhibits in museums may not be touched. The project consists of the preparation and printing of tactile replicas and images as well as interactive workshops for over 150 blind and deaf people. Exhibitions of tactile pictures and replicas is part of the project too. To support the exhibition, descriptions of audio labels for the blind and video presentations for the deaf and the elderly will be produced. In addition, the educational corner in the Bitola Museum will be adapted. The project will be communicated on different channels to raise awareness of this topic.

Inclusion of disabled people and preparations for the souvenir shop

Regional Museum Gorazde aims at opening a souvenir shop and bring the museum and cultural heritage to the outside. The museum wants to work with an organization that brings people with cerebral palsy and osteoporosis together. The organization’s factory has sewing machines that can make various products. Most of their products are slippers, T-shirts, small bags, small gift boxes, etc. In addition to these products, others will help to build up a small museum souvenir shop. The souvenirs will be developed in workshops with children and adults with different disabilities from various materials. The design of the souvenir would be inspired by the cultural heritage, and above all by the participants’ perception of the cultural heritage. Newly built souvenir shop will be combined with inclusion, education and new products.