TheMuseumsLab was born in 2021 from the vision that addressing colonialism can create new common ground for a better cultural future. Over the past five years, the programme has brought together around 250 fellows from Africa and Europe with over 50 museums and cultural institutions. It has enabled joint curatorial practices and developed new strategies for community-building and the development of new target groups. Last but not least, it served to exchange perspectives on key cultural policy and museological issues of the 21st century.
To mark the anniversary, museums from Cape Town to Addis Ababa, from Lagos to Kampala, from Lisbon to Manchester and from Stockholm to Vienna came together in Berlin to look back on what has been achieved so far and discuss the strategy for the coming years.
In a joint declaration, they emphasise their desire to cultivate and further develop museums and cultural venues as spaces for curiosity and criticism, for access to the diversity of our shared humanity and for connections between continents. TheMuseumsLab's network deals with a wide range of topics, from the confrontation with colonialism to the challenges of AI.
The cultural institutions, fellows and alumni place particular emphasis on the further development of TheMuseumsLab as a space for professional excellence and shared responsibility for cultural narratives. They promote this in the institutions as well as in politics and the public.
Dr Solveig Rietschel and Meryem Korun, the directors of TheMuseumsLab, say: "TheMuseumsLab has created a new common ground between cultural venues in Africa and Europe. For five years, we have been training the next generation of cultural leaders from both continents. We want to continue on this path together. With the necessary political and public support, we will make TheMuseumsLab a model for African-European joint learning, training and management."
Dr Konrad Schmidt-Werthern, Senior Official at the BKM: "TheMuseumsLab emerged from the cooperation between the Federal Foreign Office and the BKM. From the very beginning, it has had a European-African focus and has proven to be a successful further education programme for young professionals from both continents. We want to continue along this path together with our partners and continue to support TheMuseumsLab to the best of our ability."
Dr Michael Harms, Deputy Secretary General of the DAAD: "TheMuseumsLab shows how international academic exchange and cultural cooperation can provide concrete impetus for social change. By bringing together African and European museum experts, the programme creates a space for joint learning, for critical examination of colonial pasts - and for the development of new ideas for a fairer museum future."
Golda Ha-Eiros, Senior Curator at the National Museum of Namibia: "TheMuseumsLab showed us as African participants where common challenges lie and where inequality can be found. It made us realise that we don't have to tackle these alone. My hope for the future of the project is that we can shape and develop the next steps for the museum landscape in Europe and Africa together - from dealing with intangible cultural heritage to cultural policy. It's fantastic that next steps are being developed here that take African and European perspectives equally into account. We need to come together across Europe and Africa."
About TheMuseumsLab
TheMuseumsLab trains around 50 leaders and talents from cultural institutions and museums in Europe and Africa every year. In online and face-to-face modules, it combines perspectives from both continents and addresses questions of the colonial past as well as questions of the digital future. Through its network of over 50 cultural institutions, it not only opens up further career opportunities for its more than 200 alumni, but also contributes to networking and cooperation between the two continents. TheMuseumsLab is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) and the Federal Foreign Office (AA).