MusLi (Museums Literacy) - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

MusLi - No qualifications needed: museums and new audiences
Finally, the benefits of a more psychological nature result from participating in activities aimed at
strengthening the inmate’s potential well-being and offering an escape from prison life. An inmate going
“out” of his cell is an issue in itself, but the possibility to loose himself in an activity allows him, just
for a moment, to forget his situation. The pleasure he has in reconnecting with his pride – through art
work and stories of the museum’s heritage – allows him to discover or to rediscover his own culture and
family history. His dignity restored, offsets any perceived indignity and gives him the feeling of existing
once again. Somehow, through a prisoner creating distance with his confinement, personal hardship,
and lack of emotional support, he begins to heal through art…
The success factors resulting from participating in cultural activities for people with low literacy levels,
and moreover, who are incarcerated, help to mobilize the project’s advancement.
The importance of a real partnership between the different stakeholders and taking into account
each partner’s limitations
It goes without saying that the success of a project intended to help people with low literacy levels is
related to the quality of the relationships between the project’s various stakeholders. Co-organizing
an activity also requires vigilance, and, from the project’s very beginning, the means and limitations of
each partner must be identified. This is important for recognizing all possible opportunities and solutions
that can be integrated into the project and reduce the effects of various limitations.
Accuracy of information and project communication
The initial information, its clarity, and precision are essential in attracting and triggering participation.
It is essential in attracting inmates whose background and skills, a priori, would not allow them be enticed
by a cultural offer. But information alone is not enough, people are needed to actively search out
participants and accompany them, both physically and/or symbolically.
The need to adapt themes and cultural content to the participants’ concerns and experiences
Inmates’ past experiences are useful in understanding the present and should help in building today’s
world. It’s not the historical or artistic themes that matter most, but how history, archaeology, artwork,
techniques, or even artists’ lives, have all contributed in creating a sense that educates people today:
archaeology, as a reflection on the origin of humans and their evolution; monuments, as a discovery
and a window into the world; artwork and mankind’s greatest artists, to understand the value of all
things exemplary, but also, in the case of prisoners, the stories of rebellious artists that are often echoed
in the rebellious path of many inmates and may be another way to reintegrate them into society.
Multiple and possible links with other popular cultural genres (movies, comics, music, etc.) enable art
museums – in particular ancient art museums – to introduce dialogue between their collections and
those who find themselves far removed from culture…
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