OUT OF CRISIS EXPERIENCES
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
The WE-Hope Partnership
The partnership consists of two higher education institutions (the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the University of Lincoln (UoL)), three cultural associations (Memoro, Greek Bank of Memories, Michael Culture AISBL (MCA)) and a social enterprise, Threshold Studios.
Together these partners are located in four EU countries: Greece, Italy, Belgium and the UK.
UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN (UoL)
England
University of Lincoln is a public research university in the cathedral city of Lincoln, England. The university has origins tracing back to 1861, and obtained university status in 1992 and its present name and structure in 2001. The university defines itself strongly as a civic university, committed to supporting economic development in the region. It has played a significant role in promoting arts and culture at a national and international level. It works in partnership with artistic venues in the city and the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mary Stuart chairs the Lincolnshire Cultural Arts Partnership (LCAP). The university is one of the sponsors of the Frequency Festival of Digital Culture, which is a nationally-important event attracting an audience of upwards of 60 000 to engage with cutting-edge digital art, against a background of the medieval cityscape. The university houses a dedicated Centre for Culture and Creativity, headed by Sukhy Johal, who is strongly involved in this bid.
UoL participants:
Heather Hughes (Professor of Cultural Heritage Studies)
Stefanos Kollias (Professor of Machine Learning)
Anna Catalani (Associate Professor of Heritage and Museum Studies)
Sukhy Johal (Director, Centre for Culture and Creativity)
Alessandro Pesaro (Digital Archive Developer, IBCC Digital Archive)
MICHAEL CULTURE ASSOCIATION (MCA)
Belgium
MCA is a not-for-profit organsisation AISBL created in 2007. It is the only European trans sectorial network for Cultural Heritage. Devoted to European cultural heritage valorization, MCA gathers members and experts from over 150 cultural institutions private and publics - museums, librairies, archives, research centers - ministries of Culture from 22 countries from EU and beyond, of which many represent cultural operators at national level.
It aims at:
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Promoting and valorizing European cultural heritage by its digitization and dissemination to a European and worldwide audience;
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Enhancing the network of European professionals working on digital cultural heritage, throught the actions towards its network including the MINERVA Network.
Its activities are:
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Support and development of the transmission and exchange of information, particularly via publications, conferences and events;
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Research and training on related subject;
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Networking and participation in European and international projects; Policy/Advocacy;
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Developing the use of DCH in Culture and Heritage, Education, Tourism areas.
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Management of Museu-Hub.
In addition to its members, MCA has signed a membership agreement with NEMO and its member of Culture Action Europe executive committee and of Alliance 3.0. It also has strong relations and partnerships with major European Cultural institutions and networks from all domains such as DARIAH, ICOM Europe, Europeana Pro. Thanks to its networks, members and stadd, MCA has also developed contact with Educational and Research Humanities communities and Cities Representatives.
MCA participants:
Monika Hagedorn-Saupe (Vice President)
Corinne Szteinsznaider (Coordinator)
Stephane Cagnot (President)
Pier Giacomo Sola ( Senior Project manager)
Maud Ntonga (Project and communication Officer)
MEMORO BANCA DELLA MEMORIA
Italy
Memoro (Esperanto ‘I remember’) is an international non-profit project devoted to the collection of memories, experiences, and life stories of people born before 1950. The project started in Turin in August 2007 and has since spread to various countries. Since September 2009, the project has been managed in Italy by Banca della Memoria Onlus, a cultural organization with charitable status.
Memoro embraces a vision of open access and dissemination. The chosen medium is the internet, with a dedicated publishing platform allowing collecting and sharing AV content. Contents are vetted by editors, to ensure consistency and compliance. Stories may be edited for length.
GREEK BANK OF MEMORIES (GbM)
Greece
The association Greek Bank of Memories (GbM) was founded with the intent to implement activities aiming at the collection, dissemination and valorization of people's individual memories and life experiences. Its scope is social, educational and cultural. One of its main goals is to provide bridges between generations so is well placed to address that aim of the WE-Hope project. Greek Bank of Memories works extensively with the elderly, in the belief that their stories have deep value to society and should be more respected. This advocacy for active inclusion of third age is two-fold: those born before 1950 get to tell their stories, thus contributing to a sense of self-esteem, while others of similar age get to record these stories and become skilled in oral history testimony and ICT. The Greek Bank of Memories is supported mainly by volunteers, which is another valuable experience to contribute to WE-Hope.
THRESHOLD STUDIOS
England
Threshold is a social enterprise which has been producing and co-commissioning new media art since 1998, with specialisms in moving image, digital and emerging technologies. It has a commitment to democratising arts engagement – enabling those who might not regularly attend gallery spaces to experience surprising and playful art that has meaningful relevance to their lives. Threshold offers routes into the arts and media industries, with a particular focus on those from diverse backgrounds and those who are currently under-represented in these industries.
As a consultancy Threshold play a strategic role in the development of the arts and creative industries, working with universities, businesses, and local authorities to design creative projects that engage both existing communities and new audiences. Threshold has international links across South America and Europe. For example Camara Chica, in partnership with British Council, trains and develop film makers through the set up and implementation of film production hubs within communities in Cuba and Venezuela.
Threshold participants:
Uzma Johal MBE (Strategic Director)
Samantha Lindley (Director of Programmes)
Hattie Coupe (Production Assistant)
NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS (NTUA)
Greece
​The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) is the oldest and most prestigious educational institution in Greece in the field of technology, and has contributed continuously to the country’s scientific, technical and economic development since its foundation in 1839.
NTUA has been a key technological member in the Digital Libraries evolution and particularly in the European Digital Library and Europeana developments. A NTUA team has developed the MINT system used by Europeana and a large number of Europeana projects, for metadata interoperability. MINT was selected in 2011 as one of six beta sprints by the Digital Public Library of America. They have been developing the WITH system for Culture and Creativity which performs intelligent cultural content discovery and aggregation, semantic content enrichment and provides users with the ability to re-use content, generate personal collections, exhibitions and stories.
NTUA participants:
Giorgos Stamou (Associate Professor; Academic Leader)
Vassilis Tzouvaras (Senior Research Fellow; Europeana Expert)
Eirini Kaldeli (Research Fellow)
Arne Stabenau (Research Fellow)
Maria Ralli (Research Fellow)
ASSOCIATE PARTNERS
Within the WE-Hope project, the main partners will be able to count on partner associations which will bring their recognized and great expertise.
LAPSUS
Italy
Lapsus is a contemporary history association, based in Milan. It is an association of young scholars who are experienced at mounting successful projects based on oral testimony, as can be seen on their website. Lapsus will mobilise existing networks to collect oral testimony. Memoro Italia will be responsible for this sub-contract.
DI + ASSOCIATION
Italy
Di + under its director, Laura Morelli, has invaluable experience in creating socially engaged artwork, including artwork based on war memories. Its range of work is showcased on the website. Prof. Morelli has worked with land mine survivors and those in conflict-ridden communities in countries as diverse as Bolivia, Malawi, Italy and Bangladesh. She has also been a guest lecturer at several universities in Italy and Mexico. She founded Di + in 2006 and is the winner of the Takunda CESVI International Prize.
Both Lapsus and Di + were represented at the launch of Heritage Dot and have worked with colleagues at UoL previously. The role of Prof. Morelli will be to mentor the artists involved in the project and to introduce them to a community of practice that will extend their engagement with the creative sector in Europe. Theshold will be responsible for this sub-contract.
MANCHESTER REFUGEE SUPPORT NETWORK (MRSN)
England
MRSN is a grassroots organisation run by refugees for refugees. Founded in the late 1990s, it provides practical support to those fleeing conflict situations. It has received nearly £300,000 from the Big Lottery for its Shared Routes programme. It has won a Spirit of Manchester Award (2018) and has been nominated for a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. We will work with MRSN as a trusted organisation looking after the interests of refugees and migrants. MSRN will facilitate connections and communications with this project audience. UoL will be responsible for this sub-contract.