Those of you who have participated in a European project may know that, interesting though the research topic and action lines are, what is most meaningful and enriching is the interaction with colleagues from other countries, whose cultural traditions are so different. The first barriers to be met - and subsequently overcome - concern the language, not per se, but as a vehicle of the culture it expresses, along with the research and analysis that the choice of a term normally implies. Frequently, first meetings are for working out a common lexicon, also by way of written definitions - that are approved by all the participants - of the key terms that synthesize the characteristics of the workgroup's cultural backgrounds.

The identification of a shared system of both conceptual and linguistic references opens the dialogue between different realities, that is to say different approaches and priorities, different cultural traditions and operational methods, different approaches (whether normative, organisational or status-related). I believe that getting to know another culture greatly stimulates our personal growth. If it is true that we learn mainly by recognising what we know already, it cannot be denied that we also learn by identifying differences, by comparing and contrasting. Although when we embark on a European project we are only "exposed" to other cultures during work time, I would go so far as to say that the professional growth of the participants is possibly the most meaningful outcome of such multicultural "undertakings". Unfortunately, no more than two or three participants from each partner institution are involved.

The IBC - Istituto per i beni culturali (Institute for cultural heritage), acknowledges that widening the horizons of individuals positively impacts the institution to which they belong, as well as the cultural policies it embraces. For years it has been involved in the implementation of programmes at a regional level, aimed at the professional growth of museum staff, with a view to European and intercultural issues. In particular, it is committed to providing the conditions for museum staff in Emilia-Romagna to learn from shared experience even outside the boundaries of UE-supported projects, thus enabling them to aquire more extensive knowledge on museum practice all over Europe.

The process was started in 1996, when the IBC accepted the European Museum Forum's invitation to run a yearly International workshop on museology, that has since been organized in collaboration with the Dipartimento delle politiche formative e dei beni culturali (Department of Training Policies and Cultural Heritage) of Tuscany and held alternately in one region or the other. Lately the workshop, that is now in its eighth year, has targeted European topics, which is explicit in titles like "The Spirit of Europe", "Opening doors: access to the European Heritage in Museums", "Museums as crossroads: meeting other cultures" and finally this year's "The European diaspora". The outcomes of these debates are submitted to the Council of Europe which, after accepting them as recommendations, publishes them on its website (assembly.coe.int/Museum/e_index.htm).

The European Museum Forum Workshop is characterised by an informal, seminar-like atmosphere. It is aimed at bringing together 30 to 50 museum workers from all over Europe to share experience and identify "best practice". Less time is devoted to presentations than to group work, conducted by a tutor or facilitator. This approach is to be considered preliminary to the activities pursued in the projects financed by the European Community, which call for the ability to approach other cultures and institutional contexts as well as to carry out team-work with a view to building on difference as a resource.

In fact, the workshop has paved the way to other forms of collaboration with both the IBC and other organisations. Among the projects that involves the training of museum staff, a prominent role is played by Euroedult (2001-2003), that falls within the Grundtvig IV project supported by Socrates. The project, aimed at defining the occupational profile and CV of the "culture mediator" - a profession for which a European certificate is being designed - was characterised by many experimental learning activities, one of which has a four-module course that was held in the four partner countries (Hungary, Italy, Germany and France) and saw the participation of 25 workers, of whom eight were from Emilia-Romagna.

Two further initiatives of this kind will be started in the year 2003, with a modular, cross-boundary structure to support the exchange of personnel. Such projects for in-service training are part of the Socrates Programme "Learning partnerships". The region of Emilia-Romagna will send four and six professionals respectively to Pro spectatore and Museums as learning places, projects intended for learners from all partner countries. "Pro spectatore" will focus on visitors (and non-visitors) to museums as well as on marketing techniques aimed at understanding and meeting the customers' needs. "Museums as learning places" - the ideal continuation of "Europilot" (the training project developed within the framework of "Euroedult") - will deal in more depth with topics related to innovation, teaching methods, adult education and intercultural communication.

Before these projects commence, participants will have the opportunity to follow an intensive specialist English course with a mothertongue teacher who works as a museum consultant both in Great Britain and Italy. As linguistic barriers still prevent many from attending the above mentioned initiatives, in autumn 2002 IBC organised a 60-hour English course for museologists. Twenty museum workers from Emilia-Romagna took part in the course, that was intended to develop reading comprehension skills in English for museum-related activities and museum education and that enabled the participants to access vital written documents, both on paper and on the web.

All course-goers were given a "declaration of competence" according to the model developed by the department of vocational training of the region of Emilia-Romagna, in line with Community Directive 92/51. In 2004-2005 the project Collect & Share, which has a main goal to collect information on best practice in museum education for either adults or the least advantaged, will lead to the organisation of training courses aimed at increasing the competence of museum staff in dealing with those categories of users. The key resource for innovation in museums is without doubt their staff, through their skills and ability to identify themselves with the institution they belong to. It is also sure that innovation involves diverting attention from the collections, refocussing it on visitors, or better still, it means balancing the two.

Similarly, the integration of job requirements as well as personnel mobility - a key factor for harmonising policies and practices in museums - will only be possible if workers are capable of understanding different institutional contexts and have the skills to work abroad. An important meeting was recently held in Naples - during Italy's presidency of the EU - on the role of museums in Europe ("Quali standard e modelli di gestione per i musei europei?" [What standards and management models for the European museums?], 9th-10th October 2003), with the participation of representatives of the fifteen member states and of the ten newentrant countries. "Occupational profiles in the museum" were amongst the topics covered, with reference to three core matters, namely vocational and in-service training, the recognition of professional positions and the identification of job requirements to "permit comparison and mobility [...] with a view to closer and permanent collaboration between member states in the first place".¹

In the last few years the IBC has sustained activities that, like the ones summarized above, are moving in this direction and, by fostering discussion and exchange, they acknowledge Europe to be a "cumulative reality" in which the summing up of different cultural components leads to unity in diversity,² a goal to be pursued and an identifying trait of our continent throughout history right up to the present day.

Notes

(1) From Daniele Jalla's introductory speech, "Le professionalità del Museo" (Occupational profiles in the museum).

(2) L. Gervereau, L'Europa come addizione, in Europa e Musei. Identità e rappresentazioni, Torino, CELID, 2003, p. 13.

Web site: www.ibc.regione.emilia-romagna.it

IBC contact person: Margherita Sani (MSani@regione.emilia-romagna.it)

Projects:

"European Museum Forum Workshops"

Partners: Istituto per i beni culturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna; European Museum Forum; Regione Toscana - Dipartimento delle politiche formative e dei beni culturali (Department of Training Policies and Cultural Heritage).

Titles, places and dates: "Museums: the European Scene", Bologna, 17th-22nd September 1996; "Public Quality in Museums", Cortona (Arezzo), 30th September - 4th October 1997; "Nurseries of New Ideas. The Role of Europe's Smaller Museums", Bertinoro (Forlì), 15th-20th September 1998; "Education as a Museum Tool. Maintaining Provision for a Balance of Interests", Cortona (Arezzo), 12th-17th October 1999; "The Spirit of Europe", Bertinoro (Forlì), 10th-14th October 2000; "Opening Doors: Access to the European Heritage in Museums", Monsummano Terme (Pistoia), 18th-20th October 2001; "Museums as Crossroads: Meeting Other Cultures", Parma, 17th-20th October 2002; "The European Diaspora", Prato, 23th-25th October 2003.

"Euroedult"

Partners: Istituto per i beni culturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna (Italy); European Museum Forum; University of Pécs (Hungary); SVEB (Switzerland); Musée du Louvre (France); Volkshochshulsverband (Germany).

"Europilot" Course:

Places and dates: University of Pécs, Pécs (Hungary), 22nd-26th January 2003; Volkshochschulsverband, Munich (Germany), 26th February - 2nd March 2003; Istituto per i beni culturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna, Ravenna (Italy), 26th-30th March 2003; Ecole du Louvre, Paris (France), 25th-28th June 2003.

Topics: Museums and institutional contexts in Europe; Intercultural communication; Technical English for museums; Innovative projects; Types of customers.

"Pro spectatore"

Partners: Malopolska Institut (Poland); Istituto per i beni culturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna (Italy); Association of Dutch Museums - Intercultural Programmes (Netherlands).

Places and dates: Krakow (Poland), 4th-7th December 2003; Bologna (Italia), 24th-27th March 2004; Amsterdam (Netherlands), 26th-29th May 2004.

Topics: Visitors and their expectations; Marketing strategies for customer loyalty; Types of customers; Adult-targeted museum education.

"Museums as learning places"

Partners: Istituto per i beni culturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna (Italy); Reinwardt Akademie (Netherlands); University of Pécs (Hungary); Kunstgespraeche (Germany).

Dates: October 2003 - October 2004.

Topics: Intercultural communication; Museum organisation in Europe; Learning in the museum; Adult-targeted museum education.

English for Museum staff

Museum and Museum Education Literature Reading Comprehension

Places and lenght: Istituto per i beni culturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna, Bologna, September-November 2002 (60 hours).

Topics: The language of museums and museum education in English; The organisation of museums, museum education and institutions in the UK; Museum and Museum Education Literature Reading Comprehension.

"Collect & Share"

Partners: Istituto per i beni culturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna (Italy); Engage (UK); Louisiana Museum (Denmark); Musée du Louvre (France); Museum of modern art, Lubiana (Slovenia); Kiasma, Museum of contemporary art (Finland); Kulturråd, National Council for Culture (Swede); European Museum Forum; APOREM (Portugal); Niace (UK); Eccom (Italy).

Lenght: 2003-2005.

Topics: training museum staff working with adults, adolescents, ethnic minorities, immigrants, unemployed, physically or mentally disabled etc.