Project title
Description of initiative
European cooperation project that contributes to preserve and transmit, through arts and culture, birth and maternity traditional knowledge and practices as part of European intangible cultural heritage. The project forsees the implementation of different types of participatory activities, such as the birth cafés, round tables, co-creation workshops, etc. in order to make different audiences (mothers and fathers, health workers, migrant womenm and men, artists, etc.) take part in the design of the exhibition by telling their stories, talking about topics related to birth and maternity, creating cultural materials and artworks, thus internalizing relevant information through practice and direct experience.
With the objective to preserve and transmit, through arts and culture, birth and maternity traditional knowledge and practices as part of European intangible cultural heritage, the project will conduct research on traditions, stories, objects and artworks; organize intercultural birth cafés where women can share their experiences; and invite women’s museums and artists to contribute with stories, objects, artworks and information to a travelling interactive exhibition on the topic of birth and maternity in Europe.
With the material collected, the project will design and create this exhibition, which will be held in the 4 target countries. It will strengthen the capacities of and collaboration between women’s museums in Europe to raise awareness on women’s health and sexual and reproductive rights; enhance intercultural dialogue and artistic co-creation around values and practices related to culture, birth and maternity and compare EU and non-EU practices; improve access of different audiences including migrants to European cultural and creative works and intangible cultural heritage. An online virtual catalogue will reach a wider audience. Migrant and women organizations, medical and non-medical professionals, artists, (migrant) women and men will be the main beneficiaries of the project’s activities, which will be adapted to local context and values, taking into account the diversity and richness of European intangible birth cultures.
Themes: Culture and...
Keywords
Target group
Cultural field
Budget
Timeframe
Sources of funding
Results, benefits, impact and lessons learnt
The project publication highlights some of the results achieved by the project, but it also highlights the need to change the dominant discourse around birth and pregnancy to overcome the cultural and social construction of the fear of childbirth and on the other, allow other organisations to replicate initiatives like this one. These and other issues have been brought closer to society through the Birth Cultures exhibition. In addition, the audience development training courses have strengthened the competencies of participating cultural organisations and local organisations in partner countries to be prominent agents in their territories; the Birth Cafés have provided spaces for dialogue and reflection for women from different generations and cultural contexts to share their experiences; the conferences and seminars have given voice to health professionals, artists, activists, doulas, etc.; the artistic co-creation workshops have and the 6th IAWM international conference, with 77 members from 32 countries, tackled the diversity of cultures around birth, as well as issues such as gender equality, globalization and sustainability.