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| Stadtmuseum, Oldenburg |
The municipal museums of the City of Oldenburg offer a
unique case study for THE PROMISED LAND Project. The museums include a local
history museum, two historic villas, as well as two art galleries, each
presenting different opportunities and contexts for working with refugees and
migrants.
Building on the experiences with the previous training
weeks, we have allowed plenty of time for discussion and exchange. We have also
felt it important to provide an introduction to the wider
discursive context for the work of museums not only in Germany but internationally.
Therefore, the first day of the training looks at the German Museum Association’s
recommendations on Migration,
Museums and Cultural Diversity. This is followed by a critical examination
of the Multaka project, and here particularly the description of the project on
its website. The first day also
includes an in-depth introduction into the German asylum system.
On the second day of the training the group meets
representatives from the Heimatsucher
project, which captures memories of Holocaust survivors in an attempt to turn
others into witnesses to their testimonial. This is of particular relevance
regards Germany’s memory culture and how new arrivals and migrants should and
might be expected to relate to it. In the afternoon, the project group will
visit Jugendkulturarbeit e.V.,
where we will have the opportunity to observe three youth theatre projects. In
the evening, we will join the young people at dinner to find out more about
their work and experiences.
On Wednesday, we will visit the Landesmuseum für Kunst und
Kulturgeschichte to learn more about one of their projects working with
refugees. Later in the afternoon, we will find out more about IBIS e.V., an organisation providing support
to refugees, for example through cultural work and language classes. The
evening will be spent with service users from IBIS in their very own café,
enjoying a shared meal with the opportunity to chat and get to know each other.
Thursday will see us travel to the Migrationscenter,
a centre providing vocational training and integration and orientation classes
to refugees and migrants. We will have the opportunity to work alongside
refugees and later enjoy lunch together in the centre’s own café. In the
afternoon, we will be able to speak with tutors from Inlingua
who provide language classes for refugees. Specifically, we will discuss the
various cultural topics that arise as part of the language tuition, and which
are sometimes about competing cultural values. We will find out how tutors
engage with these issues.
On the final day of our training in Oldenburg, we will learn
more about a unique initiative, pro:connect,
which provides support for refugees looking for work. This will be the final
visit with a partner in town. We will end the day with an in-depth discussion
about “the big picture” of the topics that we have touched on and discussed to
date as part of THE PROMISED LAND project.
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