The 25th issue of kubia magazine focusses on museums and examines their relationship with older people, the accessibility of their offerings and their quality standards.
The International Association of Museums no longer sees the role of museums as merely preserving, researching and exhibiting cultural heritage, but also commits them to diversity, sustainability and participation. Museums are described as inclusive places of education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge exchange. Issue 25 of the kubia magazine Kulturräume+ examines whether and how museums in Germany fulfil this claim, particularly with regard to older people and people with disabilities.
In an interview, Doreen Mölders and Jens Stöcker, chairwomen of the Museumsverband NRW, which was founded in 2021, describe how many of the more than 1,000 museums in North Rhine-Westphalia are working to appeal to a diverse audience – for example through measures to increase accessibility or appropriate educational formats. Marion Hesse-Zwillus from the Cologne Museum Service explains what this can look like in practice.
Laura Wehr and Andrea Kenkmann have researched how museums can reach lonely and socially disadvantaged older people using the example of Munich’s “KulturSalon+”. Dorothee Mammel presents her study, in which she focussed on people with learning difficulties as a target group for museums. In Laura Oehms’ article, readers learn how the future of the Bergisches Museum was rethought in the participatory museum laboratory. Sara Smidt from the Kirchner Museum in Davos describes the stumbling blocks that can arise when citizens curate an exhibition.
Miriam Haller has investigated what makes a good cultural education programme for older people – and not just in museums – and developed a quality star with twelve guiding principles for cultural education for older people, which she presents for discussion in this issue.
In his photo series on unusual museums in the Bergisches Land region, Jens Höhner shows that museum work is often carried out by older people on a voluntary basis with great passion.
The view into the halls of many traditional cultural institutions is deceptive: although older people often form the majority of the audience there, culturally active people are clearly in the minority among older people overall. Those who are poor are particularly rare among regular users of culture. The 27th issue of kubia magazine focuses on the cultural participation of older people living at or below the poverty line.
The 26th issue of kubia magazine asks how feminism has shaped academic discourse, cultural practice and female biographies.
This issue of Kulturräume+ asks what cultural education and inclusive cultural work for and with older people can contribute to more careful use of natural resources.
This issue of Kulturräume+ is about the dialogue between generations and how it can be promoted through cultural education.
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Azina Barzideh