SAIMP – Strengthening African-Italian Museum Partnerships
Partecipanti al progetto
- Pennacini Cecilia (Responsabile)
- Gusman Alessandro (Collaboratore)
- Letizia Annarita (Collaboratore)
- Astorino Giovanni Giuseppe Antonio (Dottorando)
- Vernuccio Matilde (Dottorando)
- Armando Elisa (Ricercatore)
- Haile Admasu Abebe (Ricercatore)
- Mengistie Mezgebu Belay (Ricercatore)
- Grasso Erika (Collaboratore)
- Elena Bignoli (Collaboratore)
Descrizione del progetto
|
The Strengthening African Italian Museum Partnerships (SAIMP) project is funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and implemented by the University of Turin as Lead Partner. The project was launched on 17 April 2025 and will run for 36 months. SAIMP is part of the European Union initiative Strengthening African–European Museum Partnerships, which aims to promote cultural co-creation and intercultural dialogue between Europe and Africa, as well as among African countries, through cooperation in the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage. Within this framework, SAIMP strengthens ties between Italy and its African partners and promotes the participatory safeguarding of African cultural heritage, based on partnership and shared ownership. The project connects four public museums in East and Central Africa - the National Museum of Ethiopia, the Ethnological Museum of Addis Ababa University, the Uganda Museum, and the Musée National de Lubumbashi (DRC) - with Italian institutions holding related ethnographic and artistic collections: the Museums of Civilizations in Rome, the Royal Museums of Turin, the Royal Residences of Savoy in Piedmont, and the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the University of Turin. It also reinforces academic cooperation between the University of Turin and the University of Milan and their partners: Addis Ababa University, Makerere University, and the Université de Lubumbashi. Within this network, the project supports the study, documentation, and valorisation of collections, while developing shared approaches to their conservation. Cultural heritage is also addressed as a resource for local and diasporic communities, offering opportunities for dialogue and exchange, particularly for younger generations. A shared digital platform and joint initiatives will facilitate access to collections for researchers, communities, and the wider public within a transparent and collaborative framework.
|
Risultati e pubblicazioni
In its current phase, the project has strengthened dialogue and cooperation between African and Italian researchers, stakeholders and partners in the field of cultural heritage through three international workshops held between September 2025 and March 2026.
The opening workshop, African Heritage in a Global Perspective – Museological Research, Legal Framework and Ethical Considerations (15–19 September 2025, Addis Ababa University – Institute of Ethiopian Studies), defined the project’s objectives, activities and expected results. It supported the development of a shared working vocabulary and set initial guidelines for an ethical and legally informed approach to collections. It also led to the activation of the Scientific Advisory Board.
The second workshop, Cataloguing Practices, Digitalisation, Provenance and Participatory Research (2–6 March 2026, Museo delle Civiltà – MUCIV, Rome), focused on aligning inventory and cataloguing systems across partner institutions. It defined shared criteria, terminology, metadata structures and catalogue formats. It also strengthened skills in archival research, provenance studies and participatory approaches involving source and diasporic communities.
The third workshop, Conservation Management of Ethnographic Collections: Tools and Practices for Cultural Heritage (8–14 March 2026, Centro Conservazione e Restauro “La Venaria Reale”, Turin), focused on conservation practices and training. Through technical sessions, case studies and site visits, participants developed competences in preventive conservation, materials analysis and storage management. The workshop also supported the integration of conservation data into catalogue records and helped identify intervention priorities. Moreover, it fostered exchange and mutual learning across institutions.
In parallel, the project plans advanced research and documentation activities. The inventories of the eight museums involved have been reviewed across participating institutions, with the integration of conservation data and the production of condition reports. Archival, photographic and audiovisual materials will then be produced, including testimonies from source and diasporic communities. These activities support ongoing research outputs and publications.
Overall, the project is establishing a shared methodological and operational framework and creating the basis for future collaboration.