Time of the event: 27 September 2023, 10:00 – 15:00
Venue: online
Working language: English
Participation: free
On 27 September 2023, the conference “Localising the Sustainable Development Goals through Museums and Libraries II” will be held online, organised by the Latvian Museum Association, the Latvian Librarians’ Association and the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO, with the support of UNESCO Participation Programme and the British Council in Latvia.
The aim of the conference is to strengthen museums and libraries as community centres, where various heritage-based activities are implemented and viewed through the prism of sustainable development goals both locally and on a wider scale. During the upcoming conference, the current approaches will be discussed as well as new perspectives will be sought, by using culture and its potential.
The conference will be organised in three thematic blocks: environmental sustainability, social sustainability and resilience. Experts from Latvia – Edgars Ricevs (owner of Līgatne Paper Mill and CEO of association “GreenFest”), Kristīne Ļeontjeva (Community Development Consultant at the British Council in Latvia), Rihards Bambals (Head of the Strategic Communication Coordination Department at the State Chancellery of Latvia) will introduce the thematic directions, providing a wider context for the implementation of SDG.
Presentations will be delivered by museum and library specialists from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Georgia and Moldova, sharing their experience of SDG implementation in their region, by using the human resources, knowledge and diverse cultural heritage of museums and libraries. One of the world’s leading experts in the area of sustainable development – Henry McGhie, the founder of the platform “Curating Tomorrow”, has also confirmed his participation. Each thematic block of the conference will be followed by a discussion. The conference will be moderated by Inese Vaivare, Director of the association “Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation”.
The planned event is envisaged as a reference point and summary of extensive and comprehensive work carried out over several years, emphasizing the memory institutions as part of a larger ecosystem, promoting the exchange of experience and providing the museum and library staff with various educational tools, which fosters the understanding of SDG among the cultural sector professionals. The promotion of transnational and cross-sectoral cooperation is also an important part of this initiative.
The stories of experience included in the conference programme are a result of collaboration in the project of UNESCO Participation Programme “Museums, libraries and the Sustainable Development Goals: tailoring common approaches to local settings”, jointly implemented by the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO, the Latvian Museum Association and the Latvian Librarians’ Association. In the framework of the project, the partners (museum and library specialists of Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia and Moldova) had an opportunity to go on exchange visits, to discover examples of good practice, particularly focusing on ways of facilitating reaching of SDG by using approaches adapted for specific regions, countries and cities.
To provide workable tools and frameworks which could help the museums and libraries to plan and assess their work in the area of SDG, a handbook by Henry McGhie is being prepared in the framework of the UNESCO Participation Programme project, dedicated to the localisation of SDG, in view of the community needs and linking to the actual situation. The author is known to museum and library specialists of Latvia for the handbooks “Museums and the Sustainable Development Goals” and “Museums and Disaster Risk Reduction”.
The Context: In 2020, the museum and library specialists of the Baltic States started a cooperation to spotlight the unique role of museums and libraries in the implementation of SDG. In 2021, with the support of UNESCO Participation Programme, an online conference “Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals in Museums and Libraries” was held with the motto: “Ask Your Library!” “Ask Your Museum!”. In 2022, a number of activities were implemented which strengthened the Latvian museum and library specialists in their work with SDG, as well as demonstrated to the wider public the role of cultural institutions in the localisation of SDG through the prism of cultural heritage.
To familiarize yourself with the conference programme, we invite you to visit the websites of the Latvian Museum Association and the Latvian Librarians’ Association:
The conference will be streamed on the Facebook pages of the Latvian Museum Association and the Latvian Librarians’ Association and will be available free of charge to anyone interested:
www.facebook.com/muzejilv
www.facebook.com/latvijas.bibliotekaru.biedriba
The project “Museums, libraries and the Sustainable Development Goals: tailoring common approaches to local settings” is implemented with the financial support of UNESCO Participation Programme. The conference “Localising the Sustainable Development Goals through Museums and Libraries II” is supported by the British Council Office in Latvia.
Contact information:
Zane Grīnvalde
The Latvian Museum Association
muzeji@muzeji.lv
+37129418187
Inga Surgunte
The Latvian National Commission for UNESCO
i.surgunte@unesco.lv
+37129953235
