CultureLabs is a project funded from the H2020 programme. It proposes an innovative approach and develops an ICT-empowered infrastructure to facilitate the organisation and the deployment of participatory projects through the provision of ingredients (useful resources) and recipes (best practices) that can be combined in various ways to form a tailor-made participatory project to address the needs of specific target audiences. Cultural Heritage is an essential instrument for social cohesion, and an increasing number of Cultural Institutions seeks to address the needs of community members and engage them through participatory initiatives so as to strengthen the relationship between cultural institutions and local communities. CultureLabs is developing an open digital platform and searchable infrastructure that collects and makes available a set of resources that can prove useful for the development and adoption of participatory approaches in the field of Cultural Heritage: such as methodologies, best practices, studies, digital and analogical tools, physical facilities, CH content, possible collaborators, and other helpful information. Through the organisation of four project pilots in three different European countries, CultureLabs involves migrant communities and various disadvantaged groups that are distant from the exploitation of the Cultural Heritage. These pilots allow CultureLabs to put into practice novel experiences for interaction with Cultural Heritage, and test and evaluate the digital platform.
