IN2PAST – Associated Laboratory for Heritage, Arts, Sustainability and Territory, in partnership with the Museums and Monuments of Portugal – MMP, EPE, were appointed to form the National Node of the “Our Collections Matter” program for the period 2025-2028.

 

What is Our Collections Matter (OCM)?
The OCM project was launched in 2020 by ICCROM (International Centre for Studies on the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) with the purpose of accelerating, expanding, and intensifying actions that promote sustainable development through the management, use, and conservation of collections, whether museum, archival, bibliographic, community, religious, digital, seed banks, or biobanks.

 

What is the implementation strategy?

Until this year, the project has been coordinated solely by ICCROM, through the “3T” strategy: Tools, Training, and Transformation.
Their platform provides various tools and resources that cultural institutions can leverage and adapt to their specific situation to determine whether they are contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and what other activities/initiatives they can undertake in this regard. Institutions are invited to share their success stories or resources created to enrich the platform (https://www.iccrom.org/projects/ocm-toolkit).

In addition to promoting ecological and social awareness, the project empowers institutions to act in an integrated manner with the SDGs, fostering a culture of responsibility and leadership in the cultural heritage sector.

 

OCM Global! National Nodes
Earlier this year, the OCM project coordinators, led by José Luiz Pederzoli (ICCROM) and Henry McGhie (Curating Tomorrow), decided to create a three-year pilot project to test the effectiveness of having national nodes distributed globally. The goal is to support the dissemination and implementation of these strategies more effectively, thus ensuring closer monitoring of institutions and their needs.
Participating are Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, Greece, Latvia, and Portugal. In Portugal, the National Node is the IN2PAST Associated Laboratory, based at the HERCULES Laboratory (University of Évora), which has been joined by the Museums and Monuments of Portugal, which will allow the creation of a strategic network for implementing this program nationwide. The selection of IN2PAST took into account the research units involved and their social, scientific, and international impact, which make this Associated Laboratory a reference in Portugal for the study, dissemination, and appreciation of cultural heritage, in its tangible and intangible dimensions, actively contributing to the definition of Public Policies.
The MMP comprises 37 museums and monuments spread across Portugal, the José de Figueiredo Laboratory, the Photographic Documentation Archive, and coordinates the Portuguese Museum Network. It is a privileged partner for the implementation of public museum management policies aimed at democratizing access to culture, social and educational responsibility, and best practices that promote preventive conservation and risk management strategies.

 

Our goals…
Benefiting from the geographic distribution of the MMP and IN2PAST Research Units, its laboratory infrastructure, and the network of researchers and doctoral students, we have the capacity and potential to work directly with various cultural institutions across the country to achieve the following goals:
• Increase the capacity of collection-based organizations across the country in SDG literacy and understanding of sustainable development principles.

• Growth in the number of collection-based organizations across the country that proactively design, implement, and communicate the results of collection-based activities, aiming to contribute concretely to sustainable development across all SDGs.
• New policies that support the integration of heritage collections into sustainable development initiatives at the national level.
• Strengthening networks and collaborations between collection-based organizations, as well as across different sectors, to achieve the SDGs.
• Greater recognition and support for collection-based organizations as significant contributors to achieving the sustainable development goals at the national level.

 

Why is it important?
Research funding in Portugal is increasingly demanding regarding the contribution of science to society, which is not always easy to justify. By using and exploring in depth the SDG targets and subcategories (you can start with the COM research at https://satocm.iccrom.org/), we realized that our research is contributing to more goals than we initially thought and that, eventually, there are others to which we can also contribute and thus demonstrate the impact of our work. By helping collections demonstrate their potential to create a positive impact for the 2030 Agenda and the 5 Pillars of the SDGs: Planet, People, Prosperity, Partnerships, and Peace – we can elevate the role of Culture and Cultural Heritage for the global public benefit and thus enhance public policies and investment in these areas.

 

• Do you identify with this project and think you could contribute?
• Does your research fit into this program?
• Want to learn more?

Contact the focal points and participate in the launch event, to be announced soon!

 

The intermediaries between ICCROM and the national nodes are the focal points, in Portugal:

• António Candeias, Director of the HERCULES Laboratory (UÉvora) and President of the IN2PAST board
• Teresa Reis, Researcher at HERCULES and IN2PAST
• Maria de Jesus Monge, Director of the National Museum of Ancient Art, Museums and Monuments of Portugal, EPE
• Teresa Lança, Researcher at IHC and IN2PAST and Conservator-Restorer at the MNAA (MMP)

The contact email for OCM Portugal is: collectionsmatter@uevora.pt