Cultural Inquiry is an organisation committed to bridging cultural divides and fostering mutual understanding. Children are at the centre of Cultural Inquiry’s efforts with a multifaceted approach that includes education programs, community engagement projects, and research that delves into cultural interactions.
© Jose Antonio Gordillo Martorell Children’s Board Brainstorming session after onsite visit. Parque de las Ciencias de Granada.
One particular niche we find as both innovative and essential to the mainstream in the cultural sector is experiential learning through cultural exploration for children. Cultural Inquiry’s mission centres around the belief that early exposure to cultural diversity is crucial to developing a well-rounded person.
As part of Cultural Inquiry, children engage in interactive workshops, storytelling sessions, and collaborative art projects encouraging them to explore their own and other cultures. In addition to being age-appropriate, these activities by design ensure that every child feels valued and understood.
As a result of the organisation’s engaging and thoughtful programs, children are equipped with the skills they need to navigate a multicultural world during their early years.
A noteworthy activity is Children’s Boards. Cultural Inquiry provides Museum staff with appropriate training, customized tools, and on-site-oriented solutions for establishing a Children’s Board in their Museum.
© Jose Antonio Gordillo Martorell Children’s Board Parlament- debating. Parque de las Ciencias de Granada.
A Cultural Inquiry Project Coordinator will coordinate the program over a year, aligning it with the school year of the local community, and lead groups of 12 children, six girls and six boys, from local schools, organizations, and communities. These children form the Children’s Board for the museum. The Museum team should debate, register, analyze, evaluate, and respond to all of the Children’s Board’s ideas. It is vital to follow up on the Children’s Board’s proposals by funding, producing, testing, and finally displaying them in the Museum under their own logo and website hosted on the Museum website.
© Jose Antonio Gordillo Martorell Children’s Board Meeting. City of Arts and Sciences.
The concept is tried and tested, having founded Children’s Boards in many Museums worldwide, such as the City of Arts and Sciences, Norrbottens Museums, HOTA-House of the Arts, and even more recently the Historisches Saar Museum, Museum of Communication in Bern, the Museum of Solutions in Mumbai or the Swiss National Museum in the next year, the Museo of Solution in Mumbai, and the Hunt Museum, or even the Musée des Beaux-Arts Le Locle in France.
© Jose Antonio Gordillo Martorell Children’s Board visiting the works of the extension of the Science Park in Granada to give ideas
Cultural Inquiry furthermore offers a diverse range of services and areas of work around culture, notably:
CUSTOMIZED COMMUNITY-CENTERED TOOLS
Using strategic participatory tools to start the conversation with your community, stay connected, and build a plan emergent from it. For example:
The Community-Museum Matrix
The Situational Map
The Organic Design Thinking Process,
The “Every Wich Way Impact” Evaluation approach
The Living-room 20 minutes conversation
IGNITE COMMUNITY CARING INITIATIVES AND ACTIONS
Cultural community projects on
Cultural Diversity
Climate Justice and Regenerative Practices
Democracy reinforcement
Anti-racism and social discrimination
Mental health
The health and well-being of teenagers and the elderly
Reinforcement of Indigenous people and children’s perspective, agency and decision-making within cultural actions.
DISRUPTIVE CAPACITY BUILDING AND MENTORING
Develop the skills needed by cultural and societal professionals today tailored to the needs of specific environments and communities with hybrid programs inspired by Children, Clowns, and Nature offering support to the team on various needs.
RE/GEN AI
A new set of tools and ways to work, as well as new skills and challenges:
Co-creating personalised content, enhancing micro-engagement strategies with visitors, optimising income and revenue, improving preservation of digital cultural heritage through crowdfunding campaigns, and more.
New job openings:
A Gen AI content assistant, and a Gen AI capacity-building supporter, as Gen AI positions in Curatorial, Education, Human Resources, Strategy, and Management.
New challenges in Museums programs:
Create a sustainable GEN AI carbon footprint, and work ethically with GEN AI (Data policy, copyrights of authors and creators, etc. )
Assist the GEN AI process in promoting social equity by considering algorithm workers or including invisibilized voices (Indigenous people, older people, children) in the design thinking tools.
There are signs to keep an eye out for Gen AI fake content, new ways to create and fabric the museum’s future, etc.
Moreover, Cultural Inquiry organises workshops, and webinars and actively participates in other cultural activities such as Europeana.
© Jose Antonio Gordillo Martorell Children’s Board testing their Magic Box idea in the Science Museum. City of Arts and Sciences
About
Jose Antonio Gordillo Martorell, PhD the Founder and CEO of Cultural Inquiry, is a Community Weaver and Catalyzer of Social and Cultural Disruptive Projects with 23 years of experience and a passion for education, collective creativity, and cultural heritage democratisation. In addition to being a member and advisor of the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force at the Europeana Foundation, he is also a Catalyser at the Climate Catalyst Lab and a researcher at RADAR. As a peer-reviewed writer, he is involved in editorial projects and invited to speak at international conferences as MuseumNext; do not miss the talk at the upcoming Museum Learning Summit on July 17 2024 “Children’s Boards: Learning from children to create better museums” by Jose.
Our Take
Cultural Inquiry’s work has profound and far-reaching effects and proves the power of cultural education in children’s development. By offering children a safe place to explore cultural differences and similarities, the organization counters stereotypes and prejudice, creating a more tolerant society.
I want to learn more:
Check their agenda here
MuseumNext: Museum Learning Summit
6 Organic Metaphors to build a new narrative about the museum’s identity
Jose Antonio Gordillo Martorell. Ph.D. LinkedIn
Discord #jagordillo
Contact:
