On 1 November at the National Archaeological Museum in Lisbon, Portugal, the first meeting of the EU-LAC-MUSEUMS project, “Museums and Community: Concepts, Experiences, and Sustainability in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean”, will be held.

This partnership between the European and Latin American & Caribbean Regional Alliances of ICOM was established during the 2014 ICOM Advisory Meeting. In March 2016, the project consortium of eight partners in total, including ICOM, won a grant from the EU. Over four years, from September 2016 to 2020, in the framework of “Museums and Community: Concepts, Experiences, and Sustainability in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC-MUSEUMS)”, the close connections between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean in the field of community museology will be studied by exploring the cultural, scientific and social dimensions of EU-LAC relations.

The objectives of this ambitious project include the enhancement of mutual awareness in the museum spheres of the EU-CELAC regions by researching the concepts and experiences of sustainability in museums and communities in the two regions, with a special focus on heritage technologies and histories of migration as they relate to these communities. The consortium is to be coordinated by the University Court of the University of St Andrews, in Scotland (UK). As one of the main partners, the ICOM Secretariat is expected to participate in meetings (annual General Assembly) and symposiums dedicated to the project, and to promote the project through its different channels of communication. Moreover, ICOM’s participation helps ensure that the project activities are carried out in accordance with the ICOM Code of Ethics, as stated in the grant agreement.