Cultural connectors
Dare to approach art differently!
This programme is designed for art lovers of all ages and all social and cultural backgrounds. MCBA offers these individuals the chance to continue to deepen their interest in art in conjunction with the museum’s current roster of shows. Our Cultural connectors in turn help their family, close friends, and acquaintances discover the exhibitions during informal tours in a friendly atmosphere designed to get everyone involved. They draw into MCBA individuals who wouldn’t otherwise dare to set foot in a museum by themselves. Annually, since 2014, around 1,000 individual visitors invited by our Cultural connectors have got over their fear of stepping into an art museum and discovered that art doesn’t bite and MCBA always charms.
Our Cultural connectors, moreover, create close ties between themselves, the museum staff, and their guests. Through their efforts, MCBA has become a great place to meet up, share your thoughts and talk about art and society.
Our Cultural connectors, all volunteers, encourage cultural participation. To foster fresh thinking about these themes, MCBA organised in November 2021 an initial forum for the volunteers who are the backbone of the programme, along with several professionals from the cultural and social fields. The forum was titled ‘Programme Passeuses et Passeurs de culture: l’engagement bénévole, une ressource pour la participation culturelle ?’
Get involved
The museum’s group of Cultural connectors is unfortunately full for the 2022-2023 season.
If you would like information about future seasons, contact us visites.mcba@plateforme10.ch
Make our programme yours
We would like to see the MCBA programme ‘Cultural connectors: dare to approach art differently!’ used at other institutions. The programme makes resources and tools that have been developed and successfully put to work here available to other cultural institutions in the hope that they can in turn set up similar programmes with their own participants. Our approach of course has to be adapted to the context of each organisation.
Taking stock of a pilot programme that has become permanent
In 2014, a year of pilot initiatives, the Cultural connectors programme was created by MCBA in partnership with Pro Senectute Vaud. It also enjoyed the support of the Fondation Leenaards. The programme immediately found an audience!
From 2014 to 2018, 35 Cultural connectors brought over 3,900 people into our museum. In 2018, MCBA appointed the collective microsillons to prepare a research-assessment – rapport d’expertise-recherche (pdf) of the project.
From 2018 to 2019, the programme took place outside the museum; that was the year MCBA moved to its new permanent address at Plateforme 10. In 2020, the programme, like so much else, had to take things slowly because of COVID-19, although it continued to be active thanks to videoconferencing, following training of the Cultural connectors in the use of what was a new museum tool.
Today, 28 Cultural connectors are actively working to bring in new visitors into MCBA.
- Vidéo: MCBA, Agence Muto
We would like to thank the members of the Association des Familles du Quart Monde (afqm.ch), along with the Cultural connectors, for their participation.
