RECHARGE: Cultural Institutions for a Sustainable Society

From 3 to 6 June 2025, the RECHARGE project organised the RECHARGE Academy at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Our Europe + Heritage advisor, Jacomine Hendrikse, took part, together with 19 other cultural (heritage) professionals from Europe.

The Academy focused on participatory approaches within cultural heritage organisations and their impact on operations and strategies in the cultural heritage industry.

''Regularly, I work with heritage professionals who apply participatory practices," Jacomine says, "while the RECHARGE Academy taught me the best method to apply, potential risks and the best way to measure the added benefit and impact of this way of working. It thus offered a deeper layer to my daily practice and lots of inspiration, reflection and background. Working on European collaborations in my daily job, I love expanding my European network and learning from examples and practices from abroad.''

Are you a professional artist or cultural creative? Have you worked with—or want to work with—museums or cultural organizations in the future? RECHARGE wants to hear from you!

RECHARGE is running a short survey to learn what kinds of partnerships creatives like you want with museums or cultural organizations. Your feedback will help shape real conversations about how institutions can better support artists and cultural workers.

It takes 5 minutes to fill out this anonymous survey (see link below). Your input will shape recommendations for future artist–institution partnerships across Europe.

RECHARGE is a European project funded by the EU's HORIZON Europe programme and coordinated by Erasmus University Rotterdam. Partners include: Centrum Cyfrowe Foundation, Creativity Lab, Estonian Maritime Museum, European Fashion Heritage Association, Hunt Museum, Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Platoniq Foundation, Textile Museum Prato, and the University of Valladolid.