The Impact of the Pandemic on Catalan Museums

Antoni Laporte

Publication date: 20/09/2022

Covid-19 caused a profound impact on the Catalan cultural system and, as a result, on the heritage field too. The global nature of the pandemic had similar effects in all countries. The lockdown first and the following limitations on mobility during the two years of the pandemic caused severe blows on attendance to museums, their income and especially their work teams. The imprint of this crisis left a profound mark in the sector, from fierce situations such as shutdowns and the resulting layoffs to the suspension of many activities. It should be noted that its different effects can be classified according to three main factors: location (museums located in territories with a strong tourist dependence have suffered the most), size (managing teams during lockdown and teleworking has been more complex for large organizations), and ownership (although the impact of the pandemic has been widespread and large and publicly owned museums have suffered severe consequences, the situation has been even more dramatic among the rich network of private facilities, which mostly depend on the income that they gather from visitors). In these long months of the pandemic, the sector focused a very considerable part of its efforts on increasing and improving its digital offer. Hopefully, at least, we used this crisis to consolidate some insight and to update digital resources.

'Dona’m la mar', una altra forma de mirar

La incorporació de la perspectiva de gènere en el relat museístic

Catalina Gayà Morla i Laia Seró Moreno

Publication date: 24/03/2019

A finals de 2017, el Museu Marítim de Barcelona (MMB) va engegar Dona’m la mar, un projecte de recerca per incorporar la perspectiva de gènere a la narrativa del museu. Ara bé, volent incloure la veu de les dones com a part activa de la institució, Dona’m la mar també ens ha fet repensar quin és el rol del museu com a creador de relat en una societat que vol ser més igualitària. La recerca s’estructura entorn de cinc grups de discussió en què han participat dones que treballen i viuen la mar des de diferents àrees. Aquesta és l’experiència d’un museu que, com a la institució generadora de coneixement i memòria col·lectiva que és, ha assumit la seva responsabilitat social com a creador d’opinió pública i s’ha atrevit a formular noves preguntes per a la construcció del canvi: com narren la mar les dones de la mar?