On 1 and 2 November, the TRC Leiden hosted Acesso Cultura Director, Maria Vlachou, as part of our Erasmus+ accreditation project. Acesso Cultura is based in Lisbon, Portugal. Its mission is to promote physical, social and intellectual access to cultural projects.
Maria Linkogle (left), TRC Leiden, and Maria Vlachou (right), Accesso Cultura, Lisbon.The possibilities to host experts from other EU countries is a new aspect of the Erasmus+ mobility programme for adult education, of which the TRC is now a sponsored partner. The TRC invited Ms Vlachou to show our facilities, because what we do is so intricately based on our collection of over 40,000 textiles and large textile library. In order to truly help us, she needed to see our facilities and learn how we work, first hand.
Ms. Vlachou was specifically invited to help us with our goal to increase diversity and inclusivity at the TRC Leiden, both to teach and to learn. One way we have been working on this is through contacs with various diasporic groups in the Netherlands and others with specific interests aand knowledge.
During Maria’s two-day visit, we learned about each other’s organizations, networks and ways of working. We started to look at current TRC outreach and other activities from different perspectives. We discussed ways of reaching out to a broader and diverse public, We also discussed how to facilitate conversations of cultural identity through textiles.
From left to right: AJ Salter (TRC), Maria Linkogle (TRC), Maria Vlachou (Accesso Cultura), Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood (TRC)As mentioned, the collection is integral to our work. Through talking with people that have the experience of wearing, or seeing family members wear, the types of textiles we have in our collection, we facilitate conversations about dress and identity. In doing, we also complement the stories of many of the textile items we have. This helps to enrich the stories we tell.
Attracting new visitors is an important step in expanding our community of textile lovers at the TRC Leiden. These new members can also use the textiles to tell the stories they have to younger generations, other members of their group and the greater TRC community. Depending on the wishes of the participants, we may move on to develop workshops or exhibitions with them. With every new face at the TRC Leiden, we have the opportunity to enrich and expand our community of volunteers and workshop teachers as well.
Maria was so inspiring; we knew we had much more to learn from her and her organization and network of colleagues in Lisbon and beyond. Therefore, we have begun the process of arranging a 3-day training session led by Accesso Cultura for TRC staff to continue digging deeper into the questions of outreach for, and the process of, cultural participation by people from diasporic and other groups.
Maria Linkogle, 6 November 2022
