lab.Bode

The Federal Cultural Foundation and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin have launched the joint project lab.Bode – Initiative to Strengthen Museum Education. Featuring an educational laboratory at the Bode Museum in Berlin and a trainee programme at 23 additional institutions around the country, the programme will shed light on the educational measures at museums and what they can achieve. The two-part programme aims to initiate processes of transformation in the museums themselves which especially appeal to young people.

The programme has set up a model "Education Lab" at the Bode Museum of the Berlin State Museums, which works together with various schools in Berlin over a period of several years. Although the Bode Museum enjoys international renown thanks to its significant art-historical collection, many young people are unacquainted with the museum and prior knowledge seems to be a prerequisite. Consequently, the aim of the programme is to effectively incorporate educational activities into all working processes at the museum – from the ticket desk to the curators, all the way to the museum director. The programme will then collect all of the experience and findings gained in this model project by 2020 and develop prototypes which can be applied elsewhere and made available to all museums and educators in Germany in the future.

The second module of the programme is comprised of 23 academic internships, financed by the Federal Cultural Foundation. The interns participate in developing prototypes in the lab and implement individual forms at their own museums. Museums throughout Germany with an art-collection focus were invited to apply- The hope is that the combination of both modules will establish a strong foundation for viable educational activities at museums in the future.

The lab.Bode is coordinated in cooperation with the Berlin State Museums. The Federal Cultural Foundation also collaborates with the German Museums Association and the Federal Academy of Cultural Education in Wolfenbüttel.

The Federal Cultural Foundation has allocated a total of 5.6 million euros to fund the programme from 2016 to 2020.