The creation of the Santa Catarina Children’s Museum: an experience in progress

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present in general terms the history, evolution,plan and current phase of the Santa Catarina Children’s Museum.The museum project was inspired by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Cité des Enfants de Paris, the Museu daCriança de Lisboa and by the pedagogical activities realized with children at the Louvre, George Pompidou and D’Orsay museums in Paris. Familiar with the cultural diversity of  Santa Catarina children through a study conducted since 1999, involving children of various ethnicities, in various municipalities of the state, the researcher   sought the inclusion of “different” children in activities of the cultural space to be created. The project uses the perspective of cultural hybridization   suggested by Nestor Canclini. Conceived to attend children from 3 –   14 years of age, the museum will have an interactive character and its mission is  to emphasize the participation of children in the culture of their ancestors, opening doors to others and conjugating them with current cultural expressions. It proposes the creation of the Children’s  Imagination Network, to be established among children of different   unicipalities, states and countries; to stimulate creativity and cultural production and inclusionary aesthetics,   through traditional resources and new technologies.Partnerships are being studied with the Sapiens Park development project, the focus of which is Human Development and with the municipal government of Pomerode, where the installation of a prototype of the Santa CatarinaChildren’s Museum is planned.