A cultura e a promoção da democracia: recomendações da Carta do Porto Santo para os museus

Abstract

The Porto Santo Charter (2021) is a programmatic document that bears the name of the island where it was first presented, an outermost European region taken as an irradiation centre of cultural and educational policies. This European Charter is intended to be a beacon to guide the practices and discourses of governments, institutions and citizens, with a view to removing obstacles to cultural participation, thus reinforcing the relevance of people's cultural rights. The Porto Santo Charter focuses on the role that culture, arts, heritage and education sectors play in the promotion of democracy. The content of this document addresses issues that promote the role of culture for the health of democracy; the difference between democratization and cultural democracy; the central role of digital territories; the inter-relationship between culture and education. It contains 37 recommendations proposing ways to encourage European authorities, cultural institutions and citizens to thrive for cultural democracy by sharing the power they hold and promoting citizens' cultural rights. This essay follows the Charter's vision and proposes a reflection on the implications of the cultural democracy model for museums, indicating ways museums can enact as places and instruments for cultural citizenship, so that every citizen and community may choose to participate and take responsibility for the cultural horizon of all.

Keywords

• museums and education
• cultural policies and museums
• cultural democracy
• cultural participation
• Charter of Porto Santo