The Ministry of Culture and Sports is helping to strengthen the role of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) in the international cultural and artistic community by financing three projects with a total budget of €1,645,542 from the Recovery Fund. The aim of the overall programme is to promote and enhance Greek contemporary artistic creation, digitize the Museum’s archive and give access to special groups of the public

Specifically, the project “Actions to promote Greek cultural exports and strengthen the Greek cultural brand” concerns implementing targeted actions regarding the above, as well as incorporating  the EMST in an international network of cooperating cultural organizations and encouraging the Museum’s extroversion. It includes supporting Greek artists and art curators and theoreticians to participate in hospitality programmes abroad, with the aim of strengthening the mobility and extroversion of artistic potential, but also the planning of corresponding EMST hospitality programmes addressing artists and curators. Organizing a Mentorship programme is also included to create grounds for long-term collaborations between Greek visual artists and contemporary art professionals abroad. The EMST selects mentors from various specialties who offer their expertise and experience to selected participants. The project encourages the creation of new collaborations between international and Greek artists, contributes to the extroversion and mobility of the work of Greek artists, enables the artistic community of Athens to come into contact with important international art professionals, strengthens and consolidates the connection of the EMST with the international field of art.

The project “Utilization of digital models of cultural production and distribution at the National Museum of Contemporary Art” aims to digitize and display the EMST’s artistic archive and install operational information systems to upgrade the visitors’ museum experience and utilize digitized material for the design and implementation of publishing, research, educational and artistic activities.The EMST has an Artistic Archive of 18,000 items related to contemporary Greek art, of which 3,800 have been digitized. The installation of business systems (ERP and CRM) aims to improve the overall experience of visitors, to offer a targeted museum experience (ticketing, booking, virtual tours, labels information, downloading, mobile apps, etc.) and to develop a Members and Friends of EMST Programme.

The third project concerns the “Creation of Museum kits of the National Museum of Contemporary Art”, to offer the possibility of implementing educational programmes for different groups of the public. The museum kits, with pedagogical-educational material and specially designed activities that help familiarity with contemporary art, will be available through short-term loans to educate people who find it difficult visiting the Museum.

Three different museum kits are being created, addressing different audiences such as people over 65 and people with disabilities. At the same time, a guide for the handling and utilization of the museum kit is being created for carers. The museum kits will travel to nursing homes, welfare institutions and other social structures, but also abroad to Greek Embassies and collaborating Museums.