Since January 2024, the MAK, along with 12 other institutions from Hungary, Austria, Romania, Serbia, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia, has been a partner in the EU project CultHeRit. Its goal is to improve working conditions and accessibility for young workers in the arts and culture sector. By participating, the MAK is taking on a leading role in the CHIM (Cultural Heritage Institutes and Museum) sector and will actively contribute to shaping this current socio-political issue.

Starting with the research of specific data on employment practices in the CHIM sector, existing educational offerings will be identified and students and potential employees will be interviewed through questionnaires and surveys regarding their expectations and needs. Following the development of an “ideal transnational employment model,” a pilot action will be tested at ten partner institutions, including the MAK. One person will test this model for one year under real-world employment conditions. The final evaluation will lead to new approaches and solutions to existing problems in employment relationships within the CHIM sector and these should culminate in a viable data-based transnational employment model at the end of the project.

CultHeRit Insights Volume 1: Improving the Employment Situation and Accessibility of Jobs in CHIM
CultHeRit Insights Volume 2: Mentorship in CHIM
CultHeRit Insights Volume 3: Invisibility of Work in CHIM
CultHeRit Transnational Aspirational Employment Model in Cultural Heritage Institutes and Museums (CHIM) Sector in the Danube Region

This project is supported by the Interreg Danube Programme, co-funded by the European Union.

For more information: Danube Transnational Programme 

1 January 2024 – 30 June 2026

MAK Project Head: Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, Head MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection/Archive
MAK HR Expert: Jasmin Sommerer, Head MAK Human Resources and Legal Affairs
Project Assistant: Carlotta Schiller

Projectpartner:
Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, Hungary
KUPF OÖ - Kulturplattform Oberösterreich in Linz, Austria
National Institute of Heritage Romania in Bucharest
National Museum for the History of Transylvania in Cluj Napoca, Romania
Bihor County Employment Agency in Oradea, Romania
Republic Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments in Belgrade, Serbia
Intermunicipal Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments in Subotica, Serbia
Serbia Trade Union of Employees in Cultural Institutions in Belgrade, Serbia
Museum of Decorative Art in Prague, Czech Republic
Institute for Protection of Cultural-Historical and Natural Heritage of Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka, Serbia
Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb, Croatia 
Notranjska Museum Postojna, Slovenia