Why MuMe Matters: Empowering India’s youth through Heritage
Usha Varia, Founder, Samoolam, shares with Poulomi Das, Founder, The Museum Memories Project, her strategies of empowering the youth of Gaya, Bihar, through cultural heritage by engaging them in what they like to do, from digital marketing to making reels. She has created a safe and happy space for the Samoolam team, get to know more from their innocent laughter and giggles – link to our discussion:
Usha is a social entrepreneur and inspiration in the world of Indian craft and design. With over 20 years of experience, she creates sustainable enterprises in rural India and believes in compassionate leadership skills. She is a graduate of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, and has a Master’s (International Development and Social Change) from Clark University, and is a Ford Foundation International Fellow. She founded Samoolam, which started with 3 and now empowers over 300 women in Gaya. https://samoolam.com/pages/about-us
I have previously interviewed and written about Usha in 2017, in The Hindu: https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/craft-crochet-and-social-change-come-together-at-samoolam/article22242445.ece
She is a true inspiration and a personal favourite – wish you the very best of luck, Usha.
MuMe Matters is an endeavour by ‘The Museum Memories Project’ to make people come together, learn from experts and professionals from various fields on how museums and cultural heritage can become accessible and inclusive.
3 questions that are bothering and needs to be discussed:
In a world of pandemic, wars, infants being killed, mass scale human migration and fight for bare existence due to climate change, and history used to fuel violence:
1.) Do we still need museums?
2.) Is history pulling us back from creating a peaceful world?
3.) Why save cultural heritage? For whom?
We would like to use this platform to reflect, discuss, debate and find the way forward.
We visualise MuMe Matters as an interactive, invigorating, educational, exploratory and knowledge sharing catalytic space to initiate dialogues and spur conversations around important themes which have hitherto escaped highlight.
Form: Monthly discussions with practitioners and professionals who have ample experience in their field and would like to share their knowledge and expertise to help connect different communities.
Themes: They would range from those in the fields of museums, art, craft, design, culture, heritage, architecture, conservation, curation, mental health, LBTQIA+ , senior citizens, people with disabilities, music, dance, theatre, literature, oral histories, education, archive, sports, children, learning difficulties and others.
Structure: MuMe Matters panel discussion were held every 2nd Sunday of the month, 6 – 7 pm IST, during the lockdown in 2021.
The session would start with a brief introduction to the speaker, focusing on their work, from the beginning, the process, the present, and the future. The speaker will share their experience in relation to specific projects and the problems they faced, if any, and their solutions. If there are unresolved issues or suggestions needed to go forward, then could be addressed here.
Previous discussions:
Event #1
Theme: Queer Inclusion in Indian Museums
Objective: The idea behind this event is to gauge opinion if there needs to be inclusion in a museum. To comprehend measures that the LBTQIA+ community thinks is necessary to make museums more accessible and inclusive and make them places with equal opportunities. To formulate a report where ideas and opinions of the audience/contributors are highlighted.
Date & Day: 11th July, 2021, Sunday
Event #2: Theme: Pandemic lessons for Indian cultural heritage
Objective: The idea behind this event is to understand the challenges, need and urgency of conservation architecture. We would like to know if India has a well planned approach for engaging local communities and their indigenous knowledge systems in the preservation of cultural heritage? Your vast years of experience would help us address the several problems and their solutions.
Date & Day: 15th August, 2021, Sunday
Event #3
Theme: The Bihar Museum branding & identity design background story
Objective: The idea behind this event is to understand the challenges and importance for branding and identity design for museums in India. Is branding a ‘bad word’ for the museum sector or can we learn how it works in reaching out to various audiences and gives longevity like the Bihar Museum? You have designed the Bihar Museum brand and logo and you take us on your journey addressing these questions and more. We share our story behind creation of ‘The Museum Memories Project’ brand.
Date & Day: 12th September, 2021, Sunday
VarnikaDesigns 