AMECUM

The Association of Cultural Mediators of Madrid (AMECUM) is the Association of Cultural Mediators of Madrid. It was created in 2015 by grassroots professionals in education and cultural mediation. The association is the result of the urgent need to give visibility to the profession to enhance its role as a social tool for the development of a critical citizenry able to achieve empowerment through culture. As a professional association, it aspires to raise awareness of and reinforce the figure of cultural educators and mediators and to foster their work, facilitating access to the services they need for their professionalisation through research, theoretical-practical training and the promotion of spaces in which to meet and work together. 

was set up in December 2015 in order to make the exercise of cultural mediation more visible and professional through knowledge, training, collaborative work and the improvement of the employment conditions in the artistic and cultural education sector.

The association is the result of the urgent need to give visibility to the professional sector of cultural mediation and its role as a social tool in the development of a critical citizenry able to achieve empowerment through culture. They are committed to generating knowledge about the profession from their own experience in professional practice, sharing what they have learnt and encouraging critical reflection as a group.

As part of their residency, they are currently developing, among other activities, a project entitled Pendiente (Pending). A project for a specific time and space. It is also an offering in the form of three cycles of research and collaborative work, as well as a series of public activities related to cultural mediation, the objective of which is to identify, analyse and narrate their implementation.

Each of the three blocks is constructed by means of a shared process involving the Association of Cultural Mediators of Madrid - AMECUM (which coordinates, co-designs and accompanies each block) and six cultural mediation agents (groups or individuals) whom they have connected by means of invitations and open calls that will take place between the autumn of 2021 and the summer of 2022.

The aim of Pendiente is to weave new storylines around cultural mediation. Some are based on conclusions drawn during the Rehacer y Expandir (Re-make and Expand) project, while others stem from the themes that AMECUM has been exploring ever since it was set up. They are themes “that have been left pending”. They all directly affect the cultural mediation sector, its practices and the people who carry them out. They also provide a working framework and a context for the enrichment of the myriad pieces that make up its ecosystem. 

With the collaboration of the Centre for Artists in Residence, AMECUM continues to generate extensive professional networks in which the processes of thinking and action become a formula though which to cast light on and strengthen the cultural mediation sector.

Activities developed from the Pendiente project:

Living spaces in mediation with... Desmusea

Living spaces in mediation with... Baiven

Physical space in mediation with...Laura Nadeszhda and Quiosco Clandestino

Physical space in mediation with...Fabiana Vinagre and Yuri Tuma

Writing in mediation with... the HUL Collective

Writing in mediation with... Pili Álvarez

Image credits: Antonia Santolaya