Cultural Heritage and Professions of the Future: opportunities for young people

The activities of the DREAM Project are moving forward at a rapid pace, and the idea of creating a new way of enjoying the Cultural-Museum Heritage is taking shape more and more thanks to the Methodology developed with the Art of Crowddreaming. DREAM puts young people and educators in contact with Cultural Heritage and digitalisation, in a unique process of co-creation. At the same time, the project will lead to the creation of new professional figures who are the first to specialize in professions that do not yet exist, such as “museater guides”.

The cue to talk about this with Paolo Russo, coordinator of the DREAM project for Stati Generali dell’Innovazione, is an estimate by the American Institute for the Future – also taken up by the European Commission in its “White Paper on the Future of Europe” – according to which 85% of young people currently of school age will find themselves doing jobs that do not exist today when they enter the world of work.

The experience of Stati Generali dell’Innovazione and CRHACK LAB Foligno 4D shows that Cultural Heritage, digital and otherwise, is an ideal gym to train young people in non-existent professions. Why?

1. a) It makes it easy to use the holistic STEAM approach to teaching, where humanities, science, and technology disciplines must be used synergistically to solve problems. Think of the conceptual experiment of building a digital monument that can survive the centuries. How many technological challenges does it conceal? What philosophical and ideological approach does it require? Do the trades already exist that would make the endeavour possible?
2. b) It entertains and involves young people who can feel themselves as co-owners of their Cultural Heritage, becoming the protagonists of a new narration of it through the digital tools of their era and characteristic narrative styles. “Medium is the Message” once again. We have seen the proof with Europa Square (SGI, CDDC project – Crowddreaming: Youth Co-create Digital Culture) and Quintana 4D (CRHACK LAB).
3. c) It encourages the recovery of intergenerational thinking, activating processes that can only take place in the very long term. Who goes down in history? Who starts the construction of a cathedral of which he knows he will not see the end or who has been in the Trending Topics today in Social Media?

We’ve talked about jobs of the future, which still don’t exist today. Can you give us a concrete example?

An example of a non-existent profession is that of the museater guide, whose profile will be one of the results of the DREAM project. This new professional figure is based on the concept that technology does its job better not if it tries to replace human work – for example audio guides or guides in augmented reality instead of the museum guide – but if it amplifies its potential. A museater guide is a narrator who tells a story that has as its protagonists the masterpieces contained in the museum, staging it using digital sets in augmented reality.  It is a completely new way of doing the job of a museum guide.

A few days ago, the “Ready Teacher One” event was held. Can you tell us about it?

This is a co-design workshop for the 2021/22 PCTOs. We believe it is fundamental that students can approach today the digital skills that they will need in the near future for work and life: augmented reality, virtual reality, interactive visual novels, holograms, the various forms of artificial intelligence. Of course, schools are the ideal place to start training kids. The interest is great and the proof is that the event “Ready Teacher One”, organized by CRHACK LAB 4D and EGInA in Foligno was virtually attended by all schools in the city, plus others from Umbria and the experience of Europa Square. For us, the promoters, this is yet another demonstration that this approach pays off.