A journey through Europe’s history and traditions on birth and motherhood.

Birth Cultures is a project funded by the European Union under the Creative Europe Culture Program (2014-2020) that contributes through art and culture to the preservation and dissemination of traditional knowledge and practices related to birth and motherhood, which are part of the European intangible cultural heritage.

The project is implemented by Interarts (Spain) in cooperation with the Women’s Museum Hittisau (Austria), the Women’s Museum Merano (Italy), the Gender Museum (Ukraine) and in collaboration with IAWM (Italy), ECCOM (Italy) and the Birth Café Action (Germany), as partners. The project will run from November 2019 to April 2022.

According to the German associations Erzählcafé-Aktion and Hebammen für Deutschland (Midwives for Germany), there is a lack of personal support and intergenerational and intercultural exchange in a high-tech obstetrics environment to make a fear-free and joyful start in life possible for diverse groups.

The project foresees the realization of a large touring exhibition and different kinds of participatory activities, such as birth cafés, discussion rounds, workshops with artists, etc. The project will also provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences between different groups. Thus, different target groups (mothers and fathers, health workers, migrants, artists, etc.) will tell their stories, talk about issues related to birth and motherhood, create cultural materials and artworks, and thus internalize relevant information through practice and direct experience.

As part of this project the Women’s Museum of Merano is organizing Birth Cafés together with Urania Merano.

Project website

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