Eleventh International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the approaches used at Office of Education (Gabeduca) of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Porto (FBAUP) to communicate and disseminate the school’s art collection, current exhibition program and heritage. Since its creation, in February 2017, Gabeduca has served its community in diverse ways: it has responded to requests of junior high schoolteachers to take their classes visiting the premises of the faculty and learn in depth about its art degrees; it then accommodated the school board desire to promote more strategically the school’s artistic and material heritage, through the development of educational programs that enable their audience to engage with the complexity of the field of art; and it is currently accompanying this activity with the development of museum education research in university contexts. Considering the present challenges universities face, resulting from the difficulties higher education experience to secure universities as places of culture, what are the challenges this Office of Education encounters? How can it provide a high level of support for art research and simultaneously contribute to the public service and outreach mission of the university? Committed to the development of teaching-learning strategies embedded in Museum Education advanced practices, Gabeduca is framing its action in the debates of the XXI century society and in dialogue with the emergent research digital era.