Promálaga presented the European MED4REGEN project at CM Málaga, Culture & Museums International Tech Forum, through the workshop “Beyond the Tickets: The Museum as Meeting Point”, a session that brought together project partners, representatives of museums and cultural institutions, tourism professionals and members of civil society.
The event provided an opportunity to present MED4REGEN’s objectives and reflect on the role that museums can play in building a tourism model that goes beyond attracting visitors and also generates lasting benefits for local communities, the surrounding area and the cultural life of cities.
The session featured Mario Ciaramitaro, researcher at Università IUAV di Venezia, who presented the experience of Venice and, more specifically, the case study of the M9 Museum in Mestre. His presentation offered insight into a particularly interesting model due to its capacity to connect urban regeneration, heritage recovery, cultural innovation and the involvement of the local population.
The presentation was followed by a roundtable discussion with Luz Molina (Promálaga), Mario Ciaramitaro (Università IUAV di Venezia), Rosa López (Public Agency for the Management of the Pablo Ruiz Picasso Birthplace Museum and Other Museum and Cultural Facilities), and José Mateos (Málaga de Museos and the Friends of the Picasso Birthplace Museum Association), who contributed the perspective of the local community.
The discussion led to an open exchange between MED4REGEN partners, museum representatives, tourism experts and members of civil society. One of the main ideas shared was the need to strengthen the relationship between cultural institutions and their immediate surroundings, ensuring that local residents are not merely spectators, but active participants in shaping the cultural and tourism experiences offered by their city.
The interest generated during the workshop continued afterwards at the project stand, where ideas and experiences were further shared with attendees. Numerous professionals from museums and cultural institutions approached the team to learn more about regenerative tourism and how it could be applied within their own organisations and activities.
Many explained that they were already working to strengthen local community participation, recover the memory and identity of their area and encourage residents to identify more closely with their museums. However, they were still finding it difficult to translate these ambitions into concrete measures.
The conversations revealed a clear interest in moving in this direction, although it is not always easy to determine how to involve the community on a lasting basis, how to listen to local people and incorporate their perspectives into museum activities, or how to ensure that museums are no longer perceived primarily as tourism resources and instead become an integral part of the cultural and social life of their surroundings.
This was one of the main conclusions of the event: involving the local community is essential to progressing towards truly regenerative tourism. Increasing visitor numbers or expanding the cultural offer is not enough. Deeper connections must be created between museums, people and the places in which they are located.
MED4REGEN’s participation in CM Málaga therefore provided an opportunity to present the project to a specialised audience, learn from international experiences and open up new conversations about how museums can become genuine meeting places for visitors, residents and the wider territory.
MED4REGEN is a project co-funded by the Interreg Euro-MED Programme that works to promote new models of regenerative tourism through culture, cooperation between Mediterranean territories and the active participation of local communities.
