Food heritage as a resource for museum cooperation: lessons from a project at the Estonian National Museum

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article examines museum partnership and cooperation drawing on experiences of a food heritage research and development project at the Estonian National Museum. The study relies on the principles of participatory research and focuses on contributory, collaborative and co-creative partnerships of the museum with the business and non-profit sector. The experience of the project confirmed that food heritage is an excellent topic for cooperation with various stakeholders as it enables the engagement and integration of broad spectrum of expertise. The study analyses and discusses expectations of partners as well as the museum in four joint initiatives, and the opportunities and pitfalls that ensue from diverse cooperation processes, and the outcomes.