Maritime Make Lab

Museum and heritage professionals need new insights on innovative ways to engage audiences and make collections more vibrant. This requires a different approach to their (digital) collections. The education programme 'Maritime Make Lab' was a project in which young people used the Maritime Museum's digital collection as inspiration for design and make assignments in the OBA (Public Libraries of Amsterdam) Maker Spaces. The connection with the Maker Spaces creates an opportunity for the heritage sector to connect with a less accessible target group outside the museum.

Maritime Make Lab

In Maritiem Make Lab, Het Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam (The Maritime Museum), Waag and Maakplaats021 of the OBA (Public Libraries of Amsterdam) joined forces. This project gathered knowledge and developed workshops in which young people carry out design and make assignments based on the Maritime Museum's collection. These included the (former) use of materials such as tin, symbols for communication, lost techniques and forgotten crafts. Young people not only gained knowledge about heritage, but also learned to reuse this knowledge in a 21st-century way in their living environment. In the young people's projects, the Maritime Museum's heritage collection came to life and acquired new meaning.

Publication

The collaborating partners shared the knowledge and experiences gained from the project at an online event on 13 December 2021. This resulted in a special publication that you can download below. In this publication, we share the strengths of the Maritime Make Lab, give a glimpse into the content of the process and the programme and share tips & tricks on which elements are important for the development and implementation of a successful programme that connects with young people and lessons learned.

Download the publication Maritime Make Lab (in Dutch) 

Sustainable learning environment for young people

Maritime Maaklab strengthened the learning ecosystem for young people in Amsterdam. By connecting different places, knowledge and skills, we strengthened relationships in the learning ecosystem and the knowledge gained was embedded in a broader context. The interaction between different groups and disciplines created inspiration and new knowledge. The contact between different institutions contributed to the broader development of the young people.