Photoconsortium association was established in 2014 under the Italian law, it is based in Italy and it is subject to the Italian regulations for non for profit organizations. However, the members of Photoconsortium are institutions, organizations and individuals from all over Europe and thus the dimension and activities of Photoconsortium are European-based.
Photoconsortium is, first of all, an alliance of men and women with a stake on cultural photographic heritage, who have common goals and interests with no reference or prejudice to gender. The need for a Gender Equality Plan derives from two important considerations:
- In the context of EU-funded projects and calls, the gender issue is more and more in focus for all sectors including the cultural heritage sector. Given the high participation rate of Photoconsortium in proposals for calls funded in Horizon Europe and other funding programmes of the European Union, it is felt as important to formalize the existing, but still unspecified, orientation towards gender equality into a more concrete reflection that brings to awareness-raising and planning;
- Expectations and efforts in Photoconsortium are directed towards fostering growth of the organization, job creation, and network expansion. This will generate the need for more structured rules and internal provisions in the future, to grant that no biases of any type affect the work life and well-being of employees and other stakeholders who are involved with Photoconsortium’s activities and processes.
This document opens with information about the Italian and international context analysis from a gender perspective, with a specific focus on the status of gender balance and equality in the cultural heritage sector, also indicating some guidelines, initiatives and resources that are available for improving and addressing the issue in the cultural heritage sector. Also, in consideration of the fact that Photoconsortium is an accredited aggregator of Europeana (the flagship initiative of the European Union on digital cultural heritage), details on the diversity and inclusion approach in the Europeana network are provided, given that Photoconsortium fully embraces and collaborates to this vision.
The organization context of Photoconsortium is delineated, describing the management bodies and staff from a gender perspective. Objectives and goals of GEP and the structure of key areas of actions are provided. The expected impact at this stage is mainly related to awareness-raising and to setting the basis for granting gender equality measures that keep the pace with the expected growth of the association in the future.
