The Past Projects of Sámi Museum Siida:
Muittut, muitalusat – the story of the Sámi by the Sámi
Muittut, muitalusat – The Story of the Sámi by the Sámi” is a collaboration of three Sámi museums – the Sámi Museum Siida from Inari, Finland (the leader and administrator), the Swedish Mountain and Sámi Museum Ájtte from Jokkmokk, and the South Sámi Museum and Cultural Centre Saemien Sijte from Snåsa, Norway – as well as the University of Lapland and the Luleå University of Technology. The project period is 1.1.2020 – 30.9.2022 and the budget is approximately 2 million euros. The project is funded by Interreg North.
The project will create a new Sámi museum language, through which Sámi culture will be presented in museums and exhibitions from the point of view of the Sámi themselves. A new Sámi exhibition language will be developed through three exhibition pilots, with the themes the Repatriation and drum, the Sámi costume Gákti/Gapta/Gáppte/Mááccuh/Määccaǩ and the Loss of language. These three topics will be developed in terms of both content and display technique in cooperation with the project partners and the Sámi community in a series of workshops. The project aims to strengthen Sámi identity.
A joint exhibition language will provide the participating Sámi museums with a strong foundation for future development work and cooperation across the borders. The pilots will become a permanent part of the exhibitions of Saemien Sijte, the Sámi Museum Siida and Ájtte. Museums are important destinations in their areas, and the project will be of economic importance to the entire Nordic region.
Results of the project will be shared internationally for the use of Sámi, museum stakeholders and museum visitors. The objective is to guarantee that economic life, especially tourism, can benefit from the results when developing services and products.
The project manager in Sámi Museum Siida is Eeva-Kristiina Harlin,
eeva-kristiina.harlin(at)samimuseum.fi, tel. +358 (0)40 485 3017
Communal research project on the integration of the Skolt Sámi in Finland 1939–1949
The communal and multidisciplinary project studies the evacuation period of the Skolt Sámi (1939–1949), more precise the temporary settlements built during the evacuation period. The project combines information from documents and audio recording archives with the Skolt Sámi’s living oral history- Research is carried out between the community and various actors. The buildings in the Skolt homesteads are being documented and new signs will be put up. Lesser known temporary settlements are being located and documented. During the project a heritage hike and seminar will be held, a publication will be written and the Sámi Museum’s Skolt Sámi Life multimedia show will be updated. The results will be part of the 70th anniversary of Skolt Sámi settlement in August 2019.
The project is being funded by the National Board of Antiquities. In cooperation with: Skolt Sámi Cultural Foundation, Metsähallitus Parks and Wildlife Lapland, the Academy of Finland-funded Skolt Saami Memory Bank project (Giellagas Institute), as well as the Academy of Finland-funded Culturally and Socially Sustainable Museum. Reframing the Policies of Representing Indigenous Sámi Culture in Sámi Museum Siida project (LaY), Yle Sápmi, Saamelaisarkisto, Sámi archive.
Project period: 1 January 2018 – 30 September 2019
The Open-Air Museum of the Capercaillie project
The Sámi Museum’s Open-Air Museum of the Capercaillie project is being carried out with funding from the National Board of Antiquities. The objective of the communal project is to exhibit the Sámi’s the hunting methods traditionally used by the Sámi and to introduce these to new customer groups. New traps will be put on display in the Open-Air Museum’s hunting section and new signs will be designed. The Open-Air Museum will also get a new hunting-centred guide product. Food culture will also play a key part in the Open-Air Museum of the Capercaillie project. The museum will organise a game dinner and Restaurant Sarrit will hold heritage food days.
Project period: 1 April 2018 – 30 March 2019
Visit Arctic Europe II
A tourism project with cooperation between the northern parts of Finland, Sweden and Norway. Cooperation across national borders and travel packages.
Project period: September 2018 – March 2021
Culturally and Socially Sustainable Museum. Reframing the Policies of Representing Indigenous Sámi Culture in the Sámi Museum Siida
“Culturally and Socially Sustainable Museum. Reframing the Policies of Representing Indigenous Sámi Culture in the Sámi Museum Siida” was a joint project of the University of Lapland and Sámi Museum Siida. The project was launched in October 2016 ended in September 2018. The project was funded by the Academy of Finland and its Principal Investigator was Sanna Valkonen, Associate professor of Sámi research at the University of Lapland.
The aim of the project was to create procedures and guidelines for a culturally and socially sustainable museum of the indigenous Sámi people. The project created a new exhibition framework for the main and introductory exhibition. It also produced exhibition guidelines to the Sámi Museum that are based on Sámi cultural values and needs.
In addition, the project developed participatory methods and procedures to better integrate the local Sámi communities to defining and producing their cultural heritage.
Sámi Generations and a Common Story 2015-2016
The Sámi Museum Siida launched a project called Sámi Generations and a Common Story in September 2015. The purpose of the project was to document and record Sámi tradition with the needs of the community as its starting-point. In addition to its main purpose, the project was also aimed at bringing generations together and passing down know-how.
The Sámi Museum applied a new method in the project, recording and documenting traditional knowledge on the basis of ideas and needs that arise in Sámi communities. This innovative and participatory project was funded by the Finnish National Board of Antiquities. (link)
A Sámi Cultural Environment Unit has been established at the Sámi Museum Siida in 2011. The founding of the unit has been made possible by two separate projects:
The Sámi Cultural Environment Unit 2011-2014
The official duties concerning the archaeological cultural heritage of the Sámi Area were transferred to the Sámi Museum as a result of the pilot project Sámi Cultural Environment Unit. On 1 January 2011, the National Board of Antiquities and the Sámi Museum signed a co-operation agreement on the protection of arhaeological cultural heritage. The objective of the project was to create a permanent basis for the operations of the Cultural Environment Unit.
The project covered the Sámi Area with its activities and was funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Ealli biras – Living Environment 2011-2014
The project published the book Ealli biras – Elävä ympäristö. Saamelainen kulttuuriympäristöohjelma (“Living Environment. A Sámi Cultural Environment Programme”; first edition 2013, second edition 2015). The Finnish Local Heritage Federation chose the book as the 2014 Local Heritage Book in Finland. The project also produced an exhibition on the Sámi cultural landscape and architectural heritage. The exhibition was available for the public at Siida from 15 June 2013 to 12 October 2014.
The project had the Sámi Area as its area of operations. It was financed by the European Regional Development Fund ERDF, and it received its national funding from the Regional Council of Lapland.
Further information: Cultural Environment Unit
Interactive Sápmi
The main objective of the project – which has the Sámi Education Institute as its applicant – is to create, through training, competence for the needs of the Sámi Area in the field of media; the target will be achieved by providing training in content production for the interactive media (media education), in animation technology, and in social media. The other targets of the project comprise a) making the Sámi children and young people living outside the Sámi Area more available both in terms of education and social activities, b) improving employment opportunities in the region and contributing to a decrease in net emigration by creating more job opportunities for the young in the Sámi Area, c) enhancing cultural knowledge and documentation and increasing thus knowledge of Sámi culture nationally, and d) providing teaching material on Sámi culture.
The Sámi Museum Siida participates in the project by documenting and presenting Sámi culture through the channels of new media. The museum also aims at enhancing the competence of its personnel in the field of new media. The project has been granted funding from the Northern Finland section of the ESF programme for Continental Finland. The project lasts from 1 August 2010 to 30 December 2012.
Further information:
The Sámi Education Institute, www.sogsakk.fi
Sámi Youth (Saamelainen nuoriso/Samisk ungdom)
The joint project of the Nordic museums that collect and record Sámi culture aims at documenting the life of Sámi young people together with the young themselves. The methods of documentation include photographing and/or videoing, and common workshops. The objective of the project is to activate young people to influence what museums will include in their collections on today’s Sámi culture. In Finland, the documentation partners consist of six 14–18-year-old “City Sámi” who live in cities. The project began on May 1, 2009, and will end at the beginning of 2011.
The main agency of the project is Ájtte – Swedish Mountain and Sámi Museum (in Jokkmokk, Sweden), and the project is run by Ylva Jannok Nutti and Anna Westman. The partners of the project are Varanger Sámi Museum (Varangerbotn, Norway), the association Saemien Sijte (Snåsa, Norway) and the Sámi Museum Siida (Inari, Finland). The project is financed through the Interreg IV/A Nord program.
Further information:
http://samiyouth.typo3konsult.se/