University Museums, Inclusion and Territory: A Case Study of Espaço do Conhecimento UFMG

This presentation investigates the relationship between sociocultural inclusion and territory, taking the university museum ECUFMG as a case study. ECUFMG is a space dedicated to cultural and scientific dissemination. It integrates a set of equipment strategically located in a central area of the city of Belo Horizonte due to a public policy focused on culture promotion. The guiding questions of this study were: Is ECUFMG able to break the invisible barriers related to social structure circumscribed in the physical territory? Is it frequented by diverse public profiles? The field study points out that social and cultural barriers limit the access of visitors to the museum. It was found a homogeneous profile among spontaneous visitors - high schooling, high income and high cultural habit, regardless of place of residence -, pointing out invisible barrier to access, concerning questions of belonging and recognition, as well as lack of information about ECUFMG and its attractions. Nevertheless, the public from schools, who goes to the museum through an educational policy of scheduling visits, reaches all sorts of social classes and ages. This is the main way the museum can encourage an audience as representative of social reality as possible. Moreover, scheduled visits also require educational approaches and methodologies that stimulate the dialogue about knowledge produced and ensure their appropriation by a broad and diverse school audience.