Martina Bagnoli elected chair of Europeana board of directors

Italy’s Martina Bagnoli, director of the Estensi Galleries of Modena and Ferrara, has been elected president of the Europeana Foundation, the independent organization that runs the Europeana platform and contributes to other digital initiatives with the aim of harnessing cultural heritage around the world.

An art historian and curator who has been the current director of the Estensi Galleries of Italy since 2015, Martina Bagnoli was voted in on Dec. 14, but will formally join the Europeana Foundation’s Supervisory Board as president in February 2022. She will succeed Elisabeth Niggemann, who has served two terms as president of the Foundation.

Bagnoli will lead Europeana as an important new chapter opens for the role of digital cultural heritage. “We are delighted to welcome Martina,” a note from the Europeana Foundation read, “and look forward to working with her to strengthen the recognition of the role that access to digital cultural heritage plays in contributing to a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable society, as well as highlighting the infrastructure that needs to be in place to ensure that contribution.”

“The power of cultural heritage to tell stories, change perspectives and foster understanding is already well known,” says Martina Bagnoli. “Democratizing access to cultural heritage by making it available and accessible online is an important undertaking, encouraging knowledge sharing, creativity and innovation. I look forward to working with Europeana to foster the conditions necessary to advance digital cultural heritage, strengthening its impact by making it participatory, and to help Europeana thrive.”

The Supervisory Board of the Europeana Foundation also elected a vice-chair: it will be current board member Taja Vovk van Gaal who takes over from Joke van der Leeuw-Roord.

Martina Bagnoli elected chair of Europeana board of directors

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