About


The Institute was created in 2008 and has the objective of empowering people throughout the development of programs that use Education, Media, Image and Memory as a means of social intervention, people capacitation, and society transformation.

Mission


At a time when the image is one of the main vehicles for the proliferation of information, not only through traditional channels such as museums, magazines, newspapers or TV, but also through the adoption of new platforms and media for dissemination on the internet, such as youtube or social networks, it is necessary to know how to understand and analyze them.

This new reality, where borders are blurred, leads to a potentialization of global cultural dissemination where everyone influences everyone. And where a correct understanding and analysis is essential. In this way, working critically with the image, and in its extension the media, is to work on the mechanisms that, nowadays, are most used to spread ideas, social and political values.

In this context, the image, media literacy and historical memory acquires a preponderant role in the projects developed by IM Cultural. These projects, which aim to debate and work on image literacy; international and national memories; but above all the concept of culture as a social function and mind changing.

We develop training programmes, and formal and non-formal educational projects, within the scope of higher and non-higher education, as well as media studies and scientific research, in cooperation with other organisations.

We cooperate for development throughout education programs and international cooperation in developing countries.

Media Literacy Programme


Our programme has the objective of empowering people with skills in media, as well as enabling them to better understand the information delivered by channels of mass communication like television, printed media, film, radio, and social media.

One of the main goals of the programme is to enable people with media skills, at the same time making them able to understand the influence of the media in our daily life.

Image & Memory Programmes


Working with memory and history, and thinking critically about them, allows us to reflect more deeply on current issues, understanding their origins and strategically thinking about ways to effectively change these issues.

Recalling the historian David Lowenthal in his 1985 book, “The Past is a Foreign Country”: “The past remains integral to us all, individually and collectively. We must concede the ancients their place… But their place is not simply back there in a separate and foreign country; it is assimilated in ourselves, and resurrected into an ever-changing present.”



Memory Talks


Memory Talks promote collective memories and citizenship awareness through the development of online sessions with the main objective of debate and construction of public and collective memory. The program will contribute to the analysis and dissemination of policies of memory. Subscribe our newsletter to know more. Stay tuned!

Education for Development Courses & Scholarships


In partnership with the Global Development University we are developing an educational program that will be accessible to everyone, a place where people are empowered. We will have 3 years full scholarships available to people leaving in countries with a low human development index.

We offer a comprehensive and extensive number of courses that have the objective of capacitizing people to develop their professional careers in the area of media and communication, as well as other related subjects.

This programme will offer a great variety of opportunities for students to achieve their higher education objectives, overpassing their personal barriers. The education program comprises lectures, group classes, research projects, and ongoing evaluation, always focusing on students’ success.

Here students get the possibility to study from their home, or in one of our study centers around the world.

Research


Our Research Program in the area of media & communication, promotes the development of knowledge in the areas of: Information & Society; Digital Journalism; Digital Society and Active Citizenship; Digital Innovation & Entrepreneurship; Media & Manipulation; Censorship & Propaganda.

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Nowall project After World War II, the countries of Western Europe felt threatened by the expansion of the communist Soviet Union and the growing predominance of the United States. Thus, the idea of ​​European consolidation was becoming more and more important. Strengthened by US economic aid and the policy of containment of communism, Western Europe was gradually integrating. A powerful impulse to tighten European cooperation was the announcement of the American Marshall Plan in July 1947. On May 9, 1950 French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Schuman, put forward a plan to coordinate the French and German coal and steel economy. Schuman's plan was picked up by the chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the Italian Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi. On April 18, 1951 delegates from France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed in Paris an agreement to create the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The cooperation in the framework of the ECSC has contributed to a strengthening of a unity feeling. Western Europe was protected by the American "nuclear umbrella", the center of gravity in integration therefore it moved to the economic level. It was realized that economic integration can vastly expand outlets. On March 25, 1957 the members of the ECSC signed the treaties for the creation of the European Community in Rome Economic Community (EEC) and the establishment of the European Atomic integration of the member states. On January 1, 1995, Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the European Union. In March 1995, the Schengen Agreement, which abolished border controls, entered into force between Germany, Benelux, France, Spain and Portugal. During the EU summit in Madrid in December 1995 it was agreed that in 1999 the uniform would introduce a European currency called Euro. Despite some difficulties, the process of European integration not only did not stop together with the collapse of the Soviet Union, but it was even accelerated, as evidenced by it large enlargement of the European Union in 2004, incl. for Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia. The event programme had the speakers: Konrad H. Jarausch (University of North Carolina) - “Return of the East Central European countries to Europe” Jacek Kołtan (European Solidarity Centre Gdańsk) - "Europe, Solidarity and the Lost Treasure of the Revolution” Paulo Vila Maior (Fernando Pessoa University Porto) - “Two tales of a paradox: the rise of new walls in Europe and how History sinks into oblivion” We were pleased to have the fourth speaker, Madalena Meyer Resende, on the conference with us, unfortunately due to technical reasons, Madalena was unable to continue. Madalena Meyer Resende (NOVA University of Lisbon) - “Attempt to re-establish the European narrative after the End of the Cold War” Hosted by Tomás Santos (President of Portuguese Association of European Studies APEE) The event was organised by Young Educators - European Association and Portuguese Association of European Studies, IM Cultural Institute. This project is co-funded by the EU Europe for Citizens programme 609439-CITIZ-1-2019-1-PT-CITIZ-REMEM Know more at nowall.npo.one
Nowall The Cold War began almost the day after the end of World War II, with recent allies on opposite sides of the barricade. It was then that another global conflict would soon break out. Since then there was "peace that is not peace." Context: "Cold War" became a term for an international conflict that could not be resolved by direct military confrontation. As it unfolded, it was a state of high tension and hostile rivalry between the USSR and its satellite states, and non-communist states under US leadership. In trivialization, the Cold War was a struggle between two opposing systems for leadership or world domination, in which the USSR and the US played the main roles. It lasted from the end of World War II to 1991. The term "cold war" was first used by British writer George Orwell in his essay "You and the Atom Bomb" in the Tribune on October 19, 1945. In turn, two speeches are considered to be the appropriate inauguration of the conflict. The first was delivered by Stalin in Moscow on February 9, 1946 - the Soviet leader then announced the inevitable necessity of a war with Western imperialists. Soon, on March 5 of the same year, Winston Churchill delivered a speech in the American Fulton - it was then that the characteristic words were uttered: "From Szczecin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, the iron curtain has fallen on the continent." After the end of World War II, relations between the recent coalition partners continued to deteriorate. The confrontations sparked by Stalin multiplied, and then Iran, Turkey and finally Greece became the next hot spots. Therefore, the USA announced the implementation of the principles of stopping the expansion of communism by all available means, known more broadly as the "Truman Doctrine". These intentions were signaled by the American president himself during his speech to Congress on March 12, 1947. From that moment on, until the end of the Cold War, this concept was one of the cornerstones of American politics. This doctrine was supplemented by the beneficial economic aid plan, commonly known as the "Marshall Plan". Stalin was obviously against this project, which meant excluding Poland from it, and most importantly - the final division of the European continent into two opposing blocs The event programme had the speakers: Kyrill Kunakhovich (University of Virginia) - “The View from Below: How Ordinary East Germans Shaped the Cold War” Paul Rubinson (Bridgewater State University) - “A Europe Free of Nuclear Weapons: Transnational Antinuclear Activism and the End of the Cold War” Angela Romano (University of Glasgow) - “GDR’s economic links and relations across the Iron Curtain. People's roles in opening up and nourishing East German relations with the non-socialist part of Europe” Hosted by Stefan Nygård (University of Helsinki) The event was organised by Young Educators Germany and Helsinki University. This project is co-funded by the EU Europe for Citizens programme 609439-CITIZ-1-2019-1-PT-CITIZ-REMEM Know more at nowall.npo.one
Nowall One of the manifestations of a well-functioning civil society are numerous active social movements. They testify to the high activity and the ability to self-organize citizens. In this webinar we aim to present the resistance social movements during the Cold War and before the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Context: November 9, 1989, the day the Berlin Wall fell, was the culmination of revolutionary events.The citizens of the GDR played a leading role here: some because they did everything they could to leave the country, which denied them their freedom to travel, and therefore forced their departure by occupying embassies abroad; others because they loudly announced their desire to stay in the GDR. In return, however, they demanded fundamental reforms that the regime could not approve without initiating its collapse. Under the influence of this double pressure, the GDR collapsed like a house of cards within a few months, despite enormous security measures. This paved the way for overcoming the division and reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990. The event programme had the speakers: Christian Joppke (University of Bern) - "East Germany’s Unhappy Dissidents" Katrin Hattenhauer (Artist and Civil Rights Activist) - “Experience and personal view about the unfolding of the Peaceful Revolution from the perspective of an activist” James J. Sheehan (University of Stanford) - “The Problem of Peaceful Change: What are the conditions necessary to make a revolution peaceful? What role did the social movements in East Germany play in this process?” Ionel N. Sava (University of Bucharest) - “Difference between dissidents's action in Eastern Germany and the eastern block of Polish, Czech and Hungarian anti-communists” Hosted by Ana Mónica Fonseca (University Institute of Lisbon) The event was organised by Young Educators Germany and ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon. This project is co-funded by the EU Europe for Citizens programme 609439-CITIZ-1-2019-1-PT-CITIZ-REMEM Know more at nowall.npo.one
Nowall The webinar aims to present differences of how citizens were opposed to the communist regimes in East Germany and the Soviet bloc countries. Could the way to freedom be less obstructed, if more people were united? Context: Freedom was the main political postulate of the opposition movements in Central and Eastern Europe. People fought for human rights and dignity, and for a life in truth, contrary to the appearances created by the party-state apparatus. In the 1980s, the socialist system, which prevented the existence of parties with values ​​different from the official state ideology, brought to the sight underground groups of people who did not agree with this state of affairs. In each of the countries behind the Iron Curtain, there was opposition, operating under similar conditions, based on conspiracy. Although the communist system did not allow any polemics about its political concepts, the opposition set against the current form of the state and sought to change it. The year 1989 was the time that the oppositionists created and developed program concepts concerning not only the functioning of the state, but also social changes, covering all areas of politics. As the opposition movements gathered people of different worldviews in their ranks, it was not apparent and simple to manage the common changes. However, despite the fact that the opposition to the dictatorship always concerned a fundamental issue - the fight for freedom - the activities of opposition movements in the countries of the Eastern bloc differed in such factors like its current political or economic situation or a different ideological tradition. The event programme had the speakers: Norman M. Naimark (University of Stanford) - "Comparison of dissidents in the GDR and the Soviet Union" Douglas Selvage (Humboldt University Berlin ) - Soviet and East German Dissidents, different paths 1975 - 1986 Henrik Bispinck (Humboldt University Berlin ) - "East German dissidents and their role in the peaceful revolution and the end of the GDR" Hosted by Aryo Makko, Professor of History, Director of the Hans Blix Centre at Stockholm University The event was organized by Young Educators Germany and IM Cultural Institute. This project is co-funded by the EU Europe for Citizens programme 609439-CITIZ-1-2019-1-PT-CITIZ-REMEM Know more at nowall.npo.one
Nowall The political opposition in the GDR and Poland: Solidarność and political opposition before the Fall of the Wall The webinar aims to debate and give insight on how political resistance in East Germany and neighbouring Poland during the Cold War, succeeded in making a change leading to freedom and respect of human rights. Context: After the Second World War, the Iron Curtain divided Europe, and Germany was also divided. In West Germany and West Berlin, a democratic and market system was introduced. Communist dictatorships were imposed on East Germany and Poland under the control of the Soviet Union. Poles and East Germans did not give up the fight for freedom. From June 17, 1953 and the outbreak of the uprising in the GDR, from the independence underground in Poland, constant struggles with communist dictatorships continued. The forms of opposition and resistance were different: conspiracy and armed struggle, demonstrations and workers' strikes, creating opposition structures, independent culture, individual opposition to the imposed atheization, protests organized and supported by the churches. Despite the obstacles, there were numerous contacts between oppositionists from Central and Eastern Europe. Since 1980, the most important symbol of the liberation of the societies of Central and Eastern Europe was the "Solidarity" movement in Poland. In the late 1980s, the struggle for independence and human rights led to the demolition of the Berlin Wall and ultimately to the fall of communism. The event programme had the speakers: Idesbald Goddeeris from KU Leuven University. His presentation was about Western European societal solidarity with Poland in the 1980s Christie Miedema from University of Amsterdam, with Freedom or Peace? Polish and East German oppositional strategies in the context of the East-West divide Hosted by Bernd Rother from Willy Brandt Foundation. The event was organised by Young Educators Germany and Willy Brandt Foundation. This project is co-funded by the EU Europe for Citizens programme 609439-CITIZ-1-2019-1-PT-CITIZ-REMEM Know more at nowall.npo.one
Nowall The online webinar event, brought together political and economic historians and human rights scholars to discuss three interrelated themes in European and global politics between the Helsinki Final Act in 1975 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Context: “We first consider the ascent of human rights discourse. Introduced in the East-West dialogue by the Helsinki Accords and supported by the internationally bourgeoning field of NGO, the idea of universal human rights played a well-known role in undermining the legitimacy of governments in the Soviet sphere and beyond. What were the broader implications of this new attention to human rights, how did it shape foreign policy agendas and how did it relate to other categories of rights? Second, we discuss new forms of economic exchange across the Cold War divide. On the one hand, the oil shocks of the 1970s, inflation, economic slowdown and the uneven transition to post-industrial society vastly increased the role of credit and international lending. On the other hand, the conditionality attached to these loans and enforced by international financial institutions significantly constrained the power of national governments. In the context of North-South relations, they played a part in the failure of high-profile political projects (Willy Brandt’s North-South commission) to live up to their promises for the future. With respect to East-West relations, lending across the Iron Curtain increased economic interdependence between the Cold War blocs and diminished the space of manoeuvre for indebted Eastern European governments. As a third theme, the webinar asks how the resulting constrained space for national politics – globally and under the impact of the new paradigm of law and economy – challenged powerful socialist and social democratic parties, forcing them to reinvent themselves in a post-Keynesian world. In the light of these developments, then, the period from 1975 to 1989 was framed by the “Crisis of democracy”, which was the title of a 1975 report by the Trilateral Commission focusing on the excess of bureaucracy and democracy, and the “end of history”, which in 1989 referred to the market-friendly, liberal democratic model as the only viable solution. Due to the long-term impact of these European and global trends at the end of the Cold War, their causes and consequences are currently being re-examined from a variety of disciplinary angles. We consider some of them with a view to highlighting their uneven chronologies in different regions and their legacy for twenty-first century politics.” The event programme had the speakers: Rasmus Søndergaard from Danish Institute for International Studies. His presentation was about Human Rights in East-West relations in the late Cold War: The case of Soviet Jewish emigration; Lars Fredrik Stöcker from University of Vienna, with the ‘Beyond the Kiss of Debt’: New perspectives on socialist globalization. Bo Stråth, Professor Emeritus, with the presentation of The New International Economic Order and the Brandt Commission. Ana Mónica Fonseca From Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon. Her presentation was focus on The Portuguese Socialist Party between democratization and the end of Cold War: national and international challenges. The presentations were commented and discussed by: Alan Granadino González from University of Tampere; Lauri Ikola from JEF Finland; Henrik Meinander from University of Helsinki; Bernd Rother from Willy Brandt Stiftung; Johan Strang from University of Helsinki. Moderated by Stefan Nygård from University of Helsinki and Luís Nuno Rodrigues from Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon. The event was organised by Helsinki University, Young Educators - European Association and JEF Finland (EUROOPPANUORET) in collaboration with Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon, and Willy Brandt Foundation. This project is co-funded by the EU Europe for Citizens programme 609439-CITIZ-1-2019-1-PT-CITIZ-REMEM Know more at nowall.npo.one
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