GLAM/Newsletter/February 2026/Contents/Italy report
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Cultural Heritage and Memory: 2026 GLAM Call and Executed Renaissance Edit-a-thon
2026 Wikimedia Italia GLAM Call now closed: 63 projects received!
The first edition of Wikimedia Italia’s GLAM Call for the 2026–2028 triennium has officially closed, and we are thrilled to announce that we received 63 project proposals from a remarkably diverse range of cultural institutions across Italy.
This triennial call, running annually from January 14th to February 28th until 2028, invites museums, archives, libraries, and other cultural organizations—both public and private—to digitize and share their collections freely on Wikimedia projects and OpenStreetMap. The 2026 round marks the beginning of this new phase, aiming to build a sustainable, open digital heritage over the next three years.
The variety of participating entities reflects the richness of Italy’s cultural landscape: from small local museums and specialized archives to university departments and large public institutions. This diversity is a testament to the broad interest in opening up cultural knowledge and making it accessible to all.
Each selected project will receive funding and dedicated support to help bring their collections online under free licenses, contributing to the collective mission of making knowledge free and open. Selected institutions will also benefit from an online training course (MOOC) and expert tutoring, designed to facilitate the publication of their digital content on Wikimedia platforms. This support ensures that institutions not only share their heritage but do so effectively and sustainably.
Preserving Ukrainian Cultural Memory
On Saturday, February 21, 2026, Wikimedia Italia and Ucraina Più – Milano APS held Italy’s first edit-a-thon dedicated to the “Executed Renaissance,” a tragic period in Ukrainian history marked by the persecution of poets and artists under Soviet repression.
The event took place at the Istituto Nazionale Ferruccio Parri in Milan’s Casa della Memoria, coinciding with UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day. Students of Ukrainian language and literature collaborated with Wikimedia trainers to create and improve Wikipedia articles based on authoritative sources, helping to keep this important history alive.
Iryna Luts, president of Ucraina Più – Milano, emphasized that remembering the artists of the Executed Renaissance is not just an act of historical memory, but a vital effort to ensure such tragedies are not repeated in silence.
