We support HOPE

Who/what is the "We support HOPE” group looking for? 

• Indigenous Peoples, museum institutions, foundations and professionals keen to share their experience on museum work and exhibitions; 

• Audiovisual materials and/or artifacts that can contribute to the current and upcoming exhibitions that will take place in the Indigenous Peoples’ Room of the FAO museum. For sharing audiovisual materials and artifacts, conditions apply. Please read them below.  

All contributions that respect the conditions are welcome and will be acknowledged in FAO's work and communication material related to the Indigenous Peoples’ room. 

Answer to this form (or scroll to the bottom of the page) to propose your contribution and become part of the "We support HOPE” group! 

Background 

In occasion of its 80th Anniversary, the FAO is developing a museum that will serve as a permanent exhibition and educational space open to the public. The museum will feature an entire room dedicated to Indigenous Peoples, which will be called HOPE. 

Dedicated to food and agriculture and our connection to it, the museum will explore FAO’s mandate in an interactive, digital environment. It will foster knowledge-sharing and innovation, and it is designed to be a hub for students, families, and international visitors, both in-person and online. Its mission is to highlight the rich traditions and innovative approaches that have shaped food systems around the world. The museum will be inaugurated on the 16th October 2025. 

The Indigenous Peoples’ room will portray and tell the stories of Indigenous Peoples from their own perspectives and with their own voices, cantered on Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems. The room's design, theme, content and exhibitions are coordinated by an Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Group, which gathers elders, spiritual leaders and experts from Indigenous Peoples’ communities of all seven socio-cultural regions of the world. 

The Indigenous Peoples’ room at the FAO museum is called HOPE. This overarching theme was chosen by the Advisory Group and will be translated in as many Indigenous Peoples’ languages as possible. This name reflects Indigenous Peoples’ fundamental contribution to a world that still hopes for a better future for all. 

In terms of content, the Indigenous Peoples’ room will combine virtual materials with objects and artifacts donated by Indigenous Peoples from different regions. These will not only display Indigenous Peoples’ ancestral knowledge, but also their state-of-the-art technologies and innovations. It will be a bridge between worlds. The exhibitions (current and future) will focus on Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems. Your contributions will play an essential role in setting up the exhibitions. 

The HOPE room will have at its centre a spiritual hearth, symbolizing the core connection among all seven socio-cultural regions. Each regional station will be thoughtfully arranged to include two display shelves, a wooden panel, a digital screen for audiovisual content with subtitles, and a printed panel offering context and information. The Indigenous Peoples’ room exhibit prioritizes presenting Indigenous Peoples’ cultures on their own terms, displaying objects loaned or donated directly by Indigenous Peoples’ communities or by museums managed by Indigenous Peoples. Textile patterns will be prominently featured across the HOPE room, including unfired serpentine textiles that will flow around the room, symbolizing connection and continuity. The deep spiritual significance will invite visitors to engage respectfully and meaningfully with Indigenous Peoples’ worldviews and contributions. It’s the HOPE for the future. 

How will the "We support HOPE” group work? 

The “We support HOPE” group aims at gathering experiences and materials to represent an Indigenous Peoples’ vision of the world in the Indigenous Peoples’ room of FAO museum. 

Indigenous Peoples, museum institutions and individual experts that are willing to share their contributions will be part of an extended network spreading over the seven socio-cultural regions of the world. They will work as a mycelium net, gathering meaningful and first-hand knowledge and experiences from the ground and bringing them in the spotlight of the Indigenous Peoples’ room. 

Sharing, coordinating and collaborating amongst each other and with FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit, the members of the “We support HOPE” group will be the voice of Indigenous Peoples inside FAO museum. They will be the bridge between the knowledge, the experience and the materials on the ground this this unique advocacy space. They will be the roots of a plant that will flower in FAO Headquarters. A plant that tells the stories of Indigenous Peoples from their own point of view. They will be a beacon of hope.  

FPIC and conditions for the submission of material(s) (audiovisual, artifacts) 

• Submission of any kind of material (audiovisual, artifacts) to the Indigenous Peoples’ room of the FAO Museum should follow the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the Indigenous Peoples’ community related to the material in question. Only if the Indigenous Peoples’ community agrees, the material(s) can be proposed as contributions to the Indigenous Peoples’ room. 

• It is the responsibility of applicant to obtain the appropriate consent from their communities to display any artifacts, traditional knowledge or cultural expressions, as per customary or national laws. 

• The material(s) and their description should not contain any secret or sensitive content that could potentially disclose information meant exclusively for members of the community. 

• Contributions must not include items that were illicitly taken during colonization or are not rightfully owned. 

• All artifacts and objects must be donated/loaned either by Indigenous Peoples groups or by Indigenous Peoples museums ran by Indigenous Peoples. 

• The Advisory Group for the Indigenous Peoples room will have the last word on this after reviewing all artifacts and audiovisual materials. 

• Please, compile the artifacts/audiovisual specification tables before applying though the form. You will be asked to upload the compiled tables in a online storage and share the link with FAO. The tables for downloading are available here. 

Conditions 

• FAO will acknowledge every contribution made to the "We support HOPE” group that meaningfully contributes to setting up the current and future exhibitions in the Indigenous Peoples’ room at FAO Museum. 

• The participation to the "We support HOPE” group is on voluntary basis and does not entail any kind of compensation for services and/or donated/borrowed materials. 

• Issues related to the donation/landing of artifacts and audiovisual materials, as well as to their shipping, insurance, storage and display, will be discussed on an individual basis with the applicants wishing to submit such materials.  

• Due to limited resources, FAO welcomes and prioritizes self-funded contributions to the Indigenous Peoples’ room. 

• The Advisory Group for the Indigenous Peoples room will have the last word on any collaboration and the use of any contribution. 

Data Protection and Privacy Notice 

FAO collects and processes your personal data for the purposes and within the context of the contest, FAO institutional activities, and any other purposes outlined in this call, in line with FAO’s Data Protection and Privacy Notice. To that effect, FAO will be processing the data entered in the application form.  

FAO will use the contacts provided in the application form to reach out to the applicants, to create discussion groups (via email and/or WhatsApp) and to organise meetings with the applicants to the "We support HOPE” group. 

FAO may share the applicants’ personal data with selected third parties (duly authorized partners or service providers) to perform services for FAO based on the above purpose. 

Please contact us at [email protected] for any questions or concerns related to applicants’ personal data processed by FAO. 

Contacts 

In case of doubts, please contact [email protected], copying (CC) [email protected] , [email protected] and [email protected]