Michael Culture Association

EUROPEAN TRANS-DOMAIN NETWORK DEVOTED TO THE DIGITAL CULTURAL HERITAGE (DCH) COMMUNITIES

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ABOUT US

MUSEU - HUB

NEWSLETTER

Michael Culture Association (Aisbl - Belgium) is a European trans-domain devoted to European digital cultural heritage, from aggregation, protection, preservation, valorisation and re use ; aiming to support the DCH communities.

It gathers a strong network of more than 100 public and private organizations from all over Europe. Key actor in the promotion and valorization of the digital cultural content, Michael Culture develops tools and services for cultural institutions and the general public. Linked to other major European cultural heritage networks and projects such as Europeana, Europe's Digital Library, Michael Culture Association supports European and national cultural policies. It also aims at enhancing the network of European professionals working on digital cultural heritage and advocating for DCH.

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NEWS

Michael Culture Association has now a YouTube Channel!

Watch the records of our workshops and webinars HERE

The inDICEs MOOC is coming - September 26th

Available from September 26th!

inDICEs project presents the new edX course on Developing Digital Transition Strategies for Cultural Heritage Institutions. The course aims at cultural heritage professionals, students, policy makers, and anybody with an interest in discovering how to tackle the challenges of digital transformation. It provides tools and insights that will support the development of a comprehensive digital transformation strategy and a framework for assessing the impact that new technologies can have on the activities as well as the mission of GLAMs

Find out more about the online course by clicking here!

The Creative School recommendations are out!

July 2022

This report presents the third intellectual output of the Creative School project! Its objective is to present a set of recommendations useful for paving the way to a mass of the training model and resources developed by the Creative School project.

The document addresses the key issues that are related to the implementation of creative and critical thinking approaches, with special emphasis on the creation of a sense of European citizenship based on key competencies which include understanding and respect for human rights and democracy, and encouraging tolerance and respect for other peoples and cultures. It aims at policy and decision-makers, as well as teachers and educators interested in implementing the Creative School tools in other schools.

Access the report here

Save the date: the MEMEX exhibition and final event are coming!

September - December 2022

In Lisbon, Barcelona and Paris participants were engaged by the project’s partners in a digital storytelling journey based on a dedicated methodology and a co-designed app aiming to reinforce inclusion and cultural participation. In Lisbon, Barcelona, Genoa and Paris, the MEMEX travelling exhibition will showcase the stories created by inhabitants as well as the project’s methodology, the prototype app, the pilots and the policy recommendations!

The exhibition is free and open to everyone, come and visit:

In Lisbon - 19/09/2022 - 29/09/2022 - Pharmacy Museum
In Paris - 05/10/2022 - 13/10/2022 - Rosa Lab
In Genoa - 20/10/2022 - 01/11/2022 - Festival Della Scienza
In Barcelona - 08/11/2022 - 24/12/2022 - Loop Festival

More on SUM here!

Available now: The GLAMers's training modules!

April 15, 2022

Based on the collection of resources on youth participation in GLAMs, project partners are pleased to announce the release of their 5 open-access digital training suites!

This aims to produce guidelines and offer hands-on training for the benefit of GLAMs in their digital transformation processes and outcomes through youth participation. In other words, the training suite will translate the project's first study (IO1) results into a set of actionable advice as well as training opportunities for GLAMs and youth sector stakeholders, as means to ensure knowledge transferability and better connection to the needs of the target groups!

The training package is now available in English! It will be available in Croatian, Greek, and French soon!

Get involved!

Explore support actions organised by museums for Ukraine!

March 2022

Since the onset of the war in Ukraine, the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) is monitoring and collecting support initiatives and offers for Ukraine on a new webpage.

Museums across Europe have been quick in organising different support actions to help their Ukrainian museum colleagues and everyone else in need of aid. On the new webpage, NEMO is continuously collecting and publishing new initiatives relating to:

Storage and Housing
Donations
Education and Exhibitions
Statements issued by European museum organisations

If you want to contribute an offer to the webpage, please send your initiative (including location and description in English) to weber@ne-mo.org

NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS- 07.03.2022

[Joint Research Centre - European Commission]

Open call: Transform places of learning

The call has recently been launched. It is an invitation to experts, thinkers, doers, neighbours, ministers, students, educators or researchers to come together and make waves for beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive spaces that will shape our future ways of learning and thinking. Participants can share their projects and join other passionate individuals and organisations making a difference in where and how people learn across Europe and beyond - from classrooms to streets and from playgrounds to libraries. More information on the call can be found here.

Online Europeana conference under the French Presidency - Building the common European data space for cultural heritage together!

March 2022

In collaboration with Mobilier National and the French Ministry of Culture and under the auspices of the French Presidency of the Council, Europeana organized an online conference on 1 March 2022.

The conference 'Building the common European data space for cultural heritage together: The role of Europeana, content aggregation and strategic frameworks' explored the creation of the Data Space for Cultural Heritage. It took place in the context of the European Commission’s Recommendation 2021/1970 of 10 November 2021.

Rewatch the event here

Read Culture Action Europe's new publication: Culture in the EU’s National Recovery and Resilience Plans.

January 2022

This publication, developed by Culture Action Europe and its membership, offers an overview of the place of culture in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) of the Member States of the European Union.

This brief overview aims at analysing what types of investments and reforms (if any) are contained in the NRRPs directly supporting Europe’s cultural ecosystem, which has been among the most affected by the long crisis and the subsequent containment measures.

It follows up on the call by the European cultural and creative sectors, and backed by the European Parliament, to specifically earmark at the very least 2% of each NRRP for culture.

Read the publication here

2022 Creative Europe Programme (CREA) with a budget of around 385 millions euros from the European Commission is now adopted!

February 2022

On January, the European Commission adopted the 2022 work programme of Creative Europe, followed by the launch of a Call for Proposals for EU action grants in the field of Culture under the Creative Europe Programme. The publication of its programme gives an overview of the structure and objectives of Creative Europe, the budget for each action in the
different strands, a description of the grants to apply for and on the implementation of the programme

Read the report: A Cultural Deal for Europe policy conversation by Culture Action Europe

February 2022

The third edition of the Annual Policy Conversation “A Cultural Deal for Europe” brought the European cultural ecosystem in a dialogue with EU policy-makers, advocating for culture to be central in the EU’s green and sustainable future.The online event happened in the framework of the #CulturalDealEU campaign, jointly developed by Culture Action Europe, the European Cultural Foundation, and Europa Nostra also in its capacity as coordinator of the European Heritage Alliance.

Read the detailed report of the event here

Endorse the #CulturalDealEu here!

Discover 4CH's advisory board

January 2022

The project Advisory Board is a consultative body formed by high-level experts representing cultural institutions, heritage agencies and ministries, international organizations, professional associations or having special expertise on key technologies. It advises the project, provides feedback on its products, and liaises it with the civil society and the heritage community, serving as ambassadors of the project. The Advisory Board members are invited to join since project start. It is convened jointly with project management meetings. It will self-organize its activity with administrative support from the project.

Watch the video on the advisory board here!

Discover PREVISION's promotional video

December 2021

Watch PREVISION's promotional video! The five minutes video highlights the most important tools and services generated to cope with the project. It also brings forward the possible cases in which it can be applied.

Watch it by clicking here!

Have a look at PREVISION's Youtube channel!

More about the project here!

CulturEU, the new “one-stop-shop” for funding opportunities for culture

November 2021

Commissioner Mariya Gabriel officially launched CulturEU, a new user-friendly tool for cultural stakeholders to navigate available funding opportunities for the cultural and creative sectors in EU programmes 2021-2027. CulturEU is available as an interactive online webtool and as a printable guidebook. It covers opportunities linked to around 20 EU funding programmes that can support projects with a cultural and creative dimension, from the environment, to digital Europe and EU Structural Funds. The tool has been developed by the European Commission to support all types and sizes of cultural and creative stakeholders by helping them navigate the EU funding landscape and access EU funding more easily.

You can find the tool here.

Watch Michael Culture Association at the EVA/Minerva Conference 2021

December 2021

Michael Culture Association has been invited to present different projects and initiatives at the EVA/Minerva Brazil International Conference in São Paulo, Brasil. The conference hosted a rich meeting between cultural heritage professionals, developers and suppliers of advanced technologies from Brazil and Europe.

On December 8th, Michael Culture Association presented educational, social and cultural projects in a workshop & round table on "Digital Cultural Heritage supporting Social and Educational Innovation".

Watch the panel session by clicking here!

More about EVA/Minerva here!

Read the Commission's recommendation on a common European data space for cultural heritage

November 2021

The European Commission has published a recommendation on a common European data space for cultural heritage. The aim is to accelerate the digitization of cultural heritage assets!

The Commission recommends Member States to accelerate the digitization of all cultural heritage monuments and sites, objects and artefacts for future generations, to protect and preserve those at risk, and boost their reuse in domains such as education, sustainable tourism and cultural creative sectors.

One of the objectives is to digitize all monuments and sites that are at risk of degradation and half of those highly frequented by tourists by 2030 within member States.

Download and read the recommandation here

Michael Culture Association joins of the New European Bauhaus

November 2021

We are pleased to announce that Michael Culture Association is now a member of the New European Bauhaus!

The New European Bauhaus brings a cultural and creative dimension to the European Green Deal, aiming to demonstrate how sustainable innovation offers tangible, positive experiences in our daily life. It intends to translate the European Green Deal into tangible change on the ground that improves daily life, in buildings, in public spaces.

As a trans-domain network devoted to the digital cultural heritage communities, MCA is proud to be able to contribute to the discussion of the NEB, introducing it to our members, audience and partners made of aggregators, museum professionals, cultural institutions, etc.

Download the Commission communication on the NEB here

Download the report on the NEB co-design here

Download the NEB Policy ecosystem here

Discover the Europeana climate action manifesto!

November 2021

The Europeana Foundation, the Europeana Network Association and the Europeana Aggregators' Forum, have agreed to advocate for and embed working practices that minimise the digital cultural heritage sector’s impact on the climate and environment through a manifesto.

The objective is to ensure that the sector’s digital transformation is environmentally efficient and sustainable. The manifesto brings forward a set of rules and principles guiding how we can plan, collaborate, operate and advocate in ecologically responsible ways. The manifesto has four major principles which will guide the action plan and activities: planning, collaborating, operating and avocating.

Read more about the pilots here!

Voices of Culture - (Re)-Engaging Digital Audiences In The Cultural Sectors – Improving Audience Data

Michael Culture Association will participate as a representative of Culture Action Europe in the structured dialogue on ‘(Re)-Engaging Digital Audiences In The Cultural Sectors – Improving Audience Data with the European Commission   alongside 35 experts organizations. Experts will engage on the topic of understanding digital audiences,  with a special focus on performing arts and cultural heritage.  In light of COVID-19, discussions will focus particularly on lessons  learned from lockdown-induced practices to understand existing digital  audiences and engage new ones, as well as to collect and manage digital  audience data. Participants will produce a Brainstorming Report, which will be presented to the European Commission at the Dialogue Meeting on 8th March 2022.

More about the dialogue here

Amplify, make the future of Europe yours

Today, project partners submit their visions and recommendations to the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) platform, as a result of a series of community listening sessions organised in their local areas. The #Amplify project calls on the cultural and creative ecosystem to engage on the CoFoE platform and bring visibility to the less represented voices.

Through working sessions occurring until January 2022, these panels will meet to discuss the key topics and ideas from the CoFoE online platform and present the outcome of their discussions and debate them with other participants in the Conference Plenary.

In order for culture to have a chance to be taken up in the Conference, Amplify recommendations need to be seen by as many people as possible.

In order for Culture and its values to find their rightful place in the European debate and the CoFoE, support the recommendations published by the Amplify Hubs from different countries !

WE-Hope at Frequency International Festival of Digital Culture

October 2021

We are proud to announce that WE Hope has selected its two artists to develop the public artwork driven by the stories housed within the project and due to premiere in October 2021 at Frequency international Festival of Digital Culture in Lincoln, UK.

Zach Walker of Make Amplify developped the visuals and interactivity. MakeAmplify is an award-winning collective of artists and technologists under the artistic directorship of Jennifer Irons and Zach Walker. They create spectacular outdoor and immersive events that connect people and transform public spaces, engaging communities and audiences in experiences that combine the physical, emotional and digital.

Alongside, acclaimed composer and vocal artist Juliet Russell performed a musical and vocal score, accompanied by a local choir. Juliet’s music has been performed by Choirs to bhangra bands – heard in Cathedrals, Castles, Mayan temple sites and football stadiums. Her solo performances have spanned venues from the National Theatre rooftops to under the Brooklyn Bridge.

More about WE-Hope at the Frequency Festival in Lincoln

CRAFTED Kick-Off Meeting

The CRAFTED-2020 partners gathered in Athens on the first of October 2021 for the project Kick-Off meeting. The CRAFTED project aims to support the transfer of European crafts to future generations by aggregating, enriching and promoting tangible crafts heritage and preserving intangible skills and knowledge from craftsmen and artisans.
This project is a Europeana Generic Services project, and it is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union.

The project aims to enable the preservation of both material and immaterial aspects of craftsmanship and thus ensure a comprehensive understanding and appreciation of the communities and cultures from whom it belongs to. For this, the project will aggregate more than 186,000 new high-quality records that showcase tangible objects produced or used by artisans and document their immaterial context, such as techniques and knowledge. Additionally, it will upgrade over 26,000 records already existing in Europeana to an open license.

Last update about the NEW BAUHAUS (September 2021)

On September 15th, the European Commission provided additional information on the New European Bauhaus (NEB). The New European Bauhaus intends to translate the European Green Deal into tangible change on the ground that improves daily life, in buildings, in public spaces, but also in fashion or furniture.

In the report and its Annex, the EC presents the Report on the co-design phase ; the mobilisation of 85 million euros among existing EU programs such as ERDF and Creative Europe to finance the NEB ; and the NEB policy ecosystem.

The first edition of the NEB prizes has been celebrate with 20 winners selected on the base of the three New European Bauhaus values: sustainability, aesthetics, and inclusion.

Download the full communication here
Read about the NEWS BAUHAUS here
Access to the NEB Award 2021 (replay) here

Following the CAE board elections in June, the board members have recently met and decided upon the new presidium.

Therefore Corinne Szteinsznaider, coordinator of Michael Culture, is joining the board presidium of Culture Action Europe as co-treasurer.

With renewed forces, CAE and its board are looking forward to continuing joint efforts to put culture at the heart of public debate and decision-making.

More info and full presidium on Culture Action Europe website

EC CONSULTATION ON DIGITAL & CULTURAL HERITAGE

OPEN LETTER VIMM, CUT, NEMO, CAE & MCA

September 2020

Digital technologies are a decisive factor for the relevance of Cultural Heritage in the future.
Beyond responding to the public consultation, we - VIMM, CUT, NEMO, CAE & MCA - would like to stress some key developments and challenges that we deem central to digital cultural heritage. wish to contribute to the ongoing discussion a few additional ideas, which can be found in the attached Open Letter to the EC: Open Letter

Porto Santo Charter

MCA was honoured to to co-chair a workshop of the Conference “From Democratization to Cultural Democracy: Rethinking Institutions and Practices” organised under the auspices of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, between the 27th and the 28th of April 2021. The Conference gathered 450 participants from 37 countries around the world.

More resources, including videos of the conference, will soon be posted online at https://portosantocharter.eu/ .

Read the charter HERE