The global recession has caused severe damage to the cultural and creative sectors. The influence was broad and profound. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many museums closed, however this led to the hastened need to attract guests, no matter their sealed doors. The utilization of digital technology was the means to achieve this, however, the lack of financing worked as a barrier to the use and exploitation of those technologies. Aligned to the aforementioned, the European Commission believes that the momentum is now to bring the digital era to our cultural legacy. More specifically, The European Commission Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology launched considerable policy coordination and financial measures that encompass digitization, internet access to cultural assets, and digital preservation.
In accordance with the aforementioned, Innovation Hive will be participating in the Boost DiGi Culture project with the ultimate goal to build adult cultural professionals’ capacity for incorporating digital culture into their institutional agendas. It also seeks to raise awareness about the relevance of digital readiness and training for adult cultural professionals for institutional resilience and sustainability. Another goal is also to design, implement, and validate a long-term professional development framework of resources and services for digital upskilling of these adult learners, as well as to assist adult cultural professionals in ensuring the inclusive nature of digital culture through their online institutional offerings.
One of the project’s outputs is the creation of an online multipurpose learning platform which is now fully developed and will serve as a cultural affinity place that will deliver real, collaborative, and practice-based learning modules and support resources. To achieve these goals, the BoostDigiCulture e-learning Platform will include a digital infrastructure to which adult cultural professionals and small and medium-sized cultural institutions will have free and easy access in order to empower their digital cultural competences and interaction with digital culture. The report about the Professional Digital Profile, a self – assessment tool, a network map and forum are also going to be included.In conclusion, BoostDigiCulture creates products for small to medium-sized cultural organizations as well as cultural professionals. Among these are an e-learning platform that allows for peer-to-peer tutoring, as well as an upskilling program that will teach participants how to create and curate digital material for their respective institutions. More information about our goals may be found on the project’s website.