Northern Stories: Supporting digital skills in the cultural sector

In a society that is constantly changing, digital skills play a critical role for many organisations, and it is especially the case in the cultural sector. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected with technologies evolving at an unprecedented pace, these skills are a vital catalyst for growth and relevance. They can empower cultural organisations - from transcending physical boundaries and engaging diverse audiences to harnessing the power of data and analytics to gain valuable insights and enhance visitor experience, to the preservation and democratisation of their collections and the incredible stories behind them.

Over the course of the past decade, Google Arts & Culture has been collaborating with a diverse array of cultural organisations worldwide with the goal of helping to preserve the world’s art and culture and making it accessible to anyone, anywhere, for free. We also believe in the importance of storytelling and in empowering organisations to share stories on a global and regional scale. To this end, we have made our technologies and platform available to institutions of all sizes, catering to varying levels of digital expertise. Today, the cultural landscape stands in stark contrast to twelve years ago, with a profound transformation taking place as institutions gradually embrace these innovative tools. Witnessing these institutions open their collections to a wider audience and engaging them in novel and meaningful ways has been an inspiring experience for us.

But there is still a lot to learn for the cultural sector, and that is why the work of Arts Council England’s Digital Culture Network is so important in aiding the sector’s digital transformation. We’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with the Digital Culture Network since its creation in 2019. Together, we hosted a series of Digital Skills training events for cultural institutions across England in partnership with Google’s Digital Garage, to allow organisations across the country to access key resources and tools to help them adapt and thrive. We have also celebrated a range of organisations doing remarkable work with online materials and stories on Google Arts & Culture through two initiatives: The Way I See It, championed children and young people’s creativity during lockdown, and Culture Through Our Eyes celebrates Black-led organisations and perspectives. 

This year, we are delighted to continue our partnership with Arts Council England’s Digital Culture Network with the launch of Northern Stories, an initiative that has supported several creative and cultural organisations in the North of England with a 12-week programme of bespoke training and mentorship as well as digital tools and resources to help them build their online presence. 

The programme allowed them to employ a young person starting off in their career to produce digital content, giving them the opportunity to develop new skills and gain professional experience within their community. Utilising the digital skills gained on the programme, the organisations and those young people developed newly created content and shared their archive of work online, with a focus on their region. 

 

The participating organisations – LeftCoast, Sunderland Glass Centre, TIN Arts and ARC– all focus on creativity and community in their own way and celebrate the diversity of people and places that make up the North of England. We are proud to be celebrating this through the power of storytelling as part of a new hub, Igniting Inspiration, dedicated to Arts Council England’s initiatives on Google Arts & Culture: audiences worldwide can now deep-dive into what makes these communities in England so special. 

In addition to creating this online legacy, the young participants not only improved their confidence, but some received continued employment with the organisation following the programme. 

We are also very pleased to announce a new series of digital skills events in collaboration with the Digital Culture Network and Google Digital Garage starting in the autumn 2023. Together, our aims are to create spaces for bringing the cultural sector together to increase their digital literacy and to access tools and technologies that will help the cultural sector grow. 

In the meantime, explore the Northern Stories and past creative collaborations with Arts Council on Google Arts Culture. 

Amit Sood, Founder and Director, Google Arts & Culture