Five questions with... Haydn Corrodus and Tiina Hill, Digital Culture Network

So Haydn, what is a Tech Champion?

The Tech Champions are nine digital specialists, expert in some of the key areas that make up digital technology, and on-hand to provide support and training for the arts and culture sector.

We’re part of a new programme, the Digital Culture Network, which has been launched to increase digital skills and ambitions across the sector.

My personal area of expertise is social media and throughout the team we have champions for digital content production, web design and user experience, Search Engine Optimisation/ Marketing, e-commerce, CRM, digital strategy and data and analytics.

We’ve got one Tech Champion in each region (you’ll find me in the South East), so we’ve got great coverage across the country, as well as being accessible digitally of course.

What makes someone a champion of tech?

It’s years and years of hard work, dedication, sleepless nights and early mornings in front of laptops, all brought together with an unhealthy obsession with the Matrix.

All jokes aside, we are a group of people who fundamentally love our specialisms; getting excited about app updates and new developments within our fields. Our backgrounds are incredibly varied, working across both commercial and public sectors.

Personally, I’ve worked on campaigns for the likes of Unilever, Coca Cola and Superdrug, as well as working with musicians and social media influencers on everything from creating content to growing their audience and engagement.

And it’s more than just the digital skills we’ve developed ourselves. In one of my previous roles, myself and a few colleagues came together to start a diversity initiative called We Are Stripes. Our mission is to help champion and create opportunities for BAME talent of all levels, as well as provide mentoring and resources to help creatives succeed and flourish within the industry.

What are the Tech Champions hoping to achieve, Tiina?

We’re hoping to use the Tech Champions’ experience to bring in new approaches and different ideas for using digital technology across the arts and culture sector, that organisations may not have had the expertise, knowledge or resources to look at before.

With technology changing so quickly, and a clear demand for arts and culture organisations to use digital in new ways to drive their business practices, the Digital Culture Network has been set up following the DCMS Culture is Digital report. We’re charged with creating this network of expertise and sharing of best practice and to increase digital skills and maturity across the sector.

Our ambition is that the network lays the blueprints for other organisations to use and that we can upskill the arts and culture sector in digital technology and foster partnerships with the technology sector.

Who can get support from a Tech Champion?

The Tech Champions and the Digital Culture Network as a whole, are here for all organisations that make up the arts and culture sector.

We’ll be hosting talks with digital experts, delivering digital training, developing partnerships with tech organisations and providing a whole variety of online resources for everybody to access and learn from. During the roll out phase of the network, our one-to-one support is currently being focused on National Portfolio Organisations, but we’re aiming to extend this offer to everybody soon. 

If the Digital Culture Network sounds like something you’d benefit from, you should sign up to our mailing list and we’ll let you know the latest support available. You can also get in touch with us Tech Champions directly if you have a question, by emailing digitalnetwork@artscouncil.org.uk.

I’m excited already, so what happens next Haydn?

Well we’re kick-starting our training offer by partnering with Google Arts & Culture to run two Digital Skills Masterclasses over the next fortnight - if you’re going to be there come and say hello, and if not, we’ll be taking over the Arts Council’s Instagram for the day so make sure you follow us.

In the meantime, we’re currently getting to know our regions, developing our network as Tech Champions and already speaking to organisations who need our help.

We’re also busy putting together resources and packages of support that we’ll be sharing with you all soon, so watch this space…