AGM 2017 in Milan: Network Association's highlights of 2017 and priorities for 2018

On 6 December, 200 members of the Europeana Network Association gathered in Milan on the occasion of the AGM 2017, dedicated to the impact culture has on society. We would like to thank all of you who came and made this event a real success!

Starting with the Members Council

The Members Council, elected representatives of the Association, came together on 5 December in the spectacular Leonardo da Vinci's Science and Technology Museum in Milan for their third meeting of 2017. The meeting started with a debrief of the work of Task Forces and Working Groups throughout the year, and marked the approval of two new Task Force proposals: Europeana Migration and Impact Assessment no.2.

Looking forward, the Councillors were presented with the draft Association Business Plan and budget for 2018, and introduced to the 2018 Europeana #AllezCulture Migration campaign. They also discussed the outlook for 2018 on the structure of the Association. They brainstormed on ways of engaging the Network and supporting the Association activities related to the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH). In support of the Migration campaign and 2018 EYCH, the Council took part in the creation of a tweet bank on the template ‘My favourite food/music/art is ___ @EuropeanaEU’, including the dedicated hashtags #Migration=Culture #EuropeForCulture.

Impact assessment and project pitch

To launch the AGM the next morning, Merete Sanderhoff, Chair of the Europeana Network Association, warmly welcomed the 200 guests with an introduction of the programme focused on the ‘impact of culture on society’ and how it can be measured. The event kicked-off with a welcome speech by Fiorenzo Galli, Director of the Leonardo da Vinci Science and Technology Museum, and Gail Kent, representative of the European Commission.

During the first session dedicated to Europeana Impact Framework. Europeana’s Deputy Director, Harry Verwayen, presented the newly published Impact playbook methodology and invited Pier Luigi Sacco, Professor from IULM University of Milan and Harvard University, to give a presentation on the value of culture from the point of view of cultural economics research. Professor Sacco’s contribution sparked huge interest among guests.

Europeana Network Association AGM 2017, Museo della Scienza e della Technologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Victor-Jan Vos

For a chance to win their own impact assessment, 10 selected contestants pitched their ideas for value-creating projects. Although they were all amazing, the Network members awarded Frank Drauschke for his Transcribathon, a crowdsourcing initiative for transcription and annotation of the unpublished material collected in Europeana 1914-1918.

More inspiring projects were put in the spotlight: Iulian Măcreanu, the winner of the Europeana Wiki challenge, shared his story and impressions, and Sara Di Giorgio said a few words about the activities of her organisation, CulturaItalia.

General Assembly 2017

The event continued with the General Assembly, chaired by Joke van der Leeuw-Roord. Merete Sanderhoff reflected on highlights of the Association activities in 2017, and outlined the priorities for 2018. The attending members were presented with the new Joint Europeana Aspiration and Network Association Approach, which they approved, as well as the activity plan 2018, annual and financial report 2017, provisional budget 2018, and modified Association Statutes. Max Kaiser and Uldis Zarins then kick-started the 2017 Members Council elections: they asked all the Network Association members to vote for 8 new Councillors, and to follow the elections with a #EuropeanaElects hashtag until 14 December - we will come back to you with elections results on 19 December.

Getting ready for 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage

To end on a very interactive note, Europeana Executive Director, Jill Cousins, chaired a session about Europeana’s involvement in the 2018 EYCH. Network members were asked to share their predictions on what digital will bring to the Year, and to answer a quiz coordinated by Councillor Susan Hazan. We wrapped up the session by successfully launching the #AllezCulture Thunderclap Europeana supports the 2018 EYCH, #SoDoWe’ - it released 340 tweets (136% of our goal!) that reached over 400,000 people.

A big thank you goes to all of you who came and actively contributed to this very fruitful event. It was great to see our members being so enthusiastic and engaged! We also thank all our fantastic speakers and presenters who made this AGM a real success! We have shared some nice photos with you on Europeana's Flickr, and you will find all the presentations on Europeana Slideshare. The minutes of the Members Council meeting and the General Assembly will be published shortly on our Network Updates page.

We very much look forward to seeing you next year at the Europeana Conference, which will be held in May 2018 in Rotterdam. We will keep you posted, so stay tuned!