A call for cultural heritage communicators

An important time for the community relaunch 

This an important time for communications about digital cultural heritage in Europe. The European Union is entering a new era of digital transformation. Alongside this, the New European Agenda for Culture builds on the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, aiming to weave culture into the fabric of Europe’s future. It is vital for the cultural heritage sector that digital culture secures its place within that future. The conversation also forms part of the focus on collaborative working for the Europeana Network Association.

As a group of cultural heritage activists with communication skills and influence, this community aims to contribute to that conversation. Together, we can help make sure that digital culture really is at the heart of the plans for the Europe of the future. 

Who are the Europeana Communicators?

Co-chairs Peter Soemers and Susan Hazan formulating the group at the Europeana Network Association Members Council Meeting, The Hague, July 2018, CC BY-SA

We are people who work in or with cultural heritage (and who want to join our incredible Europeana Network Association) as communications professionals, bloggers and other social media influencers with a desire to join in community and make sure our voices are heard loud and clear.

Our communicators fall into three categories:

Gurus

• Work in communications and are passionate about ‘the message’

• Might develop newsletters, blogs or handle social media accounts

• Want to share best practice, lead discussions

Contributors

• Want to write blogs/articles in their field of expertise

• Want to tweet or share information about new communications tools

• Want to provide insight into how they use communications technologies

Influencers

• Want to connect, want to share and want to grow the community online

• Are passionate about finding new ways to share 'the message'

Our co-chairs are Peter Soemers and Susan Hazan from the Europeana Network Association and our community manager is Emily D’Alterio from Europeana Foundation. 

(Get in touch - communication is our passion!)

Europeana Communicators today

So where are we today? What do we want and what can we offer? This community is all about communicating - we discuss the latest cultural campaigns from Europeana and the group's members, as well as the important communications topics and approaches relevant to the cultural heritage world today. This way, every member becomes part of a movement promoting digital cultural heritage across Europe. We want to give a stronger follow-up to recommendations of the Council of the European Union “to continue the ongoing dialogue and cooperation with existing networks in the field of cultural heritage that has accumulated valuable experience and proved their competences in the field” (#24).

We are about sharing our communications expertise, our tailored networks and our insights so that we can support the cultural heritage sector. It may not be about spreading the word by shouting more loudly.  And we definitely don’t want to shout into a silo. We are open and accessible. We ask: how can we make and accept meaningful connections? What are the needs of institutions and the broader community? How do we communicate transparently not only what Europeana does and can do, but also what we still need to do?

Peter’s Vision

We want to make our ideas tangible. We will begin by growing a community of people experienced in communications, social media and blogging in order to develop further ideas. We need to start or revive channels for two-way communication. We need people in all different roles, from advisors to connectors, but also people executing practical ideas that come up in the community - from the community.

Following the ideas of people like Michael Peter Edson, Merete Sanderhoff and Pier Luigi Sacco, we believe that even ‘the general public/culture lovers’ sometimes want to participate, that they can provide valuable input and cooperation on some matters. We are willing to try some new things and to accept new ideas and volunteers in our efforts to promote (digital) cultural heritage in Europe.

So, in doing this, we much first ask some questions:

• What is needed to get such cooperation from cultural workers, bloggers and culture lovers? Do they connect to our passion for the promotion of culture in Europe? Can they feel it?
• Do we recognise that there is a need for cross-border exchange about culture in Europe and that we could contribute to that?

We want to answer these questions. And if you do too, then join us!

Talk to us!  

• Sign up for our monthly newsletter. This includes all of our latest news, campaign information, in case you missed it notes, what’s on in the culture sector, calls to action and various opportunities to get involved.

• Join our LinkedIn group where we share best practice, campaign messaging and new ideas.

• Become a Europeana Network Association member - join the incredible minds in this industry (and take part in some fantastic events).

• Want to communicate even more? Tweet at Peter and Susan on Twitter.