Academy Award for Europeana

The 2013 EMA was given to Europeana by the EMA Board after wide consultation with museum experts, specialists and directors from different backgrounds and from all over Europe. It recognises the outstanding organisation that has contributed most to the development of museum practice at the international level over the year.

In its statement, the Academy says that: ‘Europeana is projecting itself into the cultural landscape of tomorrow… using new tools, finding new partners and experimenting with innovative models of participation. The very idea of a ‘virtual museum' has been better defined and enriched by the results achieved by Europeana'.

Accepting the award on behalf of the Europeana Foundation, its Executive Director, Jill Cousins, said: ‘It's a huge honour to be awarded this prize by such a prestigious group of international museum experts. It is great to see that Europeana is really valued as a catalyst for change among museums. Europe is a world leader in the quality of our cultural treasures and their display in our well known and wonderful museums: we are now showing that, by working together, we can transfer the fundamental ideas of access, innovation and participation effectively onto the internet.'

The Academy statement speaks of museums facing the challenge of a conceptual and methodological revolution in the information age. The digital dimension of cultural heritage enormously increases audience numbers and how they can be engaged in museum activities. Europeana has received the award for the ways in which it is facilitating that transformation in close collaboration with an extensive association of heritage institutions. Europeana is extending the boundaries of contemporary museum practice on many fronts, including collecting families' own stories as part of Europeana 1914-1918 and Europeana 1989, conducting research into Linked Open Data, piloting new Open Culture apps, advocating clear rights labelling and establishing the Europeana data model internationally. Linking museum material to that of other cultural heritage institutions also improves its discoverability. People exploring archaeology, for example, can read the books and accounts of finds, see the photographs of the sites and objects and even explore 3D representations.

Europeana is a hub within a strong network of participating heritage institutions, engaging them in dialogue with new cultural players such as Wikipedia. The award statement cites two particular initiatives, Europeana Fashion and Europeana Creative, that are brokering new relationships between the creative industries and the cultural heritage sector. Creative industries - software, arts, publishing, broadcasting - are showing strong growth across European economies, and Europeana provides them with access to the kind of digital data and content that fuels enterprise and innovation.

The Academy's statement ends: ‘This daring and stimulating vision is the heritage of Europeana – it is something which should be shared, endorsed and actively sustained.'

For further information about Europeana contact Jon Purday on 00 44 7885 516234, or email [email protected]

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Notes for editors

The EMA Prize

The prize was presented to the winner by the Deputy of Culture of the Bologna Provincial Government, Giuliano Barigazzi on Thursday 19 September 2013 in the Sala del Consiglio in Bologna, on the occasion of The Learning Museum Project International Conference. The event was held under the patronage of the Province of Bologna and the Mayor of Bologna.

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The EMA Prize, which is held by the winner for one year and is not necessarily presented every year, consists of a piece of sculpture by the Swiss artist, Etienne Krähenbühl (b.1953) and is given by the EMA Board on the basis of proposals submitted by its Pool of Experts, National Representatives, Institutional Supporters or other groups that are involved in EMA activities during the year.

The European Museum Academy www.europeanmuseumacademy.eu

The European Museum Academy, registered as a non-profit foundation in The Netherlands, was established in 2009. The EMA Foundation is engaged in developing researches in the field of museum innovation, stimulating new ideas and experiences and offering its services as an incubator for new talents and new programmes in order to improve the quality of museum services and of the museological discourse at the European level.

The European Museum Academy is a society of museum experts of different national and cultural backgrounds united for the advancement of museological knowledge based on a curriculum of proven capacity in carrying out innovative museum projects. The academy identifies in museums a relevant tool to face socio-economic and cultural challenges in contemporary society and stresses the role of the modern museum as a meeting place and as a most promising forum for the development of scientific debate, creativity, social cohesion and cultural dialogue.

The Europeana Foundation www.europeana.eu

Europeana brings together the digitised content of Europe's galleries, libraries, museums, archives and audiovisual collections. Currently Europeana gives integrated access to nearly 30 million books, films, paintings, museum objects and archival documents from some 2,300 content providers. The content is drawn from every European member state and the interface is in 29 European languages, and Europeana receives its main funding from the European Commission

The Europeana Foundation also runs sites where people can upload and explore family histories of the First World War - Europeana 1914-1918 - and the fall of the Iron Curtain - Europeana 1989 - together with an information site for professionals in the heritage sector - Europeana Professional

Follow Europeana on Twitter @europeanaeu and #AllezCulture.