Meet the Members Council: Marco Streefkerk

Who am I?

Educated in sciences and humanities, in my professional career I am driven by the impact that modern technology has on human civilisation. Before I joined DEN (Dutch knowledge centre for digital heritage and culture), I worked as a commercial consultant for museums and as a project manager at a university library. Within DEN I am responsible for international activities with partners such as Europeana, Wikimedia and UNESCO.

At DEN I work hard to make clear that keepers of collections from the past and producers of culture of today have a common interest and should all collaborate in making culture relevant for the emerging information society online and sustainable for the future. DEN is, I believe, unique as a cross-sectoral, knowledgeable, result-driven, network organisation. As a member of the Europeana Network Association Members Council, I will bring these aspects with me.

Why I am Europeana

Europeana has been my partner for international collaboration since 2007. At the beginning I was involved in the design of the Europeana Data Model. In 2011, 2013 and 2015 I organised the international conference on Digital Strategies for Heritage (DISH) together with Europeana. From 2012 till 2015 I was work package leader for the Europeana Inside project. I am participating in Task Forces on 3D documentation and Impact. Within Europeana itself, DEN is responsible for statistics on the status of European cultural digitisation (Enumerate).

The Network Association, to me, is the most important product of Europeana's existence. It is an inexhaustible source of knowledge and experiences and I love my connection to it. I attend most AGMs and all EuropeanaTech events. After serving as a Working Group member, work package leader, Task Force member and project partner, the council membership is my next challenge. I am dedicated to make the Network Association future-proof and I cannot wait to contribute actively. That is why I was so happy to be voted in!

What's my agenda?

One of my ambitions for the Network Association is to bridge the gap between cultural heritage and artists in theatre, music, film, media, design, and architecture. I believe these two, often quite separated, parts of the cultural sector have a lot to learn from each other. However, they are equally convinced about the value of culture to society. Together they can serve society better, and transform the world with culture.

Extending a warm welcome to cultural producers is part of my agenda for the Network Association to be more open, more inclusive. Our network  still depends too much on too few people, let's not be afraid of new perspectives, private organisations, new energy. I want to put effort too into strengthening the international position of the Europeana Network. I am proud of my European roots and European culture, but engaging with other parts of the world is exciting and necessary nowadays.