"Let’s be honest: Generally, the disconnect of 2020 has proven that the arts and culture industry does not (yet) have a digital strategy. . .

So, I go back to my original question. What can the museum industry do today, with the insights gained from other industries that digitized beforehand (particularly news, music and cinema) to save itself from the inevitable?

My answer? Value its most important assets. If museums can value collections and expertise online through clear business models and understanding Web 3.0 technologies, micropayments, augmented reality and how to leverage them in the 21st century, there is hope for the sector. Those in the museum industry, I implore you to stop thinking only about re-creating offline exhibitions online. As someone mentioned on the phone to me the other day, recreating exhibitions in virtual rooms online is like having a news anchor read a book on television. Secondly, please stop giving away things for free. Your expertise and collections are your most valuable assets, and we know what happens when you give your best assets away at too cheap a price.

Think outside the box. Understand the medium, and explore the possibilities. If you don’t, arts and culture will also race to the bottom, and humanity can’t take that right now."

Europeana works with thousands of European archives, libraries and museums to share cultural heritage for enjoyment, education and research.

This report presents findings and outcomes from a sense-making process that involved 64 participants from 22 countries over 3 weeks during the month of June, 2020. This report is structured so that readers can perform their interpretation of the discussions and insights that are presented.

Ten main themes can be seen as important narratives in the digital GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) sector at the moment, are:

Theme 1: The possibility of change

Theme 2: A new perspective on digital

Theme 3: Social impact and relevance

Theme 4: Audiences and diversity

Theme 5: Our core values and culture

Theme 6: Overcoming the digital divides

Theme 7: The organisation of cultural heritage

Theme 8: A networked sector

Theme 9: Individual growth and learning

Theme 10: Space for innovation and experiments

A field study deployed in partnership with the American Alliance of Museums and captures anonymous data from 480 museums of all sizes across all 50 states. This data includes art museums (30%), historic institutions and sites (38%), science museums (11%) and others. A total of 65% of the institutions who responded with size information were defined as small museums,

meaning they have annual budgets of $5 million or less, or have fewer than 49 employees.

As these data were collected prior to the spread of COVID-19, findings shine a light on the status of digital innovation in the field prior to the crisis, but also identify both challenges and opportunities that might exist in building capacity for resiliency as the cultural landscape changes.

Key takeaways:
• Dedicated digital staffing is severely limited: Half of the institutions who responded, including 43% of art museums, had either no dedicated digital staff or this department was represented by a single individual. Medium-size institutions ($5–20 million annual budget) were twice as likely to report digital development teams in-house as smaller institutions.

• Digital strategies are still emergent: When asked, 31% of museums admitted they had no digital strategy while another 29% said theirs was in development. Only 25% have a shared digital strategy or incorporate one into their overall strategic plan.

• Digital projects are mostly siloed and outcomes poorly tracked: Approximately half (51%) of museums report that individuals or single departments conduct planning focused on a single project. Only 7% report projects being driven by a cross-functional group, but 18% say their planning is starting to bridge across areas. In addition, 41% of museums do not have any defined goals, KPIs or outcome measures for digital projects, and another 37% do so only on an ad hoc basis.

• Leadership support is high for digital projects: Just under half (44%) report strong leadership knowledge of and support for digital projects, including that digital leaders are a part of senior leadership teams. Across all museums, 11% say digital leaders are a part of senior leadership teams, which drops to 9% for art museums.

• Audience insights are shallow or poorly integrated: While 54% of museums report capturing basic feedback or demographics, only 18% are using audience data to shape efforts and offerings.

This report was commissioned by Europeana to help them understand how best to move forward

to support and promote a ‘digital transformation agenda’ within their network of GLAM

institutions, in particular in the area of ‘capacity building’.

Europeana is open to this moment. They have made it clear that they are ready to hold up a mirror, hear some hard things, listen to new voices and take action. Europeana have asked Culture24 to

include its own opinions in the forming of the conclusions and recommendations in this report

and this is done in good faith, on the understanding that it is up to Europeana and its network if

they choose to act on them. In preparing this report Culture24:

The report is structured into four main sections:

1. Terminologies and language: The report looked into the differences between the terms digital transformation, digital maturity, digital literacy, and digital skills offering definitions and distinctions

2. Themes and analysis - seven themes are explored, built from interviews and sensemaking workshops

3. Current practice: snapshots of selected digital capacity-building initiatives - what can they

teach us? The report researched existing national or regional initiatives (ie those working at scale), within and beyond Europe, that support digital capacity building in the GLAM sector

4. Framing and recommendations

There is also a summary of references from the research for further reading.

Note: When the term ‘GLAM’ is used, they refer to the widest definition which means galleries, libraries, archives and museums.