Developing your organisation’s digital skill

Led by nine specialist Tech Champions, Digital Culture Network works across the arts and culture sector in England and offers FREE support. In this Q&A, Tech Champion, Katherine Brown, explains more.

What is the digital culture network?

The Digital Culture Network has been created by Arts Council England to support arts and culture organisations to develop their digital skills. We operate as an independent body within the Arts Council and are led by nine specialist Tech Champions, who are each expert in their area and are tasked with keeping the arts sector at the forefront of technology change.

What does the Digital Culture Network do?

We provide support to arts and cultural organisations to help them resolve their digital challenges and make technology work better for them. We do this through providing 1-to-1 support for organisations, delivering webinars on key topics and providing online resources on our website.

What areas does the Digital Culture Network support?

Our Tech Champions provide advice and support in:

• Website design – we can help you with platform choices, site migrations and redesigns to make your website more user friendly.
• Digital strategy development – we can offer advice and tactics for growing brand awareness online and using digital marketing metrics.
• eCommerce – we can help you setup an online shop or find ways to grow revenue from your existing shop.
• Ticketing and CRM systems – we can advise you on how to choose your ticketing and CRM systems and how to get the most from them.
• Data analytics and insight – we can help you decide what to measure and how to make data-informed decisions.
• Content creation – we can introduce you to the world of producing and distributing engaging video and digital content, to reach new audiences.
• Search engine marketing – we can help you reach new audiences through paid advertising campaigns (PPC) and through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), so your website appears higher and with better information in the Google search results.
• Email marketing – we can offer advice and tactics for planning email campaigns, improving email response rates and growing your mailing list.
• Social media – we can help you with social media strategy, social media campaign design, implementation, and management, to reach and engage your audience.

How has the Digital Culture Network worked with museums?

The Digital Culture Network has provided 1-to-1 support to over 80 museums helping them install new ticketing systems, redesign websites, grow online revenue and make the most of their digital analytic data. We are used to working with museums of all sizes from small specialist museums to large national institutions.

As the ecommerce Tech Champion, how can you, Katherine, help museums? 

There are fantastic opportunities for museums to develop the traditional museum gift shop into a successful source of online income. I am keen to help museums get ready for a bumper Christmas trading period. Would you like a FREE audit of your online shop – identifying quick and easy improvements to make? Do you need help putting together a Christmas eCommerce plan? Or you do not yet have an online shop and you would like some help in setting one up?

How do I contact the Digital Culture Network and is it really free?

Yes, the Digital Culture Network is a free resource for all arts and culture organisations who are eligible for Arts Council England funding – i.e., based in England and operating in the arts and culture sector. You can visit our website and submit a request to ‘Ask A Tech Champion.’ Following that we will schedule a short diagnostic phone or video call and match you with the right Tech Champion who will provide you with 1-to-1 support.

Click here to find out more and get support>>