Category Archives: Cross-sectoral projects

MUSE.AR

10/02/2021

Project leader: Pro Progresione, Hungary

Novena d.o.o., Croatia

Management of the tourist space Lepenski Vir ltd, Serbia

Association of managers in the sector of culture, Hungary

NaFILM, Czech Republic

Ajvar studios AB, Sweden

Maximum grant awarded: 650.305 €

The main aim of the project is to enable a wider use of digital collections of museums and cultural heritage sites by developing an inter-sector pilot programme of digital story-telling with participation and collaboration within creative industries and the IT sector. This need stems from the fact that in sites of historical importance existing digital archives and collections are not sufficiently used. They are available to some extent and can be browsed on the web. Also, the project recognises the lack of good practices in utilising digital tools which could be used for educational purposes as an influence on the quality of visitors’ experience. The project also assumes intensifying cooperation between different sectors such as cultural and creative industries and their sub-sectors (audio-visual equipment and media, performing arts, visual art, cultural heritage, archives and libraries) and the IT sector.

Specific aims of the project are:

  1. STRENGTHENING INTER-SECTOR COOPERATION: empowering different actors on the market to operate between sectors, through direct testing of models of inter-sector cooperation between different sectors (culture and IT) and between different sub-sectors within culture (visual arts, performing arts, audio-visual equipment and media, cultural heritage, archives and libraries), as well as wiser synchronisation of efforts between them with a shared goal to utilise the strength of digital tools for our shared European cultural heritage.
  • We invite nine artists from different disciplines (digital, audio-visual, performing) to create our three digital narrative pilot projects in three sites of cultural heritage or museums using the newly developed digital tool
  • We are creating a mobile application MUSE.ar, which will achieve inter-sector cooperation
  • We are organising six museum hackathlons in six different countries, including at least 30 additional digital artists
  1. ENCOURAGING INNOVATIVE APPROACHES AND TOOLS: promoting the inter-sector approach to problem solving for challenges faced by culture in the context of quick digitalisation and creating innovative tools in order to offer sustainable solutions for identified challenges, and also innovating the existing practice by offering new methods.
  • We are creating a mobile application MUSE.ar as a new, innovative tool for artists and cultural heritage institutions
  • We are designing a new certified programme of training for digital translators, in collaboration with Interpret Europe, encouraging the utilisation of digital tools in story-telling and interpreting cultural heritage, while at the same time contributing to digital capacities of museum experts and guides
  • We are enabling the total of eight (three directly involved museums + five connected museums) for digital interpretation, while offering an opportunity for additional 20 cultural heritage experts in our training programme to directly use our activities and learn about new tools
  1. UTILISATION OF TECHNOLOGY: with the intention to solve challenges for culture and help in improving their capacities to use digital surrounding to the greatest extent.
  • We are creating MUSE.ar as a digital tool offering a framework for interpretation of cultural heritage, where artists, story-tellers and guides should create content
  • We are organizing two residential programmes, where artists create content for the MUSE.ar application, using technology as a tool
  • We are creating a new certified programme of training in order to enable story-tellers and experts for cultural heritage to use technology (including the MUSE.ar applications and more) as a means to include their own content in their environment.
  • During six museum hackathlons in six different museum institutions throughout Europe we will present MUSE.ar as a technological tool for artists to present and distribute their artistic ideas in a new form
  1. EASIER ACCESS, DISTRIBUTION AND PROMOTION OF CULTURE AND CREATIVITY: support to innovations in terms of access, distribution and promotion of creative content and focussing on three major factors in a holistic manner: raising awareness, improving the quality of data and improving user experience.
  • We are distributing our methodologies (in training and technology) in 10 different international networks, reaching over 1000 interested parties throughout Europe.
  • We are organizing three big public events, initiating digital narratives in our partner sites of cultural heritage, reaching over 1000 visitors directly on the spot and 10000 in the long term, since digital narratives remain available after the completion of the project.
  • We are organizing six museum hackathlons, where we are reaching over 300 visitors who will understand cultural heritage and creativity from a different perspective.

Our aim is to reach several thousands of people through the digital tool MUSE.ar because it enables reaching potential users throughout the world and in this way, it contributes to easier access and distribution of culture on the international level.


European Creative Hubs Network

15/09/2015

British Council, United Kingdom
Factoria Cultural, Spain
EBN innovation network, Belgium
Creative Edinburgh, United Kingdom
bios, Greece
Betahaus, Germany
Roco, United Kingdom
Nova Iskra Creative Hub, Serbia

IDEA

This project was initiated with the idea to help creative hubs from Europe to connect and collaborate.

WHY [WHAT PROBLEM IS SOLVED]

Over the past ten year we have seen a global development of communities of creative people convening in spaces to invent, to collaborate, to make and to create. These communities form what we now call creative hubs and they represent the creative sector in the dawn of the 21st century. Having that in mind, this project was conceived with the aim to create a map of these specific initiatives, and while the Map expanded throughout Europe, it became clear that it was important to stop, analyze, define their specificities, but also to understand the needs of these new hybrid organizations and spaces. It was noticeable that there was a need to create new models and fresh strategies that will help their further development of creative hubs in Europe. This project is designed to address these needs and challenges.

HOW (WE DID THIS PROJECT)

The project was implemented through several program activities:
1. Organization of three international forums – in Belgrade (September 2016), Athens (January 2017) and in Sheffield (November 2017). Each forum, through various formats, conversations, presentations, lectures and publications, dealt with some of the important topics within the creative hub sector:
• Collaborative organizations and spaces
• Development and innovation
• The challenges of a collaborative economy
 
2. The ECHN two-year project was successfully finalized in April 2018, with the last activity being the ECHN Campus in Brussels, at the end of January 2018. After the project end, a group of hubs is actively working on setting up a legal entity of the network, that will follow up on the project and will be serving the actors of the creative hubs eco-system in the years to come. Nova Iskra is taking and active part in all of these processes.

3. Designing a special exchange program – the P2P scheme, which is conceived as a program that supports mobility of hub managers with the goal of direct linking with colleagues in other countries in order to bring the exchange of experience and knowledge to a higher level, and provide better opportunities for development of partner programs and projects.