Digital meets Culture

Commission steps up support to the cultural sector by offering more guidance and dissemination for cultural and creative sector funding opportunities

CulturEU: an online guide on EU funding

press release – text and image by the European Commission.

Recently, the European Commission launched a new interactive guide mapping all funding opportunities available at EU level for the cultural and creative sectors. CulturEU, a one-stop shop for EU funding, gathers a total of 75 funding opportunities from 21 different EU programmes, from Creative Europe and Horizon Europe to structural funds and InvestEU. In just a few clicks, the interactive online tool can direct any European cultural entity to the most appropriate EU financial support available to it.

Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, said: ”Artistic freedom, creativity and cultural diversity are emblematic of our European way of life. Europe is a cultural powerhouse which needs its creative and cultural sectors to thrive. Alongside Next Generation EU, we are launching today a new online tool to enable our artists, creators and culture professionals easily navigate and choose the most relevant support schemes at EU level. Together we can achieve a sustainable recovery for the creative and cultural sectors across Europe.”

Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel said: “Cultural and creative sectors have the unique power to improve lives, create community bonds, generate jobs and growth and to inspire other sectors of activities. It was high time to accompany cultural actors in their search for European funds and to gather in one single guide all the funding opportunities the EU offer them. This unprecedented mapping allows all cultural actors to find the best European funding for them among 75 opportunities in just three clicks. I trust that this guide will further contribute to making our funds more accessible to all cultural organisations and help them on their way to a sustainable recovery.”

image from EC press release

The guide was developed to help all types and sizes of partners working in the cultural and creative sectors to navigate the EU funding landscape, to understand which opportunities are available to them, and ultimately help them to access EU funding more easily. Interested parties can automatically filter relevant funding opportunities based on their needs, their sector and the type of organisation they represent. It is supplemented by inspiring examples and best practices. CulturEU will be regularly updated with the most recent information on new calls coming out, and will be available in all EU languages in early 2022.

The cultural and creative sectors have been hit hard by the wide-ranging restrictions, set in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the onset of the pandemic, the Commission has taken numerous measures to address the consequences of the coronavirus crisis on the creative and cultural sectors, by complementing and supporting actions by Member States: financial support, cooperation at EU level while respecting national competences, and investment.

Actions taken at EU level until now to support the creative and cultural sectors include:

Increasing EU financial support to the cultural and creative sectors, with almost €2.5 billion from Creative Europe, and close to €2 billion from Horizon Europe dedicated to cultural, creative and inclusive projects from 2021 to 2027;
Dedicating funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility;
Approving national aid under the State aid Temporary Framework for a total amount of over €420 million;
Publishing EU guidelines on the safe reopening and recovery of the sector;
Launching a dedicated platform, Creatives Unite, for artists, performers and other cultural and creative professionals to share information and initiatives and exchange ideas. This platform now has over 43,000 users.

The Commission continues to coordinate and facilitate exchanges at EU level to reflect on the current challenges and opportunities faced by the cultural and creative sectors.

For More Information: CulturEU funding guide

HUB-IN, EU H2020 project

Hubs of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the Transformation of Historic Urban Areas

HUB-IN is an EU H2020 project focused on the transformation and regeneration of historic urban areas (HUAs) while preserving their unique cultural and social identity and environment.
The project identifies different HUAs:

Historic town or city centres
Historic areas which are outside of the town or city centre
Historic areas that focus on the wider urban values that define the identity and character of the town, city, or place.

8 pilot cities will work on a selected historic area of their territory and transform it in a “Hub of Innovation and Entrepreneurship”.

The selected HUB-IN cites are: Belfast, UK; Brasov, Romania; Genova, Italy; Grand Angoulême, France; Lisbon, Portugal; Nicosia, Cyprus; Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenia; Utrecht, The Netherlands.
They are very different but share the same values and vision:
innovation and entrepreneurship are key catalysts for promoting and implementing the transformation and regeneration of HUAs; this transformation must be achieved by preserving the identity and the unique cultural and social values of each historical area.

The project intends to adopt a human-connected approach, that has long-term impacts. Purposes are:

the revitalisation of historic heritage
the creation of new sustainable opportunities for local traditional businesses
the development of new creative skills and jobs

Discover more on HUB-IN here.

making accessible online a wealth of resources including texts, printed matter, manuscripts, images, drawings and photos.

The World Horse Library: the heritage of knowledge on the subject of the horse

Creating a library of libraries about the horse is the center of a project coordinated by the MRSH CNRS University of Caen in France. The modernity of cutting-edge digital tools of research, the immense accessibility of Internet networks, the skills of researchers and engineers, curators and connoisseurs are combined in order to make accessible and alive a treasure of resources, knowledge and ideas about the horse, easily searchable within a dedicated portal.

The horse is a great subject of culture and civilization. It has been and continues to be the object of attention and interest in many civilizations for long periods of time and in several continents, and the mass of written documents relating to horse training and breeding is impressive in all fields of the humanities, veterinary treatises, teaching books or literature.

Public and private libraries across the world have progressively collected heritage documents about the horse, equestrian art, and the many activities in which it is involved. This heritage of notable books and libraries is quite extensive and at the same time it is not very accessible. The World Horse Library intends to open up access to this precious heritage and to multiply the possibilities of use. The project, realized with the support of the Normandy Region and the Ministry of Culture, will progressely make accessible and give value to the contents of multiple libraries in a large virtual library.

With just a few clicks, specialists, expert amateurs, and the general public will find texts, printed matter, manuscripts, images, drawings and photos.

The portal is available in 3 languages, currently offering access to ca. 15.000 resources, and is accessible from https://labibliothequemondialeducheval.org/

Every exhibition room was completely renewed with a technological refitting, designed for offering a unique customer experience

Dante Museum in Ravenna: new immersive itineraries

On the occasion of Dante’s year celebrations, Ravenna Municipality paid homage to the Great Poet by renewing the spaces of his museum in a more interactive and immersive way. The project was assigned to Touchwindow, a specialized company which focuses on digital transformation and innovation aimed at user engagement. Two were the main tasks of the project: re-defining aesthetic guidelines (including the museum’s visual identity) and re-functionalizing all museum’s spaces. For achieving the best result, a whole technological refitting of the exhibition rooms was designed with the clear purpose of offering a unique customer experience: a combination of spectacular immersive projections, audio systems equipped with proximity sensors and customized software for maximizing the impact of interactive contents.

The work also included the configuration of an automatic control system of the installations and the creation of contents aimed at surprising the visitors while spreading cultural information. All this was implemented with a view of minimizing each operation’s impact, so that the original beauty of every exhibition room in the museum could be preserved.

More info:

https://vivadante.it/museo-dante/

https://touchwindow.it/it/work/museo-dante

Seattle galleries sold items fraudulently represented as Native American art

Two Western Washington artists charged with misrepresenting themselves as Native American carvers

image from https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/two-western-washington-artists-charged-misrepresenting-themselves-native-american

In two separate criminal cases, Western Washington artists are charged with violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) by representing themselves as Native American artists, when they have no tribal membership or heritage, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. The men, 52-year-old Lewis Anthony Rath, of Maple Falls, Washington, and 67-year-old Jerry Chris Van Dyke aka Jerry Witten, of Seattle, made their initial appearance on the complaints in U.S. District Court in Seattle in December 2021.

“Our special agents investigate crimes that violate the Indian Arts and Crafts Act on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Indian Arts and Crafts Board,” said Edward Grace, Assistant Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement. “By flooding the market with counterfeit Native American art and craftwork, these crimes cheat the consumer, undermine the economic livelihood of Native American artists, and impairs Indian culture. We thank the Indian Arts and Crafts Board and the U.S. Department of Justice for their assistance with these investigations.”

The investigation of Jerry Van Dyke began in February 2019, when the Indian Arts and Crafts Board received a complaint that Van Dyke was representing himself as a Nez Perce Indian Artist, when in fact, he is not an enrolled tribal member. Investigators from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made undercover purchases at a gallery in the Pike Place Market area of Seattle that advertised pendants Van Dyke had made as Native American Art. Van Dyke used the name Witten for these sales. When interviewed by agents, Van Dyke admitted knowing about the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, and admitted he was not a tribal member. Through the gallery Van Dyke had sold more than $1,000 worth of carved pendants represented as Native American artwork based on Aleut masks. Van Dyke is charged with two counts of Misrepresentation of Indian Produced Goods and Products.

The investigation of Anthony Rath began in May 2019, after a complaint to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board. The investigation revealed that Rath falsely represented himself to be a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. Undercover agents purchased a carved totem pole and necklace from the same Pike Place Market gallery for more than $1,334. Agents noticed the gallery had other carvings by Rath that were represented as Native produced. At another shop on the Seattle waterfront agents purchased another carved totem pole and a mask, again represented to be Indian produced. The biography of the artist at both shops falsely claimed that Rath was Native American. Internet sites Rath used to sell his artwork also falsely claim he is an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

When agents executed a search warrant on Rath’s Whatcom County home and studio, they found he also possessed feathers from protected birds: golden eagles and other migratory birds such as hawks, jays, owls and more. Rath is charged with four counts of Misrepresentation of Indian Produced Goods and Products, one misdemeanor count of Unlawful Possession of Golden Eagles Parts and one misdemeanor count of Unlawful Possession of Migratory Bird Parts.

Misrepresentation of Indian Produced Goods and Products is punishable by up to 5 years in prison. The misdemeanor counts related to bird parts are punishable by up to 1 year in prison.

The charges contained in the complaints are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The cases are being investigated by the National Fish and Wildlife Service. The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney J. Tate London.

Contact:

Press contact for the U.S. Attorney’s Office is Communications Director Emily Langlie at (206) 553-4110 or Emily.Langlie@usdoj.gov.

after a first series of event to engage cultural communities, next appointments in 2022 will be focused on capacity building in managing and sharing online collections

WEAVE LabDays continue to support institutions safeguarding tangible and intangible heritage

text and image courtesy of Rosa Cisneros.

credits: WEAVE-CultureMoves

Over the last few months, the WEAVE team (Rosa Cisneros, Marie-Louise Crawley and Sarah Whatley) have been busy co-ordinating a series of ten project LabDays held in conjunction with partners IN2, ARCTUR, UNL, ERIAC, Europeana Foundation, PhotoConsortium, CRDI-Ajuntament de Girona, KU Leuven, TopFoto, PédeXumbo, as well as with artists and organisations such as the Early Dance Circle.

Underpinned by Communicative Methodology, these LabDays have been designed to engage a range of different communities with project activities and to reflect upon the cultural heritage content and archival collections to be aggregated to Europeana throughout the project in a collaboratively-held space where all voices are acknowledged and valued. With topics ranging from the ‘Digital Innovation of Cultural Heritage’, ‘Roma Self-Representation in the History of the Venice Biennale’, ‘Presenting Europeana’, ‘A Workshop of Portuguese Dances’ to ‘Poetry and Photography’, ‘Castellers in the World’ and ‘Early Dance’, the LabDays have offered open spaces to discuss important questions about how communities and cultural heritage institutions can work together to safeguard and manage tangible and intangible cultural heritage. This first set of LabDays will feed into a second series of events, programmed for Spring 2022, focussing on capacity building and how we can continue to work with archives, collections, art institutions and museums.

Past and forthcoming LabDays, please visit https://weave-culture.eu/labdays/

The WEAVE team has also recently published a White Paper on the ‘Digital Transformation of Intangible Cultural Heritage’ available here: https://weave-culture.eu/resources/

To learn more about the digital tools being developed in WEAVE, please visit https://weave-culture.eu/weave-toolkit/

Website: https://weave-culture.eu/

Deadline for submissions: 1 April 2022 at 12:00 am

Digi Art Award-2022

The Digi Art worldwide is one of the most renowned platform for digital artists where artists, designer, creative etc. Visit feast their eyes on some of the best digital art pieces in the world. An internationally established avenue, the Digi Art strives for building a mutual understanding amongst people through art and its beautiful language. Every year, Digi Art organize the “ANT-SANT Digital Art Prize” where several participants are called upon to show their masterpieces and build a personal network with other artists from different parts of the world.

Deadline: 1 April 2022 at 12:00 am

Call – NATURE’S INFINITY
Our nature has lot of variation which shows many infinitely in different sizes of infinite sets. Digital art world has allowed the creation of entirely new images that were very difficult to achieve using digital techniques. Submit your Digital painting, Digital art,Digital illustration, Digital Matte painting, and Concept art works, like Nature’s Infinity creations, on the edge of the dream, that delight the imagination.

Eligibility – the competition is open to amateur and professional digital artists

Entry fee – 10 $

Web link: https://worlddigiart.wordpress.com/

Deadline: February 1, 2022

Call for entries is open for European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2022

Europa Nostra, the European Voice of Civil Society Committed to Cultural Heritage, launched the entries to participate in the 2022 edition of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards.

The Awards were launched for the first time 20 years ago, in 2002, by the European Commission and supported by the Creative Europe Programme. Since then, Europa Nostra has been responsible for running this awards scheme.

The purpose of the Awards is to identify, recognise and support best practices in the conservation of cultural heritage and in the care and promotion of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

The European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards will honour 30 heritage achievements, among which up to five Grand Prix will be awarded within thematic areas that are transversal to the five awards categories.

The categories of entry for this edition are:
● Conservation & Adaptive Reuse
● Research
● Education, Training & Skills
● Citizens Engagement & Awareness-raising
● Heritage Champions

Entries can be related to tangible, intangible or digital heritage.

The thematic areas of the Grand Prix for the 2022 edition are:
● Innovation
● Digital Transformation
● Sustainability & Climate Action
● Social Cohesion & Well Being
● International Relations

Each winner of a Grand Prix will receive a monetary award of €10.000.

The deadline for submissions is the 1st February 2022.

For more information: Apply – European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards

calling all artists experimenting with hybrid artistic practices at the boundaries of the performing and digital arts

Open Call for Artists: Little Islands Festival 2022

The Festival that connects the Aegean landscape and nature with Audiovisual Arts, Little Islands Festival (LIF) is addressing an open call towards all artistic communities experimenting with hybrid artistic practices at the boundaries of the performing and digital arts.

LIF 2022’s new open call through the theme “Communality” places artistic creation at the core of Community to trace the meanings and representations of community life in space, place and time. Drawing on contemporary art and digital media, the artists are invited to create, inspired by community practices of coexistence with the environment, collective archetypes, collective wisdom and memory, thus highlighting unseen histories of communities in Greece and the world at large.

LIF 2022 is looking for proposals in the following categories:

AV Performances,
Music | VJs,
Interactive Installations,
Video Art | Animation | Silent Films with live soundscapes,
Virtual Reality,
3D Projection Mapping –suggested location is the cycladic abandoned house that dominates the square of the settlement

image courtesy LIF

Special emphasis will be given to artistic proposals with live art interventions and works that propose the experience of participation. LIF’ s open call also offers an opportunity to execute Site Specific projects which engage with and utilize the local cycladic culture as well as bring aspects of the Cycladic communities to life through new technologies.

The selected proposals will be presented at the 4th edition of the Little Islands Festival (LIF) in the Cycladic settlement “Castle” of Sikinos in August of 2022.

Key words: communality, communal, common, socially engaged art, public art, participation, collective action, collective experience, collective consciousness, live art, experiential art, united, shared, celebrations, rituals, myths, Community practices.

image courtesy LIF

Submission of entries is free of charge. Entries must be submitted online.

Submit your proposal here: https://littleislandsfest.com/2021/11/28/open-call-for-artists-4/

For any clarifications contact us at littleislandsfestival@gmail.com

Follow us on our Facebook and Instagram page (@littleislandsfestival) for updates.

DOORS project invites museums to submit proposals for digital pilots that can benefit their institutions

Digital strategies for small and medium-sized European museums: the call by DOORS

DOORS, the Digital Incubator for Museums, is a project co-funded by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, aims to create an European incubator to support small and medium-sized museums. It is coordinated by ARS ELECTRONICA.

The digital transformation of museums has become necessary, urgent and DOORS wants to support museums in developing strategies to integrate technology and to enrich the online and on-site cultural offer.

In a first phase of its work, DOORS will carry out an in-depth analysis of the state of the art and define the general terms in which digital strategies can be embedded into existing contexts. It will call museums to submit pilot proposals to take part in a two-stage incubation program: first the museums will be involved by teaching and strengthening digital engagement, then, 20 will continue in the second stage of the incubation programme and they will work on the implementation of their digital pilots which will develop digital transformation experiments in 4 concrete innovation areas:

Innovating audience analysis and engagement
New content distribution and revenue models
Strategies for integrating infrastructures
Experimental ICT programs

As part of the first step, DOORS recently launched a call to invite small and medium-size museums across Europe to submit proposals for digital pilots that can benefit their institutions and help them initiate a long-term digital transformation.
Through this call the project will select 40 museums to take part in the first stage of the incubation programme focused on shared learning and the 20 museums to continue in the second stage of the incubation programme with the practical implementation of their digital pilots.

The deadline for submitting applications is February 13 2022.

More information on the call is available at Open Call – DOORS
To know more about the DOORS project, this is the link.