Take our ADVICE: Digital tools can help cultural venues better engage with their audiences
Photo courtesy of European Commission CULTURE (ec.europa.eu/culture)
The EU loves a good acronym. That’s why the Soap Film-based Artificial Photosynthesis project goes by the more alluring SOFIA, and Energies for Local Administrations: Renovate Governance in Europe is more commonly referred to as ENLARGE, which let’s face it, brings a much needed ‘oomph’ factor to the project. As the old adage goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. And so TrueMotion presents, Actionable Data: Venue Insights for Cultural Empowerment, or the ADVICE project.
Nice, right?
We want to tell you all about it. So let’s start at the beginning.
2019 was a blast, true. We set new records for the number of successful projects delivered, and also raised a not-too-shabby €3.7 million for European culture.
Somewhere in the midst of this fantastic year, a new idea was brewing. A Creative Europe call for pilot projects—Bridging culture and audiovisual content through digital—was published and immediately caught our eye. Funding available for projects that bridge and boost diverse creative and cultural sectors using cutting-edge digital tools? That sounded right up our street!
As soon as the call was up, we set to work. We started with a project we had already helped secure funding for: Ticketing Group’s Cultuurticket. The digital tools used by the company would be a perfect fit for a pilot programme that sought to take the European cultural and artistic offering to the next level. For this, they needed partners, and fast. Reaching out to their trusted network, Ticketing Group put together a consortium with two other fantastic organisations: Twister Media (Germany) and AKA Agency (Belgium).
ADVICE had a simple, but powerful mission statement: Make culture more accessible to the European public. And the consortium already had the tools to do just that.
“Funding available for projects that bridge and boost diverse creative and cultural sectors using cutting-edge digital tools? That sounded right up our street!”
But first, they had to develop an application with a strong and convincing business case, which is where we stepped in again to supply our EU fundraising expertise. Competition in this call was bound to be tough, so there was no room for gaps or errors in our argument.
We decided our best bet would be to focus on the physical spaces where audiences engage with art and culture: venues like cinemas, museums, theatres, and heritage sites. These places still struggle with issues like filling seats and spaces, communicating their offerings effectively, and reaching—and engaging with—a wide enough audience. That’s where the project would have its greatest impact, empowering venues and making a striking difference to audience’s access in the CCS.
And so, we formed the core of the project’s value proposition: ADVICE would deploy digital tools to automate marketing and sales, train venue professionals in digital skills, gather audience data and enrich the cultural and artistic offering via user-friendly and fully accessible online platforms.
Our idea proved to be a winning one, and for a pretty tough committee too, with only 8 out of 61 proposals emerging victorious from the selection process.
The consortium is excited to put its tools and expertise (or ADVICE, geddit?) into practice. The project kicks off this month, so watch this space for updates: we’ll keep you posted on progress and results.
Arne van Vliet is the Creative Director of TrueMotion. He’s passionate about the creative arts and specialises in finding funding for innovative creative projects that are reshaping the arts landscape in Europe.