Here at Culture24 we’ve been collecting and publishing information from and about UK museums, galleries, archives and other cultural venues for over ten years.
Our database is one of the most comprehensive data sets of its kind in the UK, packed with all you would ever need to know about places to go, the latest listings, top-notch resources and lots more.
Supporting the information coming directly from thousands of venues (inputted themselves using our free, simple online DDE system) is a rich stream of our own editorial – news, features and reviews, updated daily. A total of 15,000 records, and growing!
We’ve decided it’s time to begin sharing this data via a range of feeds to let it do its own thing on the web. We want to see how other people – partners, publishers, you – make use of it. Most of all, we believe that by sharing it as openly as we can, more people will get a chance to see it and appreciate the richness and magic of the UK’s fabulous cultural venues.
This is very much a pilot project – we’re feeling our way with formats, licences and levels of access so we welcome any feedback, ideas and questions to: anra@culture24.org.uk.
What’s on offer?
We are working towards sharing a bit of everything in our database - whether it has come from venues directly via our DDE system or has been written by Culture24 staff or volunteers.
The data consists of geolocated, subject-tagged and sometimes curriculum-tagged information about over 4,400 cultural venues around the UK – museums, galleries, heritage sites, archives, historic houses, science centres and others.
It includes details on each venue’s location, facilities, services and collections, as well as their listings, events, exhibitions and resources. Added to this, is Culture24’s own editorial and website library.
Detailed descriptions of the data fields here.
How is data accessed?
Culture24 data is available to share and is offered in three formats – RSS, SOAP and OAI-PMH.
We’re starting off with three different levels of data access – open, redacted and full – some levels are free and some need licensing. Licenses are created and provided on a case-by-case basis and are dependent upon the technologies involved, the scale and depth of information being shared and the use to which the information will be put.
Here’s where to find out more:
Culture24 data sharing (including RSS info): a technical overview
SOAP: get access to Culture24 data
OAI-PMH: get access to Culture24 data
This is a pilot project so please bear with us if we’re not yet offering exactly what you’re after in your favourite format. We will be introducing more feeds over the coming weeks.
Terms and conditions
You can read the terms and conditions for Culture24 data sharing here.
Want your data to be part of the offer?
If you work for a cultural organisation and don’t yet enter your information into the Culture24 database or can’t find your log-in details here’s how to get started.
Culture24 vision
Culture24’s vision is for a more unified cultural sector that is better able to embrace the virtual world, contribute to the creative and tourist economies and advocate the role of culture in learning. Find out more about our work here.
