Between March and October 2022 we delivered a series of six online seminars and a roadshow of six in-person workshops promoting and building senior digital leadership across the UK’s heritage sector
Leading the Sector 2022 was funded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of Digital Skills for Heritage, and was delivered by Culture24 in partnership with The Audience Agency.
Online seminar resources
Each online seminar addressed a relevant and timely challenge that heritage leaders are facing now, where confident, well-informed digital leadership plays a vital role. Below you can find a summary of each seminar alongside a link to the full recordings and key talking points as resources on our Digital Pathways platform.
Hybrid heritage
Following Covid-19’s digital kickstart, what does a blend of in-person/digital working and services mean for heritage and the way you lead?
Zak Mensah (Co-CEO, Birmingham Museums Trust) and guests Lisa Westcott Wilkins (Co-founder and Managing Director, DigVentures) and Mark Bishop (Director of Customer & Cause, the National Trust for Scotland) talked about the impact of these new ways of working, and the implications that has for heritage.
Digital skills, literacy and capacity
Heritage leaders play a vital role in building digitally literate, skilled, confident teams. Find out why and how with us.
Zoe Amar (Director, Zoe Amar Digital and trustee, Charity Digital), Anra Kennedy, Nora McGregor (Digital Curator, The British Library) and Sian Shaw (Digital Learning Manager, Westminster Abbey & Chair of the Digital Learning Network) explored the role of digital skills and literacies in building organisational capacity, resilience and change, as well as how you can build your personal digital understanding as a heritage leader.
Digital infrastructure & process
Find out how, with the right leadership, digital tools, systems and processes empower heritage organisations’ activity, services and capacity.
Dr. Lauren Vargas (Independent Researcher & Consultant), Adam Koszary (Head of Digital, The Audience Agency) and Jack Kirby (Associate Director of Collections Services, Science Museum Group) discussed why the behind-the-scenes element of digital maturity is so vital in meeting your organisation’s aims and objectives and what leaders need to be doing about it.
Inclusion, equity and digital
Exploring the role digital tools, channels and services can play in involving more people in heritage, more meaningfully.
Julie Nicholson (Managing Director & Founder, Digital Voice for Communities), Kelly Foster (Kelly Foster, open knowledge advocate and public historian) and Matthew Cock (CEO, VocalEyes) explored digital’s role in developing more open, inclusive and equitable organisations and in involving more people in heritage, more meaningfully.
Digital enterprise in heritage
How are digital behaviours and technology changing business models in heritage? What does this mean for your leadership?
Patrick Towell (Innovation Director, The Audience Agency), Chris Brayne (CEO, Wessex Archaeology), Sophia Woodley (Head of Policy Research, The Audience Agency) and Camilla Stewart (Head of Commercial Programmes and Collection Partnerships, Art UK) explored the demands that digital enterprise and entrepreneurship place upon their leaders and teams.
Heritage, digital and the climate crisis
How can digital capacity and tactics be leveraged in heritage organisations to address the climate crisis and to meet your environmental goals?
Join Claire Buckley (environmental sustainability expert, Julie’s Bicycle), Bridget McKenzie (Cultural consultant and environmental activist) and Ruchir Shah (Director of External Affairs, Scottish Wildlife Trust) talked about the role leaders need to play in understanding and leading change in this vital area of the heritage’s sector’s work.
About the in-person workshops
One workshop delivered in six cities
Taking place in Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff, Leicester and London, the in-person roadshow workshop offered heritage leaders the chance to discuss digital leadership and digital maturity, and connect with their local peers. The workshop informed senior leaders and boards in the heritage sector of what they need to know about digital maturity – something that is core to organisational resilience and effective governance, and was tailored to the level of strategic understanding that board members, directors and senior leadership need. You can find all of the resources we shared as part of this in-person workshop series on our Digital Pathways platform, to support you in your own digital literacy development.
