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Digital Skills for Heritage

Digital Skills for Heritage

Man taking a picture of himself using a touchscreen at an interactive exhibition
Museum of Making in Derby
Digital Skills for Heritage is designed to raise digital skills and confidence across the UK heritage sector.

Helping the sector thrive

More than ever, heritage organisations are looking to develop their use of digital technology so they can move towards a more resilient, creative future. Our £3.5million Digital Skills for Heritage initiative is designed to help them thrive.

We are supporting a range of activities and resources to reflect the varying needs, locations, sizes and levels of digital experience of heritage organisations. 

Two years of Digital Skills for Heritage

March 2022 marks two years of our Digital Skills for Heritage initiative. Since launching in 2020, we have supported 65 projects to help raise digital skills and confidence across the heritage sector.

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To celebrate, we looked back at how the initiative has helped grantees so far. We also spoke to Lucy Crompton-Reid, Wikimedia UK CEO, about her top tips for inspiring and engaging digital volunteers – a critical skill for heritage organisations.

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Keep up to date

Sign up to our newsletter and tick the ‘digital’ box to get the latest news about Digital Skills for Heritage to your inbox.

Opportunities to get involved

Leadership development

Leading the Sector, run by Culture24, is helping trustees and executives from across the heritage sector expand their organisations’ digital capabilities. This year it is delivering six themed online discussion events and six in-person networking events at heritage venues across the UK. The next online event, on 14 June, will explore how digital tools, systems and processes can help heritage organisations. Book your free ticket.

Ripon Cathedral
Ripon Cathedral. Credit: Joe Priestly

How we are helping you

Digital resource centre

Teams from Arts Marketing Association, University of Leeds and The Heritage Alliance have researched and consulted with the sector to find organisations' 100 most pressing digital questions. The answers are published on their Digital Heritage Hub.

Support with innovation, enterprise and business planning

Though their Heritage Digital Academy, Charity Digital Trust are helping heritage organisations use digital within strategic and operational planning. Check their site to join free training, webinars and events. 

Digital skills for leaders

A second round of Leading the Sector is running throughout 2022 (see opportunities to get involved, above.) The first round worked directly with 16 senior leaders. Read our interviews with participants and a blog written by Culture24's Anra Kennedy. A new leadership 'pathway' tool was also created to help other heritage leaders. 

Digital skills development

The Digital Heritage Lab and Heritage Digital programmes offered training, webinars and resources to help heritage organisations develop their digital capabilities across a range of areas – including marketing, content creation and data protection. Many great recordings and resources are available on their websites.

Networked communities and digital volunteering

We have funded eight networks to support communities of practice to pool resources and expertise around particular heritage areas. The networks will open up heritage topics to a wider range of people.

We have also funded 17 projects that will create hundreds of digital volunteering roles across the sector. The opportunities will be both online and in person, supporting volunteers to contribute – and develop – their digital skills. Heritage organisations will gain the perspectives and skills of people who may not have had the chance to volunteer before.

Learnings from these projects will be made available to the sector as they develop. 

DASH survey results

Explore the results from our second Digital Attitudes and Skills for Heritage (DASH) survey. This survey and report help us to understand and respond to the needs of the sector. 

Our digital guides

Man using tablet surrounded by plants

We have produced free digital guides to help heritage organisations get started in key digital areas:

Discover more digital resources, useful information, great digital projects and initiative updates below:

Lucy Crompton-Reid
Lucy Crompton-Reid, Wikimedia UK Chief Executive

Videos

Working with digital volunteers

Lucy Crompton-Reid, Wikimedia UK Chief Executive, tells us how to inspire and engage digital volunteers.
'Absolute Unit' sheep
'Absolute Unit'. Credit: The Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading

Stories

Using digital in heritage: the 'absolute unit' way

Adam Koszary, formerly Digital Lead at the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading, tells us how heritage organisations can use digital to drive success.
BFI at Home Cast & Director Q&A – Judas and the Black Messiah. © British Film Institute
BFI at Home Cast & Director Q&A – Judas and the Black Messiah. © British Film Institute

Blogs

Running digital events: top tips from the BFI

BFI Southbank is the nation’s film theatre, and the physical home of British film heritage, culture and learning. When we had to close our venue doors in March 2020, we were determined to continue offering audiences the very best in film programming and contextual events. We used our digital