Europeana 2022 will take place from 28 – 30 September 2022. It will be a hybrid conference, and we hope to welcome cultural heritage professionals from around the world both in person, to the KB, National Library of the Netherlands in The Hague, and digitally. We aim to explore how we can collaboratively build a common data space for cultural heritage and raise voices from across the sector to empower digital transformation and explore the role digital cultural heritage plays in today’s and tomorrow’s world.
We want to open up our conference to new – as well as familiar – voices and topics and give the stage to exciting formats. Therefore we are inviting you to submit your proposals for an interactive and engaging webinar, workshop, session or intervention to be held during Europeana 2022. Sessions could involve delivering training and building capacity, promoting products and services, showcasing exciting research or providing an opportunity for collaboration. All sessions will be 30 minutes long, and can be delivered live, in person or by video, recorded or presented live online. We’re looking for proposals that cover the following themes:
Common Data Spaces: The Europeana Initiative is positioned at the heart of a data space for cultural heritage in the new plans of the European Commission. We want that space to be part of a vibrant digital public sphere where everyone can interact with trustworthy, reliable information and enjoy discussions and interactions which are respectful and free of harassment and exploitation. This idea is very closely linked to the foundations on which Europeana is built and the values we hold. And it’s also closely linked to the European Commission’s New European Bauhaus movement which aims to shape future ways of living that answer the wider challenges we face today. Digital cultural heritage can play an important role in this initiative, and in shaping the heritage of tomorrow. We’re looking for proposals in this area to share and showcase how the digital transformation of our sector contributes to such a thriving public digital space, to sustainability, accessibility, and inclusivity, and to help ensure that culture is always represented in discussions on the development of policies and programmes linked to digital public spaces.
Diversity and Inclusion: Cultural heritage empowers society to embrace its diversity and flourish. We are looking for proposals related to any aspect of diversity and inclusion. This could be around access, reinterpreting or reimagining practices and discourses, or looking at the ways people work and operate individually, within our organisations and as a sector. We are interested in how we can collectively ensure our communities are equitable and everyone feels safe, welcome, represented and equal.
Participation and Collaboration: Participation in and engagement with culture creates value in our sector and society at large. We want everyone to have the opportunity to participate in digital cultural heritage – to access it, to share it, to enjoy it, contribute to it and be enriched by it. We are looking for proposals that help engender participation and cover participatory practices, standards, platforms, tools and more. Collaboration is vital in addressing the cultural heritage sector’s vulnerabilities and challenges. Greater collaborative practices can progress our sector’s digital transformation, which in turn can enable further collaborative opportunities. We’re looking for proposals that support collaborations for a European cultural sector which places digital cultural heritage at the heart of society. We’d love to hear from you if you have imaginative, engaging or new ways to connect people or organisations, build partnerships, engage audiences and network from within or even outside the sector.
Climate Action: There is a global climate emergency and digital has a carbon footprint too. We’re looking for proposals that support and contribute to the European Green Deal and New European Bauhaus, creating a greener, more sustainable society. We want to hear about innovative and new ways we can work together to tackle and raise awareness of the climate emergency. The proposals could cover individual actions we can all take to ‘green-up’ our practices, or activities that organisations can carry out to proactively make a positive difference. If it covers how we can individually and collectively reduce the impact the digital cultural heritage sector has on climate change, we want to hear from you!
Storytelling: Europeana aims to be a powerful platform for storytelling and to enable cultural heritage institutions to transcend cultural and national borders and place their collections in the European context – to be part of the story of Europe. Initiatives such as our Digital Storytelling Festival and the Europeana Network Association Task Force on digital storytelling have demonstrated that this is a hot topic in the cultural heritage sector and that professionals are keen to share and develop their own storytelling expertise. We want to hear about your storytelling work – how do you find and tell stories with digital cultural heritage that capture imaginations, and create memorable and meaningful experiences for audiences?
3D, multilinguality and AI: Europeana 2022 will have a strong focus on topics of relevance to EuropeanaTech. Tech does not sit alone, and the areas of 3D, multilinguality and AI are not only prominent threads in the common data space but also affect so many of the other aspects we collectively work on. For example, how can AI and 3D help us tell stories and encourage collaboration? What can multilinguality do to help foster an inclusive sector and online experience? Perhaps you have work in this area which can help contribute to the common data space, or you have created something you want the sector to hear about. If it’s related to 3D, multilinguality and AI and digital cultural heritage, send us your proposal!
European Year of Youth: 2022 is the European Year of Youth. At Europeana 2022, we want to celebrate this, and build on the work the Europeana initiative has been doing to support new professionals and collaborate with ESACH, The European Students’ Association for Cultural Heritage. We want to receive proposals that relate to digital cultural heritage and students, young people and those new to working in the sector. If you have ideas on how we can support these groups or facilitate intergenerational exchange within the sector, examples of innovative ways to reach and communicate with young people around cultural heritage, something to showcase from the European Year of Youth, or are a new professional who wants to make a difference to our sector and the societies we live in – we’d love to hear from you.
To learn more and apply, please visit the website of Europeana.
