New digital hub supports heritage sector organisations

The Digital Heritage Hub received £435,300 of funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). 

The hub, launched to answer 100 of the heritage sector’s most pressing digital questions, is a collaborative project led by Arts Marketing Association in partnership with The Heritage Digital Consortium and the University of Leeds School of Performance and Cultural Industries and Digital Education Service. 

Project teams have researched and consulted with the sector to find heritage organisations’ most pressing and frequently asked digital questions – from how to use digital to generate revenue to how to use data for strategic decision making. The resulting answers help set out the what, the why and the how of digital for organisations that are time and resource poor, or just lack confidence in knowing where to start. 

Cath Hume, CEO at the Arts Marketing Association said: 

“We want to empower organisations, give them the knowledge and the inspiration to see how beneficial digital can be, and help them find meaningful ways to apply it to their organisation’s aims. A lot of small to medium organisations don’t have access to, or the means to access, professional expertise. The Digital Heritage Hub will be their free, one stop shop of the expertise they need to take the next step – or even the first step – in their digital journey.” 

Academics from the School that have made contributions to the project include Dr Stephen Dobson, Dr Ruth Daly, Dr Amelia Knowlson and Dr Patrick Glen.

The hub is part of the Heritage Fund’s £3.5m Digital Skills for Heritage initiative which is raising digital skills and confidence across the UK heritage sector.  

The Digital Heritage Hub had its official launch on the 30th June 2022 with a masterclass webinar delivered by Dr Stephen Dobson.  The event was attended 80 heritage organisations from around the UK and introduced resources from the hub to help organisations create a coherent digital strategy and to use hub resources as ‘building blocks’ for digital change.