A netful of jewels

A NETFUL OF JEWELS: NEW MUSEUMS IN THE LEARNING AGE

A Report from the National Museum Directors' Conference 1999

MUSEUMS AND THE CREATIVE ECONOMY

Culture and creativity are vital to our national life. We have long seen the value which creative people bring to our lives, through the employment of their skill and the exercise of their imagination. Their activities enrich us all, bringing us pleasure and broadening our horizons. But there is another reason for creativity, and a reason for cherishing it: the whole creative sector is a growing part of the economy.
Chris Smith: Creative Industries Mapping Document: DCMS 1998

Culture is dynamic and creativity is at its core. Museums and galleries are centres for creativity. Their collections embody the accumulated cultural energy of our own and other times. They can be powerful catalysts for innovation. By making museums more accessible we can help to build a creative society.

The size of the creative economy

Every one of the creative industries is supported directly or indirectly by museums and galleries. Digital access will enable museums to provide them with a much better service. The print and publishing industries, for example, already make extensive use of museum collections and images. The acquisition of digital reproduction rights has become one of most important new art markets in Europe.

Artists, craftspeople and students place a high value on access to museum collections. And museums are an important market and marketplace alike for high quality products. Designers, makers, manufacturers and customers will all benefit from electronic access to the creative wealth of museums.

This will be particularly significant at local and regional level as the creative industries feature more prominently in regional economic cultural strategies.

Pioneering partnerships

Some of the country's most visionary new public buildings are commissioned by museums and galleries. They provide an international showcase for our industries. In the same way, museums and galleries are entering the multimedia design and software marketplace, as both clients and producers.

Museums' new uses of multimedia will stretch the boundaries of the information age. By working in partnership, museums and software and design companies will develop ways to deliver information that is relevant to users, in the most appropriate form.

The size of the creative economy
The creative industries generate revenues approaching £60 billion a year. They contribute over 4 per cent to the domestic economy and employ around one and a half million people. The sector is growing faster than, almost twice as fast as, the economy as a whole. The contribution of the creative industries to the gross domestic product is greater than the contribution of any of the UK's manufacturing industries.
The creative industries Department for Culture Media and Sport 1998

Pioneering partnerships
The Royal Armouries in Leeds was nominated for three EMMY Awards in the US for a series of films made jointly with Yorkshire Television. A further series has been commissioned by the US History Channel. The films can be available over the internet. In this way the Royal Armouries helped Yorkshire Television to break into the US historical documentary market.

THE WIDER WORLD

The network revolution will reach all sectors of the economy and society with the content industry playing a central role. The more far-reaching economic and social implications are only now becoming apparent. Business and government leaders must consider these matters today to prepare for the future.
CONDRINET report, Content and commerce driven strategies in global networks, European Commission DG XIIE, October 1998
http://www.echo.lu/condrinet/

Countries around the world are committing public funds to national rogrammes to speed up the formation of their information societies.

The USA leads the way. The internet was born there, and fostered by the Information Superhighway initiative, internet use has reached a larger proportion of citizens there than in any other country.

President proposes digital library for education

The European Union has recognised the importance of the information economy since the early 1990s. There is funding for a range of projects to exploit the potential of digital technologies. This support will increase under the Fifth Framework Programme, part of which is aimed at expanding the contribution of museums and other cultural institutions to the emerging cultural economy.

European connections

In Canada there has been a programme to support and promote the development of digitised museum collections information for more than twenty years. This has recently been extended with a public network, Artefacts Canada, providing access for citizens to museum collections across the country.

The UK has benefited from large scale and continuing investment in libraries and digital resources and services for higher education. This was initiated by the Follett Report (Joint Funding Council's Libraries Review Group Report: Higher Education Funding Councils: 1993), and has ensured that the UK continues to be among the world leaders in library and research provision.

Underpinning all these developments is the recognition that in a global, multinational world, cultural networks are an important means of expressing and preserving cultural identities. And digital cultural resources are seen as essential to the growing cultural economies. Fifteen or more countries ? from Sweden to India; from Canada to Australia ? have established national cultural networks.

Developing Australia's cultural economy

These networks provide a source of cultural material and cultural expression that can be accessed from anywhere in the world by people interested in learning about the national culture. They also enable those working in the cultural sector to communicate with each other, exchanging ideas and experience.

Many museums and galleries in the UK already play an important international role. They work as members of world-wide networks, based on the common language of their collections and objects. Information and communication technology will enhance this activity and open up international possibilities for more of them.

President proposes digital library for education
Tucked away in the $1.7 trillion budget proposal is an item that could help bring digitised versions of photographs, memorabilia, documents and other items from the nation’s cultural treasure trove into American classroom.
New York Times 4 February 1999

European connections
A European Museums’ Information Institute is proposed that will create partnership between:
* the member states of the EC;
* museum content providers and the information and communications technology sector;
* and the mediators of European culture and the ‘learner’ in the widest definition of that word.
EMII will ensure that knowledge and expertise spread throughout Europe, and harmonise existing work. Ultimately, its success will be measured by the impact it has on unlocking museums’ information assets for the enjoyment and learning of the widest European citizenship.

Developing Australia’s cultural economy
The Australian Cultural Network is a Web gateway that gives public access to Australian cultural organisations, online resources, news and events. ACN is also an exchange centre where cultural workers and organisations can communicate with each other.
http://www acn.net.au