Culture like you could experience tomorrow. But, preferably today.
Like everyone else, the cultural sector is making its way through the obstacle course of increasing digitisation. Regardless of whether you’re the proactive type, or would rather wait-and-see, we have to get through it together. And that is something we can really get on board with at Cultuurconnect. Obstacles? Challenges! Problems? Chances!
Cultuurconnect huist sinds 2024 in de Krook in Gent. We namen onze intrek op de vierde verdieping (boven de bibliotheek), naast onder andere Universiteit Gent en imec. Daarnaast houden we ook een aanvullende plek in Brussel aan, waar de stuurgroep en alle werk- project- en productgroepen kunnen bijeenkomen.
Innovatieagenda voor podiumhuizen en bibliotheken
Welke rol kan je als podiumhuis opnemen in een digitale wereld? Samen met de sector maakte Cultuurconnect een toekomstvisie voor podiumhuizen.
Daarnaast formuleerde de open stuurgroep podiumhuizen uitdagingen waarop jij kon stemmen en die een plekje krijgen op onze innovatieagenda podiumhuizen. Ontdek op welke speerpunten Cultuurconnect zich de komende twee jaar toelegt.
De stuurgroep Digitale Bibliotheek stelde met input van bibmedewerkers over heel Vlaanderen, een visietekst op over de toekomst van de bibliotheek. Lees de visietekst voor bibliotheken.
Daarnaast maakte ze een innovatieagenda met projecten die de komende twee jaren vorm krijgen. De focus ligt op een inspirerende gebruikerservaring, een rijk leesklimaat en e-inclusie.
Services
Many of our services are the result of the diligent work of project teams, composed of culture professionals, external experts and colleagues in the Cultuurconnect team. Bieblo, Recommender, Voor de show, [Jouw stad] Leest... They were once all successful experiments, scaled to serve all local cultural actors.
In 2016, Bibnet and Locus merged to form Cultuurconnect. The services that Bibnet had for public libraries at the time were, at that point, incorporated in the Cultuurconnect offer. For instance, it includes Bibliotheekwebsites, Bibliotheeksysteem, Fundels and Gopress. Our product and service managers work hard to continually evaluate and optimise all of the services.
Experiments
Through targeted calls to culture professionals, we gain insight into the digital needs of the sector. We regularly organise new calls. Team Research & Development carefully considers each proposal and evaluates what digital needs would benefit from further testing and experimenting.
You decide for which digital needs we eventually try to find a solution. Through our website, we are launching a short-list that culture professionals can vote for. There is also a focus group consisting of R&D experts from different sectors evaluating the proposals.
In the end, we start with a small number of submitted needs: together with the local submitters and external experts, we subsequently brainstorm, create, test and investigate possible solutions according to the lean start-up method. Worst case scenario: we learn a lot from the experiment and share our findings with you. In the best case scenario, we scale the project to supralocal proportions for all Flemish cities and municipalities.
Events & training
Throughout the cultural year, we organise small and large events, work visits and trainings to inspire culture professionals and guide them in their quest through different digital themes, such as digital arts, planning systems, storytelling...
Through inspiring talks and hands-on workshops, we jointly discover how a culture house locally plays to an increasingly digital public, looking for its way in an increasingly digital offer. We would be happy to welcome you to one of our Uncovered sessions, Dig It Up, Café Connect, or one of the many other activities and trainings.
Servicedesk
De servicedesk van Cultuurconnect bestaat uit een divers team van toegewijde medewerkers. Het team bestaat uit eerstelijns-, tweedelijns- en derdelijns supportmedewerkers. De collega’s achter de servicedesk werken continu samen met elkaar. Wanneer een vraag complexer is, stuurt de eerstelijnsmedewerker deze door naar tweedelijn. Zo bieden zij de beste ondersteuning aan de sector.
Cooperative management model
Cultuurconnect gives management of her digital services to participating libraries or cultural centres. A consortium group and a steering group is established for each service. The consortium group for a service consists of all participating libraries or cultural centres. They will set strategic guidelines. Within the consortium, everyone can put themselves up for the steering group, a – smaller – group of engaged participants who prepare the decisions of the consortium group and supervise their execution. That way, everyone pulls the Cultuurconnect cart.
“Playing to digitisation is a matter of local management and each culture house, so it's logical that they would help determine our course.” - Herman Lauwers (president Executive Board)
Working at Cultuurconnect
Cultuurconnect means digital, innovative, engaged, enterprising, professional, lean & sweet. Our mission? Supporting and guiding cultural institutions with adjusting and achieving their goals in the digital community. Would you like to work in a dynamic and exciting work environment and convey this mission every day, together with a close team of colleagues? If so, we’d love to meet you. To spontaneously apply, send an email to jobs@cultuurconnect.be. Cultuurconnect has an equal opportunities policy. People’s qualities are the deciding factor, regardless of gender, age, origin or handicap.
Dankzij de goedkeuring van onze plannen kunnen we er de komende twee jaar weer tegenaan. We vatten de accenten graag even voor je samen.