New Technologies for New Audiences eBrochure

How can new technology facilitate a positive change in the cultural

life of new audiences, including hard to reach target groups?

Or more specifically, how can technology help to get to know them,

look for them in new places & make new connections…

Experts from the Low Countries share their insights and present case

studies to an international gathering of audience developers.

Vooruit, Ghent, 6–7 December 2011

#ETM_Ghent

TUESDAY 6 DECEMBER

The Cloud – on technology as a remedy for cultural choice stress

1. Keynote: “The Cloud and the Crowd” Gert Nulens (SMIT)

In what ways can digitization of the cultural sector both intensify and spread participation in culture? SMIT

researcher Gert Nulens scans the broad horizon against which several processes capable of permanently

changing the culture maker/culture taster relation are emerging. Terms like “recommendation engines”,

“crowdsourcing” and “location based services” may still have an unfamiliar ring to many of us, but others

argue that they are the cars of a train it would be better not to miss.

Gert Nulens is the e-culture coordinator for the SMIT Research Group of Vrije Universiteit Brussel

2. UiTid: Your personal guide to the leisure landscape Luk Verhelst (CultuurNet Vlaanderen)

An explosive growth in leisure options combined with the proliferation of information resources could tip us

over into choice paralysis and procrastination. How can we effectively use technology to help people interest-

ed in art and culture choose from all the available alternatives? The UiTid application analyses the user’s web

behaviour to provide custom leisure recommendations. By applying a single profile to a network of different

cultural sites, the program builds an increasingly content-rich database of user tastes and preferences as the

foundation for a cultural recommendation engine.

Luk Verhelst is Director of Technology & Operations for CultuurNet Vlaanderen

3. Musical stepping stones in the library: Bib.fm Johan Mijs (Bibnet) and Lotte De Bruyne (Ladda)

Bib.fm is a brand new music streaming service for the public libraries of Flanders, and is currently being

tested in the library in Lanaken (see http://lanaken.bib.fm). The library’s catalogue provides access to its

music collection as downloadable steams, and library members are allotted 10 listening hours of complete

tracks and albums per month. The music is enhanced by extensive metadata from Aristo Music, a Flemish

music company specializing in the creation of musical contexts. The metadata allows music-lovers to search

for tracks by language, country, instrument, popularity, genre etc.

To evaluate the pilot project, Bib.fm commissioned Ladda, a centre of expertise in youth culture, to test the

service on 10 young users in the age group 14 to 25.

The study (see http://www.bibnet.be/portaal/Bibnet/Collectie/Digitale%20muziek/Bibfm/

yielded a good crop of opinions and was a working source of new visions for the project.

The project raises some interesting questions. Are libraries, and public cultural institutions in general, open

to innovation? What role can public libraries play in the world of digital music? Could they bring about a

broadening of people’s musical taste?

Johan Mijs of Bibnet and Lotte De Bruyne of Ladda report progress in the Bib.fm project.

Vooruit, Ghent, 6–7 December 2011 02

‘I don’t want to drown in all the choices.’

‘You can rely on getting pure music, something you can’t be sure of with YouTube. Searching is better

on bib.fm – you get less garbage.’

Johan Mijs, team leader public services, Bibnet

Lotte De Bruyne, researcher, Ladda Centre for Youth Culture Expertise

The Crowd – on technology as a means for developing lasting relations with the public

4. Riding the wave of social networking Martijn Verver (Headline Interactive, NL)

The Net is nowadays not just an information source but a place where we ourselves create, select and share

information. Social media like Facebook and Twitter have helped us evolve from passive consumers into

active participants. Many companies can testify that interaction with their target groups through social media

results in a more intensive relation with their brands. But can we translate this effect to the cultural field?

Are cultural institutions capable of riding the social networking wave? Internet Strategist Martijn Verver

believes that the social media, when correctly applied, can boost cultural participation and foster the develop-

ment of a lasting relationship with the public.

Martijn Verver is an Internet Strategist for the Dutch company Headline Interactive.

5. The public as sparring partner Karen vander Plaetse (Vooruit)

The hosts, Vooruit, like to stay ahead of the trend especially when it comes to public interaction. One of the

first new strategies employed by the art centre was to dynamize their relation with the Flemish public through

the Internet. Programme makers began doubling as conversation managers, and opinion statements by

members of the public were soon embedded into the centre’s communications. The virtual audience proved

to be as important and motivating to Vooruit as the physical public. Vooruit has meanwhile become a cultural

hotspot on the Web.

Karen vander Plaetse is head of project marketing and a cofounder of Yesplan.

6. Experts and non-experts: what can they tell us? Harry van Vliet (Cross-Media Lab, Utrecht)

Cultural assets for everyone. That could be the slogan for a strategy which is gaining a following in the broad

sector of heritage: the strategy of making cultural assets that are normally hidden from view accessible to

the general public. How can current digital technologies – especially the Internet and mobile phones – help

us play into the changing position of a public which is evolving from passive consumerism into a collective

knowledge and information repository? A revealing contribution on social tagging and digital storytelling in the

museum sphere.

Dr. Harry van Vliet is a Lector at the HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and research head of

the university’s Cross-Media Lab.


7. The public as co-creator Bart Becks (SonicAngel)

Who decides nowadays which young musical artists will come to the forefront, and what sources can provide

that upcoming musical talent? With their record label Sonic Angel, Maurice Engelen and Bart Becks place

much of the responsibility for artistic success in the hands of the public. SonicAngel started out in 2009

and their motto is “Music, Empowered by the Fans”. In return for a SonicAngel Fanshare (10 euros), the user

can not only download a copy of an album but also share in the profits. And that is not the end of the matter.

Fans play a part in selecting artists and in the production and commercialization of their music. The groups

are also part of the public. New media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and FaceBook give everyone a

chance to be discovered. SonicAngel see their field of action as including both artists and fans, and thereby

turn their public into co-producers and co-creators.

Bart Becks is cofounder and CEO of SonicAngel.

WEDNESDAY 7 DECEMBER

All Aloud / All Allowed – on the potential of technology to reach new target groups, including those who are hard to reach

1. Technology for cultural profit Eric Goubin (Memori)

Information technology is a widely used aid to reaching a new public. Social media and digital storytelling

make it easier – in theory, at least – to connect with the experiential worlds of non-traditional audiences and

specific hard to reach target groups. But are these connections really effective? Isn’t there a risk of creating

new barriers to surmount? Eric Goubin has devised a list of Dos and Don’ts to maximize the chance that the

new access channels will be effective in reaching their target.

Erik Goubin works at the Lessius Hogeschool in Mechelen. He heads the Memori Research Centre, which

specializes in innovations in communication and inclusion. He also lectures on governmental communication

in the Communications Management and Journalism faculties.

2. Incluso Manual – Technology in relation to opportunities for cultural expression by socially vulnerable youth Wouter Van den Bossch (Lessius Mechelen/IBBT) en Jan Dekelver (Katholieke Hogeschool Kempen)

How can organizations who work with socially vulnerable youth reach their target groups? Are new digital

tools, especially the social media, successful in reaching vulnerable young people? And if so, does this apply

to their opportunities for cultural expression? The European Project Incluso brought together four pilot project

partners, from Austria, Belgium, Poland and Scotland respectively, to study how social media could be applied

in the day-to-day work of these organizations. They arrived at a hands-on multistage plan that offers valuable

input to the wider artistic and sociocultural worlds.

Wouter Van den Bosch is information architect at IBBT

Jan Dekelver is research coordinator ICT at Katholieke Hogeschool Kempen


3. Smart cards for boosting cultural attendance among all target groups Frederik Bastiaensen (City of Antwerp) and Bart Temmerman (CultuurNet Vlaanderen)

The UiTpas (a pilot project of the Aalst region) and the A-Kaart (“A-Card”, Antwerp) both apply a combination

of two well-tried formulae to cultural marketing: the loyalty card and the discount card. Integrating these two

functions makes it possible to provide a special discount card for hard to reach target groups while avoiding

stigmatizing side effects. Furthermore, a cultural organization can couple a promotional campaign to the use

of the card and so retrieve vital marketing information.

Frederik Bastiaensen is Manager of A-Kaart.

Bart Temmerman is the Director of CultuurNet Vlaanderen.

4. Opera at the Cinema: new satellite technology for the distribution of artistic products in a commercial context Karen Van Riet (Kinepolis)

Opera at the Cinema allows cinema audiences to enjoy live opera performances at the Metropolitan Opera

in New York live in high definition. Season by season, Opera at the Cinema is growing in popularity, and the

Kinepolis Group is expanding the range it offers. Besides the live streamed performances, Kinepolis has

recently added Monday matinee reprises, and in summer the cinemas now rescreen outstanding titles from

the previous season. Kinepolis is in the process of diversifying its range to include other production forms

such as ballet, theatre, popular music concerts, sport, documentaries, and soon also musicals. Opera at the

Cinema not only attracts one-off visitors but is building up a regular following. Seasonal subscriptions are as

popular as individual tickets. Does Opera at the Cinema reach an existing cinema clientele who would other-

wise never attend an opera? Or does the audience consist largely of opera fans seeking new opportunities to

enjoy their favourite productions?

Karen Van Riet is Manager of Marketing for Kinepolis.

A historical but (of course) high tech tour of Ghent – 7 December PM

City Guides will conduct you on a tour of Ghent’s historic centre, pausing at several heritage organizations

which are making strategic use of current technology. You can learn all about the plans for the new media

centre called Waalse Krook, visit the Huis van Alijn, the city’s unique museum of everyday life, for a breath

of 20th century popular culture, and discover the innovative presentation methods being used for presenting

historical exhibits at STAM, the city’s recently established heritage museum.

BETWEEN TIMES. . .

... there is plenty to whet your interest.

• Têteàtête

There will be ample opportunities for encounters with congress speakers or fellow guests. We will place

two rooms at everyone’s disposal for face-to-face conversations in quiet, comfortable surroundings.


• There’sanappforthat!

In the short interludes between sessions you can delve into the vibrant world of software applications for

portable devices. Bruno Koninckx from the Memori Research Centre (which studies areas such as digital me-

dia, e-government, advertising copywriting and journalism) will demonstrate a selection of fascinating, useful

and content-rich apps.

SUPPORTING PROGRAMME

1. Introduction evening

On the evening preceding the conference, Monday 5 Decembers, we and our hosts Vooruit will extend a

welcome to all our foreign guests and speakers. It will be an informal opportunity to make acquaintance with

your fellow attendees and drinks will be on the house.

The introduction evening is free of charge but you must subscribe in advance.

2. International chat café

Belgian beers, a delicious buffet, an international crowd and distinctive surroundings – these are the ingredi-

ents for our second evening. We will descend on Huis van Alijn to review our first day of the conference in the

convivial context of the museum restaurant. It will be an excellent opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas

about new and innovative projects relating to the conference theme with guests from other countries.

There will be guest tables for our British, Dutch, Spanish and Scandinavian participants, but everyone is

expected to circulate.

The buffet costs 22 euros per person. Advance subscription is essential.

PRACTICAL DATA

Date 6–7 December 2011

Location Vooruit Arts Centre

St. Pietersnieuwstraat 93

9000 Ghent (B)

About Vooruit:

The Vooruit Arts Centre occupies a location in

the historic city centre of Ghent. Completed in

1913, the building is one of the youngest of the

city’s many architectural monuments. It was

designed as a festival and arts centre for the

Ghent labour movement and included a

ballroom, a theatre and a workers’ restaurant.

After a period of decline during and after World

War II, the building reopened as a cultural centre

in 1982, naturally retaining the name Vooruit.

Restoration continued until 2000, when the

building won the Flemish Monument of the Year


Voor

uit:

© C

arol

ine

Van

Pete

ghem

Prize. Vooruit Arts Centre today hosts an extensive programme of cultural productions including film,

concerts, performing arts, debates, literary events and media arts.

With some two thousand activities annually, it attracts a total audience of 275 thousand

visitors yearly. True to its name, Vooruit takes a progressive interest in environmental issues and

in uses of the new digital media.


Inga

ng S

TAM

© P

hile

Dep

rez

Hui

s va

n Al

ijn :

© H

uis

van

Alijn

VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE CONGRES

Subscription fees:

• Singleday:100euros

• Bothdays:180euros

Need a hotel? The following hotels offer discounts for congress participants.

• IBISGentCentrumOpera(77euros)

• Ghent-River-Hotel(129euros)

• HoteldeFlandre(129euros)

To benefit from these discounted room prices, please book your hotel through our online booking service.

CONTACT US

Email: [email protected]

Website culltuurnet.be/new-technologies-new-audiences

Follow us on Twitter #ETM_Ghent

PARTNERS


Documents

New Technologies for New Audiences eBrochure