A sustainable framework for improving the digital upskilling of adult cultural professionals

<< Background >>We applied for this project due to its direct relevance to the cultural and creative sectors, heavily affected by COVID-19. Initially, the pandemic caused disruptions in visitation and operations, especially for smaller institutions, leading to financial strain. Many in Europe shifted to digitalization, yet comprehensive approaches for adult cultural workers and small to medium-sized organizations are lacking. The BoostDigiCulture project aimed to bridge this gap by supporting digital transition, offering upskilling pathways, and enhancing accessibility to digital learning. It addressed the needs highlighted in the NEMO Final Report (2021), particularly focusing on smaller organizations' urgent demand for digital transition support. Recognizing the unique challenges faced by these organizations, such as limited resources and skills, BoostDigiCulture provided tailored assistance. Ultimately, the project aimed to ensure the sustainable digital transformation of the cultural and creative sectors, strengthening their resilience in the face of future challenges.<< Objectives >>BoostDigiCulture aimed to strengthen the digital upskilling of adult cultural professionals within medium-sized cultural institutions across partner countries. Its core mission was to establish a sustainable and inclusive professional development framework leveraging open educational resources and practices. This framework was tailored to elevate the digital competencies of cultural professionals with limited digital skills.The project had several key objectives. Firstly, an important objective was to empower adult cultural professionals to integrate digital culture effectively into their institutional agendas. Additionally, it aimed to raise awareness about the significance of digital readiness and training for these professionals, emphasizing their role in fostering institutional resilience and sustainability.Another goal was the creation, implementation, and validation of a durable professional development framework for digital upskilling. This framework was designed to support adult learners in the cultural sector, ensuring they could navigate digital platforms while preserving the inclusive nature of digital culture in their online institutional offerings.<< Implementation >>In the BoostDigiCulture project, various activities took place in the pilot and implementation phases of the systemic design framework that was pursued. The activities included:-A total of four transnational project meetings – two of which took place face-to-face in Potenza, Italy in July 2022 and one year later in Berlin, Germany in July 2023. Two additional project meetings were held online to kick-off the project in February 2022 and in between the face-to-face meetings in January 2023. Additionally, regular check-in meetings were conducted to ensure a good level of team communication and collaboration-Project result piloting activities for all of the project results, in the form of focus groups, feedback forms and questionnaires and workshops-A virtual workshop between experts and novices in digital cultural heritage, with interaction between large scale and small and medium sized cultural institutions at a transnational level. The workshop was designed as part of PR1 and was thus announced for its users through the forum-Regarding PR4, the BoostDigiCulture online self-assessment tool was designed to evaluate adult cultural professionals’ readiness in integration of digital cultural in their institutional agenda. This was tested and successfully implemented in the elearning platform. All registered users had to first pass the self-assessment in order to complete the upskilling programme and again take the assessment in order to receive their digital badges-Concerning PR3, 50 cultural professionals completed the microlearning upskilling programme; a tailored course for the targeted adult cultural professionals, to enhance their competences in inclusive digital content creation and curation and institutional digital strategy. Additional viewers were gathered through the project’s YouTube channel-Moreover, through local events and seminars policy makers, cultural professionals and stakeholders were informed about the project’s scope, methodology, and products. -A learning, teaching and training activitiy (LTTA), which took place in Portugal in June 2023. The LTTA was organized as a “Hands-on BoostDigiCulture Workshop” which was meant to facilitate the implementation of the project results. The participants were adult cultural professionals from the partner countries-Further activities took place in the form of dissemination efforts and social media postings<< Results >>The project produced four main project results, namely:-PR1: BoostDigiCulture e-learning mentoring platform: Digital cultural affinity spaces Establish digital cultural affinity spaces with: an interactive map feature to display profiles for peer-to-peer mentoring among cultural professionals - and their institutions virtual workshops between experts and novices in digital culture, with interaction between large scale and small and medium sized cultural institutions at a transnational level-PR2: BoostDigiCulture Professional Digital competence Profile (PDP):defining the digital competences needed for adult cultural professionals in small and medium sized cultural institutions.-PR3: BoostDigiCulture Microlearning upskilling programme: A sustainable professional development framework with a tailored course for the targeted adult cultural professionals, to enhance their competences in inclusive digital content creation and curation and institutional digital strategy. Includes provision for open digital badges and accreditation in digital cultural heritage. -PR4: BoostDigiCulture Self-assessment tool: an online evaluation rubric, designed to assess adult cultural professionals’ readiness in integration of digital cultural in their institutional agenda. Point of reference: DigComp Framework indicators and levels of competence.