Richard Ellis, the founding director of MTM London, delivers the findings and learnings from the Digital Cultural Landscape survey that took place last year. This presentation was delivered at the Digital R&D in the Arts Annual Forum at Vinopolis on 3 July 2014. For more information, visit: http://www.nesta.org.uk/event/digital-rd-arts-annual-forum

1. 0The digital culture study
Can everyone who works for an arts or cultural
organisation have your phone ready…
…and get ready to send a text to this number
…020 3322 5822
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM

2. 1The digital culture study
• Three year longitudinal study
• 891 organisations responded in 2013
• How are arts and cultural organisations using
technology?

3. 2The digital culture study
60%of organisations told us digital was
having a major positive impact…

4. 3The digital culture study
73%
57% 56%
36% 32%
17%
19%
27% 23%
28% 29%
18%
Marketing Preserving
and archiving
Operations Creation Distribution
and
exhibition
Revenue
streams
Important
Essential
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM
Perceived importance of digital technology by function:
Over 90% of organisations told us digital was
important or essential to marketing…

5. 4The digital culture study
We asked about a whole range of marketing
activities ...
• 84% publish content on social platforms
• 52% allocate over half of their marketing
resources to digital
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM

6. 5The digital culture study
53%
86% 89% 77% 84%
36%
8% 10%
17% 10%
Important
Essential
All types see digital as essential or important to
marketing…
Museum Gallery Combined arts
centre
Performing
arts
Festivals /
events /
developmentSource: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM

7. 6The digital culture study
22%
35%
30%
38%
47%
47%
56%
72%
77%
Social listening
SEO
Using audience
data
Large
Medium
Small
Marketing activity, split by size of organisation
Larger organisations are more sophisticated
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM

8. 7The digital culture study
73%
57% 56%
36% 32%
17%
19%
27% 23%
28% 29%
18%
Marketing Preserving
and archiving
Operations Creation Distribution
and
exhibition
Revenue
streams
Important
Essential
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM
Perceived importance of digital technology by function:
Over three quarters see digital as important or
essential to archiving…

9. 8The digital culture study
73%
57% 56%
36% 32%
17%
19%
27% 23%
28% 29%
18%
Marketing Preserving
and archiving
Operations Creation Distribution
and
exhibition
Revenue
streams
Important
Essential
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM
Perceived importance of digital technology by function:
Similarly, digital seen as fundamental to
operations

11. 10The digital culture study
73%
57% 56%
36% 32%
17%
19%
27% 23%
28% 29%
18%
Marketing Preserving
and archiving
Operations Creation Distribution
and
exhibition
Revenue
streams
Important
Essential
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM
Perceived importance of digital technology by function:
Over half describe digital as essential or
important to their creative output

12. 11The digital culture study
Digital is being used for creative output in
different ways…
creating digital works connected to a physical
exhibition or art work29%
creating stand-alone digital exhibits or works of art
26%
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM

13. 12The digital culture study
…and more so in some types of organisation
than others
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM
Proportion of organisations reporting born digital activities:
Total
sample
Visual
arts
Combined
arts
Heritage Literature Theatre Dance Music

14. 13The digital culture study
73%
57% 56%
36% 32%
17%
19%
27% 23%
28% 29%
18%
Marketing Preserving
and archiving
Operations Creation Distribution
and
exhibition
Revenue
streams
Important
Essential
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM
Perceived importance of digital technology by function:
A similar number see digital as crucial to
distribution and exhibition

16. 15The digital culture study
73%
57% 56%
36% 32%
17%
19%
27% 23%
28% 29%
18%
Marketing Preserving
and archiving
Operations Creation Distribution
and
exhibition
Revenue
streams
Important
Essential
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM
Perceived importance of digital technology by function:
Only a third see it as important or essential to
revenue streams

17. 16The digital culture study
Digital is being used to generate revenues in
different ways, but with limited impact...
sell products or merchandise online
36%
accept donations online
35%
report a major impact on product sales
11%
report a major impact on donations and fundraising
10%
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM

18. 17The digital culture study
So what have we learnt?
Source: ACE; Nesta; AHRC, Digital Culture: How arts and cultural organisations in England use technology (2013) – prepared by MTM

19. 18The digital culture study
THANK YOU!