WIREDGOV

A series of events happening in the region over the coming months invite creative organisations to explore the possibilities that digital technology offers arts and culture.

Creative Front Cambridgeshire is leading a programme of events entitled Culture Hack East, to support cultural organisations in the East to maximise their assets, data and new technologies to excite and develop audiences online.

The idea is that by learning lessons from the culture of hacking, organisations can start create innovative ways of bringing great art into people's everyday lives.

The programme starts with an Arts & Culture Kick Off event on 8 November 2011, from 4.30-9pm at The Junction, Cambridge and is followed by the Culture Hack East Day  happening in February 2012.

Hack days are happening across the country as part of a national programme of activity. They typically take place over one or two days, and are aimed at creating an environment for intense creation and discovery. Culture Hack East will enable a skills exchange between the cultural, creative and technology sectors, and generate dynamic partnerships that will help organisations explore digital capacity across a wide range of art forms.

Arts & Culture Kick Off is a preparatory event for the Culture Hack East Day. It is aimed at giving attendees an opportunity to look at how we bring digital technologies to the arts, who we collaborate with and how we can ignite new audiences.

Throughout the event, attendees will: 

• Get a comprehensive introduction to the Cultural Hack East Day 

• Hear keynote speeches and inspirational stories from digital and cultural partnerships from previous Cultural Hacks. Speakers include: 
- Bill Thompson, the BBC's technology correspondent and now head of partnership development for Archive Development projects at the BBC.
- Andrew Nairne, Director of Kettles Yard and avid champion of digital innovation throughout the Eastern region.
- Founders of the Culture Hack programme Katy Beale and Rachel Coldicutt of Caper will join the speakers. Their work is centred on helping partners produce events through sharing best practice and ensuring excellence, as well as at exploring creative economy opportunities.

• Breakout into groups to establish what kinds of software systems, data collections, API needed before the Culture Hack East Day

• Map some core business needs which can be communicated to the developers
Attend a networking reception to share ideas, strategies and tactics

Clare Denham, Marketing & Operations Manager at Creative Front Cambridgeshire said: 'Arts & Culture Kick Off is the first in a series of events looking at arts and digital partnerships which can be both strategic and playful. Being the first of its kind to be run in the East, Creative Front Cambridgeshire is excited about exploring how to learn lessons from the culture of hacking and start to hack culture to create genuinely new ways of bringing great art into people's everyday lives.'