Change & Relevance: Themes of the 2019 edition of the Swedish Digital Identities Programme launched in Stockholm
We’re delighted to launch the 2019 Swedish Digital Identities Programme. This is the fifth edition of the programme, which supports cultural organisations to experiment with storytelling and develop new approaches to audience engagement and participation.
I use the word edition as the programme has evolved over the years in response to our participants’ needs. Furthermore, the changes our societies face are very different from just a few years ago. People are influenced by new ideas and trends. They’re engaging in new behaviours. We label people as visitors, audiences, curators, educators, marketeers — which creates an illusion that we’re one step removed from this change. But that’s not the case.
We’re witnessing the rise and fall of global movements. Rather than being swept away by them, how can cultural institutions establish their relevance? How do they participate in and become platforms for social change? How do they provide context when information — boundless, all consuming and distracting — is at our fingertips?
The Digital Identities Programme was developed to answer these questions. Every year we support up to five teams to build a bridge between the institutions they represent and their communities.
“Building sustainable networks and relationships isn’t easy. Through the Digital Identities Programme we learned the methods and benefits of collaborative storytelling together with your audience that reaches far beyond the museum walls.”
Johan Lindblom, Creative Producer, Västarvet | SWEDIP 2017
Our participants have conducted remarkable regional and national experiments — from challenging the under representation of women in history to championing designers on the frontline of sustainability. From developing new relationships with communities such as Cosplayers to giving a platform for storytellers embedded in communities across towns and cities.
In 2019 we’re delighted to welcome the following institutions to the programme: Statens Försvarshistoriska Museer, Institutet för Språk och Folkminnen, Stockholms läns museum and Östergötlands museum.
Merel van der Vaart who joined the team last year is now an integral part of the programme. An award-winning researcher, entrepreneur and curator Merel brings the discipline of evaluation to support our participants to identify and scale good practice they develop, within their organisations. Kajsa Hartig who is the chair of IdeK and the co-founder of SweDIP, focuses on digital transformation and multiplatform storytelling. I cover experimentation and behaviour change.
As it’s our fifth year, we’re planning a showcase event. We’ll share updates on our Twitter feeds and blogs. If you would like to participate in the next edition of Digital Identities or bring the programme to your country. Please get in touch. We love to speak with good, interesting people.
Sincerely,
Abhay Adhikari
