In the face of the health crisis, museum teams deployed unparalleled energy to maintain links with their audiences, adapt to health standards, reopen, rebalance their mediation policies, roll out new projects to attract new visitors, pursue their digital transformation, and consolidate their scientific and cultural strategies and projects. Throughout the year, {CORRESPONDANCES DIGITALES]with the support of numerous partners, has actively supported a number of players in the heritage sector in these various transformations.
1. In 2021, we worked with various museum teams.
- Du Musée de la Grande Guerre (Meaux) in defining the digital component of its Scientific and Cultural Project.
- The Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme to revamp its permanent exhibition.
- The Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle to rebalance the mediation activities offered online and at its various Paris sites for families and school groups.
- The Musée National de la Marine in the prefiguration of a permanent public observatory.
- From Pôle d’interprétation de la Préhistoire in the strategic repositioning of its business.
- Through training courses: training courses for professionals in Toulouse’s heritage sector (in partnership with Nell & Associés), an innovation seminar organized at the end of the year with the Ministry of the Armed Forces for the network of museums and memorials of contemporary conflicts.
2. In 2021, we supported the development of various cultural enterprises in the audiovisual and mediation sector.
- Lucid Realities in the development of new services for the heritage sector.
- Losonnante in the organization of a trial of their bone conduction audio terminal at the Musée Carnavalet, which drew invaluable input from cultural professionals and museum visitors (an article summarizes some of the feedback from this trial).
- ATHEM in supporting the creation of an online events cycle for its cultural partners.
3. In 2021, we also contributed to various events.
- All year round, Museum Connections Meet-ups : at these monthly gatherings, we’ve had some great moments of online sharing and inspiration with cultural professionals who have come to share their projects for remote mediation, making their offerings more event-based, and designing new itineraries. They also talked about the challenges of rebalancing their physical and online offerings, and how innovative cultural companies and heritage sites can work together.
- – In April, the Rencontres Patrimoines et innovations (Heritage and Innovation Encounters ) focused on the theme of rediscovering place. On the eve of the reopening of cultural venues in May, these online meetings organized by {CORRESPONDANCES DIGITALES] and IESA addressed a variety of themes, such as the rediscovery of physical and sensitive experiences with the help of digital technology, new forms of storytelling and the vital role of the heritage sector in local communities.
- –In May, a Webinar on digital innovation for remembrance tourism was organized for the French Ministry of Defence’s Heritage, Memory and Archives Department. This event was an opportunity for the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Armed Forces, in charge of Remembrance and Veterans, to announce the winners of the 2021 Innovative Digital Services call for projects. It was also an opportunity to discuss the challenges of innovative projects led by former winners.
- – In November, NUMIXLAB. The first European edition of this event dedicated to immersion, which brought together over fifty French-speaking cultural institutions and creative studios for a 3-day tour of Parisian cultural venues and 2 days of workshops at the Musée Carnavalet. This first edition was organized in collaboration with Images du réel and with the support of Xn Québec, the Canadian Embassy, the Institut français, the French Ministry of Culture and Art Explora.
4. In 2021, we contributed to various articles and resources
- At the start of the year, we published an e-book with the Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine on digital practices in museums and heritage sites.
- We regularly feature articles on the Correspondances Blog. Here’s a selection: Can mediation be done remotely?, Cultural and digital practices after a year of crisis (in partnership with GECE), Immersive digital exhibitions: towards new collaborations between heritage and the cultural and creative industries, Start-ups and museums, an impossible encounter? (in collaboration with various start-ups in the field), Faced with the health crisis, getting closer to the public to innovate (article co-written with Baudouin Duchange in relation to the mission carried out for the Musée National de la Marine), Can sound be a source of innovation?
- We also contributed articles to Le monde des grandes écoles (with Nicolas Aubouin), the Lettre de l’Ocim with an article on immersive exhibitions (with Jessica de Bideran) and answered a number of interviews with Le Quotidien de l’art, Le Journal des arts and La Croix on virtual tours, the rise of new forms of exhibition, and the relationship between innovation and museums.
2021 required unprecedented energy, and that’s without counting the energy that will be needed for 2022! We’ll soon be unveiling some exciting new projects.
