On Thursday June 27, the IESA meetings took place at 11 Conti – Monnaie de Paris. Created 2 years ago in collaboration with {CORRESPONDANCES DIGITALES], these meetings welcome a panel of professionals (agencies, cultural institutions, academics) to discuss different themes around digital and innovation in the cultural sector.
This year, 4 themes are covered:
- Exhibitions / immersive mediation: what does digital technology change?
- What’s the point of open data / content?
- How can digital technology help preserve our heritage?
- Innovation and cultural venues: from experimentation to sustainability.
This article summarizes the discussions at the fourth meeting on the relationship between cultural venues and innovation. It will provide an opportunity to examine how innovation can help cultural establishments evolve in terms of strategy, organization and skills, as well as in their relationships with other cultural institutions, audiences and businesses.
1. An introduction, to put things into perspective.
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Introduction by IESA students.
The meeting was introduced by students from IESA’s Master 2 Patrimoine program, who offered some thoughts on innovation. This introduction highlights the diversity of innovation, which can respond to changes in usage, organization or technology. These evolutions can be very gentle (incremental) or disruptive (radical). The search for innovation in cultural venues therefore covers a wide range of issues in terms of :
- Plant strategies,
- Organization and skills management,
- Public relations.
To answer these questions, this fourth meeting brought together :
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2. The Centre des monuments nationaux: from experimentation to innovation incubation.
00:3 : Where Valérie Senghor briefly presents the Centre des Monuments Nationaux and their innovation strategy.
The Centre des Monuments Nationaux (CMN) represents a national network of 106 monuments, including major landmarks such as the Pantheon, the Arc de Triomphe and Reims Cathedral.
CMN has 3 main missions:
- Opening monuments to the public,
- Restore them,
- And to diversify attendance through distinctive cultural and artistic programming.
Innovation is essential to fulfilling these missions. To date, more than 50 innovative projects have been developed to meet the specific needs of each of the network’s monuments, helping to enhance CMN’s cultural programming, publicize its restoration operations and diversify its audiences.
For example, a system of robot-guides is currently being tested to facilitate access to the Villa Kérylos for disabled visitors and those with reduced mobility, thanks to a remote control system.
7:00: Where Valérie Senghor talks about the heritage incubator
The legitimacy and durability of an innovation strategy can only be assured if it is clearly aligned with the missions of an establishment. Last year’s creation of the Heritage Incubator is part of this drive to structure the actions undertaken in recent years. With this tool, digital innovation is better integrated into CMN’s organization.
On a voluntary basis, each monument can take part in the experiments proposed by the start-ups incubated by the network, thus contributing more enthusiastically to the integration of these innovations into their premises. Depending on the results of these experiments, the CMN may then consider perpetuating certain systems as part of a call for tenders.
It’s worth noting that the start-ups incubated do not focus solely on technological innovations. The recently-announced second intake is made up of 3 start-ups (out of the 8 selected) whose offerings are resolutely committed to sustainable development.
CMN’s innovation strategy has been built on a series of experiments carried out over the past 10 years. For the past 2 years, thanks to the creation of the Heritage Incubator, these experiments have been supported in close collaboration with the monuments, to facilitate their internalization and ensure their sustainability.
The Bibliothèque nationale de France, like CMN, is also keen to support innovative projects to enable its staff to enhance their skills.
3. The Bibliothèque nationale de France: experimentation at the heart of changes in methods and work organization.
14:02: Where Pauline Moirez discusses BnF’s relationship with innovation.
With 2,400 staff across 5 sites, millions of documents and 2 million visitors a year, BnF is a cultural institution steeped in history.
The culture of excellence, erudition and perfection that characterizes the establishment does not encourage the experimentation and agility that may sometimes be necessary to welcome new ideas.
Despite this, a number of innovative projects have been launched in recent years. Such is the case of the Gallica platform, which currently contains 5 million digitized images and is visited by almost 15 million Internet users a year.
17:00: Where Pauline Moirez talks about various projects designed to acculturate BnF teams to innovation.
To encourage the introduction of new services, BnF has been promoting a policy of in-house experimentation for several years now, with the support of the innovation mission, which is legitimized by its hierarchical attachment to the general management and by the profiles of which it is composed.
By way of illustration, the idea of a café-press point in the library was tested in a co-creative approach with users and staff. Faced with issues of collection security and cohabitation of uses, a 2-stage experiment was carried out with staff and users. After various iterations and evaluations that led to changes in the initial project, the café-press point will soon be set up in one of the library’s halls.
To reinforce this innovation logic evoked with this example, BnF set up an internal project acceleration laboratory in 2018. Aimed at BNF staff, this program is run by 8 facilitators who accompany project leaders for 6 months. They thus support agents in their projects and help train them in innovation methodologies.
Organizing a hackathon also encourages BnF teams to work with users to identify new ideas.
In a previous speech, Pauline Moirez referred to the fact that “the public are experts in their needs, and we are experts in the solution”. This reflects her department’s ambition to enhance the skills of BnF staff in order to better welcome and respond to the needs of the institution’s public.
With this in mind, Steven Hearn looks back at the history of Scintillo to show how, over many years, this holding company has supported a number of innovative cultural venues and projects.
4. Scintillo: a network of cultural innovations.
28:53: Where Steven Hearn revisits the history of Scintillo and its involvement in cultural innovation.
At the genesis of Scintillo, a cultural engineering agency was created to support innovative projects in cultural venues: Le troisième pôle.
Following these first steps, Scintillo, with Créatis, managed the public service delegation of the Gaîté Lyrique on behalf of the Mairie de Paris between 2008 and 2016. It was within this framework, in particular, that the idea of an incubator was developed.
Following its experience with the Gaîté Lyrique and the submission of a report on cultural entrepreneurship to Fleur Pellerin and Aurélie Filippetti in 2014, and in line with one of the report’s key recommendations, the Créatis incubator is moving closer to the social and solidarity economy sector by joining forces with the SOS Group.
Since joining forces with the SOS Group, Scintillo and Créatis have contributed to the development of innovative cultural venues in several French cities.
In Paris, the FAR project gas pedal was created in 2017 on a 3,000m2 site and now hosts over 250 project leaders. The Group’s strategy is now one of spin-off.
In Lyon, Montpellier, Brussels and many other cities, other innovative platforms are opening up around contemporary art, virtual reality, crafts, show production, heritage, design and more.
Following the example of Scintillo’s incubation projects, other players are playing an emblematic role in the incubation of artistic projects. Such is the case of CENTQUATRE with 104Factory.
5. 104factory: experimentation as a gas pedal of opportunities for cultural and creative startups.
42:21: Where Marylène Ricci presents the innovation at the heart of the CENTQUATRE project.
The CENTQUATRE is the City of Paris’ center of art, culture and innovation, welcoming 700,000 visitors every year. Over 50,000 spontaneous practices can be counted here.
CENTQUATRE’s collaborative platform acts as a place of inspiration, helping new artistic and cultural ideas to emerge by connecting a wide range of players (artists, companies, the public, etc.) and professional and amateur practices.
The relationships we’ve built up with our audiences over the last few years, our knowledge of the regional network, and our expertise in cultural engineering and social innovation are all assets that are conducive to a profusion of innovative projects.
55:00: Where Marylène Ricci talks about the 104factory, an incubator serving CENTQUATRE’s innovation policy.
To implement this innovation strategy, CENTQUATRE has set up an incubator to experiment with new forms of collaboration between artistic and entrepreneurial practices: the 104factory.
Since its creation in 2013, 42 start-ups have been welcomed, and 16 million funds have been generated for projects with a 3-year life span, a third of which are co-founded by women.
The scheme provides funding and expertise, access to a large community of partners, and synergies grouped into skills clusters such as immersive experience, design, lifestyle, music…
Since 2018, there has been a desire to create links with the international scene, particularly in Asia and Quebec, to increase business opportunities and expand the community’s network. In this way, the Maestro project by Quebec start-ups MT Light and Atomic3 was able to be experienced directly with the CENTQUATRE public during a sound and light installation in the spaces.
Experimentation and openness to a range of new skills are central to innovative projects. This is also demonstrated by Agnès Abastado, who hosts the meetings at the Monnaie de Paris.
6. 11 Conti: towards open innovation?
1:00:53: Where Agnès Abastado explains the 11 Conti Museum’s innovative partnership strategy.
Monnaie de Paris is an institution under the authority of the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance. Coins have been produced at 2 production sites (Pessac and Paris) for 1150 years.
As part of the Métalmorphoses project, Monnaie de Paris has implemented a solid cultural policy. In 2017, the 11 Conti museum was renovated to support the brand, create vocations around arts and crafts, renew creation and enhance heritage.
In all, a team of 15 people manages the museum, exhibitions, artistic collaboration programs and cultural activities.
The innovation challenge for the site mainly concerns mediation, but also its reputation.
To raise its profile, the team has implemented an outreach strategy, structuring an innovation network with companies, schools/universities and cultural venues.
By way of illustration, a number of recent projects have not only enabled us to experiment with new technologies, but have also contributed to repositioning La Monnaie’s image (from a numismatic museum to an innovative museum). This was the case with virtual reality with Mindtree and the Google Cultural Institute.
7. In conclusion
There are many possible ways to innovate within a cultural venue. Whether the result of history, organization, strategic intent or fortuitous partnership opportunities, these innovative approaches are bound to differ from one venue to another. They often require an ability to open up and welcome the skills and expertise of other cultural establishments, schools/universities, companies, etc.
To be sure, integrating these approaches into cultural heritage establishments requires a great deal of modesty, experimentation and testing, to find the right ideas and adapt them to the challenges of the site and its collections. The application of these solutions must therefore be negotiated in close collaboration with the public, their uses and practices, and with the staff who are often responsible for bringing these ideas to life.
