Organized by the Direction des patrimoines, de la mémoire et des archives of the Ministère des Armées and {CORRESPONDANCES DIGITALES]our first Webinar was held on Thursday, November 19. The theme was the health crisis: an opportunity to enrich links with the public? In this article, you’ll find all our discussions, with replays of the Webinar, a summary, additional resources and a graphic rendering by Emeline Parizel.
The French Ministry of the Armed Forces, via its Directorate of Heritage, Memory and Archives (DPMA), leads the network of museums and memorials of contemporary conflicts (RMMCC – to find out more, click HERE). This cycle of webinars is organized within the framework of this network.
This first event is part of a series of “Rencontres” which, in close collaboration with professionals from the museum and heritage world, aims to identify different avenues of innovation in the face of this crisis. As part of Public Innovation Month, these professionals are invited to take stock of the past year, and to draw out the dynamics of change for their cultural establishments:
- In the relationships that bind them to their audiences(see the REPLAY of the first Webinar);
- In their organizational models, and, potentially ;
- In their business models(see the REPLAY of the third Webinar).
The Webinar featured contributions from Adrian Mohr (Founder, L’œil du public), Franck Moulai (Director of Public Affairs, Musée de l’Armée), Flavie Bitan (Director of Communications, Mémorial de la Shoah) and Scarlett Greco (Digital Manager, Paris Musées). Out of 578 registered participants, 382 took part in the Webinar.
The event was introduced by Sylvain Mattiucci, Director of the DPMA. He presented the role and actions implemented by his department, and how it is part of a public innovation approach. Speeches were then launched, with a preamble putting things into perspective
1 – A preamble to put Antoine Roland’s Webinar into perspective.
Watch the replay of the introduction
In this introduction, it seems necessary to review the diversity covered by the notion of “audiences” and its evolution (to include the notion of online audiences in the early 2000s). For further reading, take a look at Culture et Recherche’s fascinating publication Les publics in situ et en ligne (including Olivier Donnat’s article).
This preamble is also an opportunity to present a few characteristic figures on the physical and online relations between cultural sites and the public, and to note that digital technology can help broaden audiences, but not necessarily diversify them. Published this summer by the French Ministry of Culture, study reviews 50 years of cultural practices in France and points out that the vast majority of online visitors, like their physical counterparts, are over 40 years of age, and a very high proportion have a higher education diploma: 49% for online visitors vs. 53% for physical visitors.
Finally, this introductory speech recalls the various events of the year and their implications for relations between audiences and cultural venues:
- Initial containment in March-April, with a switch to online public relations.
- A period of decontamination (from May-June), during which digital involvement was reduced in favor of a return of the public to the premises within the framework of a reorganized relationship. This relationship was reorganized to meet health requirements, but also to adapt mediation services to local audiences. On this subject, an article published in La Rotonde discusses the measures implemented in Canadian museums, following the example of French museums.
- And, finally, a third phase (since early November) where, once again confined, we have to maintain the online link and prepare for the next reopenings.
These different times are a source of innovation. In this respect, we recently published an article with Nicolas Aubouin on digital transformations in cultural institutions (between light and shadow). Once the scene was set, our speakers took the floor.
2 – Concrete feedback and avenues to explore.
Watch the replay of the speeches
- Cultural practices during and after confinement: Adrian Mohr (L’œil du public).
In this clip, Adrian shares the main results of his survey of 1,250 people carried out in June(to be found in this article along with a set of other studies mentioned during the Webinar).
Broadly speaking, Adrian points out that visiting a monument or heritage site is the 3rd most missed activity in terms of cultural activities. What’s more, for a public that usually goes on 1 to 3 cultural outings a year, the use of the Web has partly (albeit partially) made up for the absence of cultural outings.
In the wake of the health crisis, a minority of audiences with a strong affinity for art and culture should continue to regularly consult online cultural content (excluding cinema and TV series).
The physical cultural experience therefore remains essential and predominant over online presence. Franck Moulai reminded us of this in his speech, evoking the interweaving of digital investment and the physical presence of audiences.
- The interweaving of online strategies and the development of physical audiences: Franck Moulai (Musée de l’Armée).
In this speech, Franck talks about the fact that remote communication must make people want to come back to physical locations. Digital technology must enable us to win over new audiences, whether online or in person.
A synergy between remote digital content and physical human mediation is therefore necessary. This complementarity must be reinforced in the future. Echoing these reflections, some time ago we published an article during the confinement on the place of online museums: Good practices and limits of an exceptional situation.
During the first lockdown, the Musée de l’Armée offered educational content for children (remote history class) and more fun activities on social networks (relayed via the museum newsletter). Over the 2 months of confinement, a drop in audience attendance was noted (particularly for the newsletter), although social networks held up better.
At the end of June, the Museum reopened to a younger and more family-oriented public than usual, with 70% of international visitors unable to attend. New mediation offers have therefore been defined to adapt to these audiences and reassure them about the sanitary measures taken by the museum. 2 types of activities were offered:
- An investigation game to discover the site with the whole family (with remote access also available).
- Flash visits lasting 10 to 15 minutes (some 30 visits were organized in this way).
Since the beginning of November, with this2nd confinement, content has once again been put online, but with the aim of further increasing the involvement and participation of the public, in order to anchor this history museum more firmly in its time, develop its image and win over new audiences from afar.
In the coming weeks, the museum’s reopening will be marked by a series of events designed to appeal more strongly to the family audience, which has become a priority in the museum’s development initiatives.
The health crisis thus helped reposition the Musée de l’Armée’s visitor development strategy towards younger, more local audiences. Both the museum’s online presence and its physical mediation offerings have been adapted to better serve and develop these audiences. In line with the more involving online strategy proposed as part of this2nd containment, Flavie Bitan presented the Shoah Memorial’s particularly ambitious online actions.
- Online presence to support the cultural institution’s mission of transmission: Flavie Bitan (Mémorial de la Shoah).
Flavie introduces the activities and missions of the Shoah Memorial. The Memorial’s mission is to preserve, transmit and educate the memory of the Holocaust and the genocides of the 20th century. Located in a historic monument, the Memorial is open to all, free of charge. A documentation and archive center as well as a museum (with a permanent tour and temporary exhibitions), it also hosts a particularly rich cultural program (meetings, testimonies, events, concerts, film screenings…). 95,000 schoolchildren are welcomed every year, and 25,000 visitors from the general public.
After an initial period of stupefaction, the challenge of the first confinement was to maintain the link with the public. To do this, the Memorial focused on Instagram to improve its visibility among young audiences by proposing 3 main axes:
- The creation of 29 Instalives: various personalities were invited to read and embody texts archived at the Memorial, live on Instagram. This operation reached 110,000 people during the lockdown.
- Live coverage of the commemorations in which the Memorial is integrated: the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Yom Hashoah, the Vel d’hiv round-up and Deportation Day. 78,000 people took part in the event (far more than in person).
- Ciné-club confiné: 15 films were shown, attracting some 50,000 spectators.
Following in the footsteps of the Musée de l’Armée, the Mémorial de la Shoah decided to celebrate its reopening in June. A guided tour by the Memorial’s director was offered. The median age of visitors had previously been 49 years, but this period saw a particular rejuvenation (proportionately, given the exceptional nature of the period).
In view of the success of the first confinement, the Memorial’s online presence has also been maintained, thanks to the feedback from the various Zoom meetings (almost 2,000 people per meeting were counted) and the creation of instalives for exhibition visits.
The health crisis has therefore increased the Memorial’s online commitment, and now extends the dissemination of its collections and programming to a younger, more diverse and wider audience. Scarlett Greco describes how Paris Musées was able to make the most of the network’s digital resources during this crisis. This period is also an opportunity to accelerate the online accessibility of other projects.
- Enhancing and accelerating online resources: Scarlett Greco (Paris Musées).
Scarlett presented a particularly high-profile project at its launch (in August 2019): a mixed-reality project (Insurrection 44) enabling visitors to tour Rol Tanguy’s PC, discovering scenes from the Liberation of Paris rendered as they go. The confinement has accelerated the desire to draw inspiration from such a device to offer an online experience for young audiences as early as next year.
These periods of confinement have also been an opportunity to showcase the network’s digital resources, as well as to consider the future enrichment of these online projects.
Each of these periods of confinement and deconfinement must, however, be approached in a specific way. While the first confinement required keeping the children occupied, the2nd confinement, which involved keeping the children in school and maintaining numerous economic activities, is not approached in the same way.
During the first confinement, resources for young audiences, such as Museosphere and Mission Zigomar, were given particular prominence (with great success in terms of consultation).
The online collections and virtual exhibitions offered by Paris Musées on its collections portal were also particularly popular. The Paris Musées collections portal will therefore be enriched with new open content and online exhibitions in the coming months.
This health crisis has therefore accelerated the need to extend online the digital features offered in situ. It has also provided an opportunity to pursue and enhance a number of projects for the online publication of resources already undertaken by Paris museums. (this is the case, for example, with the development of the museum’s Open Content strategy). Finally, it’s an opportunity to enrich the online presence of the museums of the City of Paris with new formats (podcasts, online art history courses previously only given “face-to-face” in the Petit Palais auditorium).
3 – To deepen our understanding, we’d like to pose a few additional questions.
Question replay
Following these contributions, they are asked a number of questions to complete and refine their statements. Comments and questions raised in the chat are also added.
- What do you see as the main lessons to be learned from this crisis?
On this occasion, Franck Moulai highlights the Musée de l’Armée’s determination to pursue a visitor policy at the crossroads of the digital and the physical. The aim of this strategy is to increase the number of visitors to the museum, but also to reach out to more remote and disadvantaged visitors. There are a number of lessons to be learned from virtual tours, and a number of unanswered questions concerning their monetization.
Flavie Bitan reiterates the importance of systematizing the broadcasting and online distribution of events forming part of the Shoah Memorial’s cultural program. Scarlett Greco concurs, with the desire to systematize remote access to the art history courses offered at the Petit Palais.
These different answers echo a question submitted in the chat room on the increasingly mixed approach to training between online and face-to-face resources. This trend is likely to become more pronounced in the cultural and heritage sector, according to our various contributors. In this respect, the role of mediators and guide-lecturers seems to be undergoing a real shift, in the face of these various online and in-the-wall proposals, which will need to be closely monitored and analyzed.
Complementing these lessons, questions from Webinar participants were shared in the chat about how interaction can be developed within online or physical visitor groups at this time of year (interactive or collaborative online workshops, online games, etc.).
In terms of content, the primordial aspect of local communication giving primacy to “behind the scenes” was the subject of numerous testimonials and feedback in the chat. In addition, an article from L’Artisan Communicateur (very rich) can be consulted.
- Can you tell us more about the potential resource costs involved in making your online presence an event?
Many reactions in the chat mentioned the lack of financial and human resources for the smallest structures, but also the exhaustion of teams faced with a prolonged crisis.
This event-driven approach to museums’ online presence was also examined in terms of spin-offs (media in particular). The recent Nuit Européenne des Musées (European Night of the Museums) online operation was taken as an example of how, in the end, it was aimed more at professionals than the general public.
To answer some of these questions, Flavie Bitan added that the Memorial’s online activities have not generated any particular expenses (volunteer artists, granting of audiovisual rights for films, no agency involved...). On the other hand, and this was shared by all the panelists and behind-the-scenes participants in the chat, all these projects are particularly time-consuming and require the investment of teams and specific skills.
The Mémorial du Camp de Rivesaltes (Rivesaltes Camp Memorial) concurred with the Mémorial de la Shoah (Shoah Memorial): we also “proposed quite similar things without a large budget: Facebook live + uploading on Youtube, readers or volunteer speakers from our network (members of the Scientific Advisory Board, artists who have already taken part in a Memorial event)”.
Scarlett Greco points out that 2nd containment is more complex, as filming activities and heritage sites continue, while the investment of line crews is increased during this period.
Related to this point was the importance of training and upskilling teams. On this subject, an article on the Correspondances Medium account was written last year: Can you train for digital innovation?
Networking and the pooling of resources between cultural facilities were also highlighted in the chat. We’ll be coming back to this topic in the2nd Rencontre of this cycle.
- Should you charge for access to certain online resources?
Flavie Bitan’s answer is clear: access to the Memorial is free and will remain free for all its activities. Franck Moulai, for his part, refers to a committee of reflection, without any bias for the moment, as monetization depends on the offer. For Scarlett Greco, certain experiences or formats could be paid for at Paris Musées, but this is not on the agenda.
Numerous reactions in the chat also mentioned the problems of digital accessibility for a significant proportion of the public. An Emmaüs Connect study on this subject highlights the fact that 26% of French people are considered to have digital difficulties. . Faced with these reactions, the question of the role of museums in image education and the appropriation of digital media can legitimately be raised, as well as the approach they need to maintain to address offline audiences.
- How can we assess what has been put in place? What are the challenges?
For Scarlett Greco, it’s easier to evaluate an experience that takes place in a museum, because qualitative feedback is easier to obtain. While there are many online statistics, evaluating an online offer remains particularly complex.
On this subject, Adrian Mohr completes Scarlett’s intervention by mentioning the fact that there are ways of assessing the online practices of audiences through surveys, evaluations or focus groups.
Franck Moulai approves of the need for evaluation in the face of the multiplication of digital offerings and, among the challenges of such an evaluation, it will be necessary to study the impact on attendance at cultural venues.
Flavie Bitan qualifies, given the very specific context of the crisis. We therefore need a more neutral context in which to evaluate online and in situ practices, and their complementarity for a cultural establishment.
In connection with these reflections on evaluation, we wrote an article dealing with some of the issues involved in evaluating mediation at a cultural venue: Has digital technology killed off physical mediation?
4 – To conclude, a graphic presentation by Emeline Parizel.
Graphics replay
A particularly rich Rencontre, highlighting complementary approaches to audiences. The digital investment made during the first period of confinement appears to be predominant, and should continue to contribute in the future to winning over new audiences, communicating with remote and impeded publics, enhancing the value of the venues’ cultural programming and enriching their online presence. However, this crisis also reveals the predominance of the physical experience in the relationship between the public and a cultural venue. The challenge, then, is to continue to develop interweavings that will extend relationships with venues that have finally been rediscovered. The stakes are high, and the evaluation of all these initiatives and the mobilization of everyone involved will be crucial.
To view and zoom in on the graphical display, click HERE
2 other sessions are also scheduled in the following weeks:
- RENCONTRE 2 (Thursday, November 26) – The health crisis, an opportunity to innovate in the way we work.
- MEETING 3 (Thursday, December 3) – The health crisis: an opportunity to monetize digital activities
To find out more about the network of museums and memorials of contemporary conflicts (RMMCC), you can contact them via the following e-mail address(dpma-mmcc.anm.fct@intradef.gouv.fr) or consult the brochure presenting their activities.
