Arts Council England and The National Lottery Heritage Fund have launched the Digital Culture Compass, a free toolkit designed to help organisations get the most out of digital.  

“Heritage organisations can thrive in the digital era, using tech to attract the visitors and support they need.”

Josie Fraser, Head of Digital, The National Lottery Heritage Fund

What is the Digital Culture Compass?

The Compass is an easy-to-use tool that can help organisations of all sizes and at all stages of their digital journey. It is formed of two elements:

The Tracker

This is an interactive system that can be used to:

• assess current use of digital – whether across the whole organisation or in specific areas
• set targets
• record thinking
• review progress

The Charter

This helps an organisation make and communicate commitments to digital activities that are:

• led by core values
• centred on people’s needs
• responsive to change

How can it help?

This comprehensive tool can help organisations in multiple ways, including to:

• develop digital strategy
• discover what is working well and what needs improvement
• establish where to invest, including in skills development, technology and partnership building
• incorporate best digital practice 

Find out more about the tool:

Digital Skills for Heritage

The launch of the Digital Culture Compass comes as The National Lottery Heritage Fund announces its new Digital Skills for Heritage initiative, which aims to drive up digital capabilities across the heritage sector. Funding, training and support are available to heritage organisations and sector leaders.

More information 

The Digital Culture Compass is one of the commitments we made to improve digital capabilities in our sector following the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport 2018 Culture is Digital report.

The Compass was developed by a partnership led by The Space and including Creative Co-op, Culture24, The Audience Agency/Golant Innovation and the University of Leicester.