Weeknotes #47

It’s been a while since my last weeknotes (a chest infection knocked me off my stride), but I’m kicking them off again in style.

Let’s dive into some recent activities - a podcast, a trip to New York, and a pilot mentor scheme.

Digital Culture Podcast

I went a bit rogue last year, recording and secretly releasing a couple of podcast episodes about our work at the Digital Culture Network. I got reined in and told to go through the official processes for new programmes of work. Fair enough.

Flashforward 12 month’s later - the Digital Culture Podcast is here!

In episode one I interview the fabulous Katy Farrell and Nicola Barratt, our Social Media Tech Champions, about their specialist area and how they support the sector.

Like everything we do at the Digital Culture Network, we’re trying to use plain language, make content which has something for all career levels, and be as accessible as possible.

If you like it, please follow on your preferred platform and maybe leave a rating? It really helps it reach more people like you.

Making the podcast

For this first episode I made the recording on Zoom, ran the audio through Auphonic to improve the quality, and edited it in Audacity. (Hannah Hethmon’s book Your Museum Needs a Podcast was a great help last year when I recorded the trial episodes).

My good friend SHAR created the audio intro/outro, which I absolutely love. The track is called another-white-man-with-a-podcast.mp3 😆.

The finished episode is hosted on Spotify for Creators which then distributes it into all the various podcasting platforms.

The logo and other assets were made in Canva. Top tip: If you’re a non-profit organisation you can get Canva premium for free.

We wanted to create some short snippets to use on social platfoms so I’ve been testing out Descript which has great features. It transcribes your content and you then edit the text to edit the video/audio. There are other features to remove “ums” and can even generate a voice clone with AI (🤯) - it makes editing so much easier.

Here’s an example clip:

For Episode 2 I’m testing out SquadCast (which has now joined with Descript) to record the video and audio in one place through the browser. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Measuring success

We’re wandering into the unknown with this one. It’s a new channel for us to reach people working in the creative and cultural sector. When writing the proposal, I outlined the following:

Podcasts allow us to reach our community in their homes, during their commute, or at work. Unlike other formats we use, audio allows our audience to interact with us while doing other things. 

Podcasting is an incredibly intimate medium, we’re speaking directly into our listener’s ears. There is the opportunity to become part of their daily life and routine – someone they trust to entertain, inform and keep them company. It is an amazing way to build strong relationships with our target audience. 

(Again, big thanks to Hannah’s book)

According to Buzzsprout, the average episode downloads in the first seven days of release are:

• Top 1% of podcasts 4,709

• Top 5% 1,089

• Top 10% 465

• Top 25% 110

• Top 50% (Median podcast) 28

I’m writing this on day five and we’re sitting at 61 downloads, so in the top 40% of all podcasts. Can’t see us hitting the top 1% just yet - but it’s an encouraging start.

It’s included in our newsletter, which goes out to 9,000 recipients, and we’re going to start using the shorts on our social channels. I’ll update the figures in future weeknotes.

All that being said, IS IT ANY GOOD?

You tell me, I love to hear your thoughts!

New York 🗽

Over the past three years I’ve been fortunate to be a Digital Advisor on the Bloomberg Digital Accelerator Program. I’ve helped Kiln Theatre, Spike Island and The Hepworth Wakefield spend a collective £450,000 implementing new tools and processes in their digital transformation journeys.

Last week the advisors and project team from the UK side (Digital Culture Network, Arts Council England, and freelancers) joined up with the US side (Lapine Group and Bloomberg Philanthropies staff) to meet each other, share experiences over the last three cohorts, and discuss the future plans for the program.

To say I’m incredibly privileged to be taken on an all expenses paid trip is an understatement. Thank you Bloomberg Philanthropies!

It was great to build relationships with and learn from our US counterparts, as well as getting to know the freelance advisors much better. There have been so many amazing projects over the last three years.

Bloomberg Digital Accelerator Program team at the Lincoln Centre

Over the course of three days we had several workshops, were treated to a superb talk from George Corbin, visited the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (seeing Robert Downey Jr in McNeal), used the Bloomberg Connects app on site at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and experienced the installations Mercer Labs Museum of Art and Technology.

There wasn’t much downtime, but I managed to squeeze in a trip to the Ghostbusters HQ (lifetime achievement unlocked), the Guggenheim, and I swung past the United Nations to see Barbara Hepworth’s Single Form sculpture in real life.

Some of us also had a daily run around Central Park which was magical.

A brilliant and equally exhausting few days, Roll on cohort 4!

Cultural One Month Mentor Scheme (C.O.M.M.S)

Over the last six weeks I’ve been part of a pilot scheme by Haydn Corrodus (ex-Tech Champion, now consultant, trainer and speaker for Arts and Culture).

The initiative aims to help cultural professionals grow and gain the skills, connections, and support needed to excel in their roles.

My fellow mentors on the programme were: Matthew Hodson , Moira Rizopoulos , Kate Mroczkowski , Becks Turner, and Haydn.

The following Mentees were successful in their application to the scheme: Gabrielle Dawkins (The Dukes), Clara Alvarez de Eulate Gámez (London Borough of Hounslow), Paul Famojuro (Tank Museum), Giulia Delprato (Southbank Centre), Sally Pentecost (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland), Khadijah Bint Ahad (Autograph ABP) and Julita Furriel (The Dukes).

I was paired with the fantastic Gabi Dawkins. Over four 45 minute sessions we discussed experiences, current challenges and upcoming objectives. From my side it was a great experience learning the breadth of work a Head of Marketing has to juggle on a daily basis and the great work Gabi is doing in her new role.

Gabi has started a substack - a weekly documentation of her experiences. I recommend following for an insight into the work she and her team are doing at The Dukes.

Haydn has collected feedback from this initial pilot, so keep your eyes peeled for a refreshed and version two in the new year!

Next week the Digital Culture Network are getting together for an away day in Birmingham and reviewing the entries for the Digital Culture Awards 🏆. Really looking forward to seeing the entries!