Digital knowledge management for the arts
A team of arts professionals and technologists, we help arts organizations structure live events and be the digital authority of their own metadata. Be discovered by AI-powered search and virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant.
Culture Creates makes live events discoverable on the web. We specialize in generating RDF-based knowledge graphs to make information on what’s happening in the arts compatible with an AI-powered world. Knowledge graphs structure and link metadata in a machine-readable interconnected web to help people and machines navigate the complexity of the internet.
"Translating event listings into structured data… is arguably the most urgent digital action item for performing arts [today]." - Frédéric Julien, Director Research and Development, CAPACOA
Footlight programmatically collects, structures and links public event information converting it into a knowledge graph. The Footlight Console empowers arts organizations to guide the algorithms and review the results, putting Arts Organization in the driver seat. The end result is accurate event information ready for any smart activity on any future device. Users are no longer searching for queries on the web but finding answers. Only the linked will survive!
On every virtual assistant EVERY arts event in Canada will be on the tip of its tongue. When people say "Alexa what can I do tonight?" the arts will be ready.
Imagine a unified, informative way for the nation’s art and culture to present itself on the Internet. Imagine enterprise platforms like Expedia, AirBnB, Culture Trip, Ticketmaster, Amazon, Facebook and Google being able to include cultural events within their offers in every city across Canada. Imagine arts organizations being able to offer local cultural events on future enterprise platforms throughout the country reaching millions of Canadians.
"Data flows have transformed how businesses do commerce and people connect globally, making data the most valuable asset in today’s economy." - Jim Balsillie, Canadian businessman and former Co-CEO of RIM.
At Culture Creates we recognize the importance of online data, so we propose a national digital vision with the aim of:
We understand the pre-cursor before any digital transformation can occur - in any sector - is a critical mass of structured data. We created Footlight technology to directly address the need to structure linked open data in the arts. We have chosen a narrow focus on performance listings and event metadata.
Beyond the benefits of improved find-ability and efficiency, when Canadian arts organizations use Footlight not only do they become the digital authority of their own metadata, together they generate a valuable mass of useable and connected metadata.
Our vision proposes putting this valuable mass of metadata in an innovative model of collective ownership involving arts organizations across Canada in the form of a platform cooperative.
We seek to shift the existing power of closed exclusive data access presently held by multi-national tech companies to one that is open and accessible for the arts in Canada. And with access to valuable data, the arts will be able to generate and capitalize on new financing opportunities.
The Canadian arts sector will have the technology and a platform cooperative to protect national cultural metadata and generate new revenue for itself. It is a proposed digital vision designed at the outset to better position the Canadian arts sector to seize opportunities, innovate, develop, amplify and over time transform its organizational models.
I am a career arts manager, big picture thinker and entrepreneur dedicated to taking on ambitious projects that help arts thrive.
I am an engineer and entrepreneur who loves the arts. I am obsessed with using technology for the betterment of society as a whole.
I am a career marketer and strategic thinker with extensive B2B marketing experience who seeks to empower the arts with technology.
