From Michael Ende's novel ‘Momo’ we know: ‘You must never think of the whole road at once, you understand?’ The digitisation of cultural heritage can sometimes feel like a seemingly endless road with twists and turns and potholes. Since the Kulturpool was relaunched in March 2024, many hurdles have been cleared and the way has been paved for users. But to really reach the destination, we need those who consistently keep going: the museums, galleries, archives and libraries that digitise, communicate and further open up their collections. Together with the Kulturpool, they shape digital cultural heritage and make it usable.

With this conviction in mind, more than 60 participants from different parts of Austria accepted Kulturpool's invitation to discuss key issues and explore future collaborations at the Provider Forum 2025 on September 24 at the Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media, and Sport (BMWKMS). From the small archive in Innsbruck to the large federal museum in Vienna: Kulturpool brought everyone together around one table.

The forum began with an update on Kulturpool, which provided insights into new features and strategic developments. This was followed by a roundtable discussion on the sensitive topic of dealing with problematic content: What difficulties and ambiguities currently exist regarding diverse cultural data—and what technical solutions can facilitate contextualization? The Kulturpool team moderated the roundtable discussions, and the results will be incorporated into the further development of the search portal and the knowledge database for providers.

Inspiring and entertaining insights followed in the keynote speech by Ludmila Graf (ZDFkultur). Using the example of the channel “Das ist also Kunst” (@dasistalsokunst), she showed how digital art education can work on Instagram. Graf's team succeeded in building a community of more than 130,000 followers with entertaining but also informative posts. Graf advises that even in the concept phase, it is important to carefully consider which target groups are the focus and what promise the channel wants to deliver on. Due to the highly dynamic nature of the channel, the content must also be continuously evaluated and adapted. 

‘So That's Art’ is based on collaboration with influencers who already have their own communities and, above all, clearly enjoy the format and the objects. Flexibility, regularity and authenticity are key factors in the channel's success. The expertise needed for the story often comes from collaborations with museums – there is still a lot of potential here, according to Graf, who also moderated a small group discussion afterwards. 

Networking, communicating, developing, mediating, utilising – participants discussed how Kulturpool and its partners can further open up and tap into new target groups. In small groups, they shared their personal experiences with the diverse institutions and collections and identified common problems and opportunities for cooperation. In a second step, following a stimulating discussion in plenary, the groups developed concrete measures and prioritised them.

The lively discussions highlighted the factors for success: willingness to cooperate, a common understanding of transparency and technological openness, and a shared passion for cultural data. The Kulturpool team also took away another message from the forum: Kulturpool is in demand in several ways – as a platform for exchange with and between institutions, as a technical service centre and competence centre for knowledge transfer, and as a hub for digital cultural data and innovation.

And what happens next? The Kulturpool team once again turns to Michael Ende, who writes: ‘You just have to think about the next step, the next breath, the next stroke of the broom. And always just the next one.’

We would like to thank all participants for their many ideas!