Culture and Digital | Towards the Culture Compass: A Sector Blueprint

This briefing on Access to Culture and Digital (Chapter 10) was edited and coordinated by MCA and forms part of 10 policy briefings in the discussion paper ‘Towards the Culture Compass: A Sector Blueprint‘ published by Culture Action Europe. Read the Sector Blueprint to discover other briefings on:

• Artistic Freedom
• Working Conditions
• Artistic Research, Culture and Innovation
• International Cultural Relations
• Culture and Health and Well-Being
• Culture and Sustainability
• Cultural Participation
• Access to Cultural and Arts Education
• Culture and Security

download the sector blueprint

Context

When we talk about digital, we mean, according to the European Commission’s definition in the DIGITAL Europe Programme, everything that is ‘technology and infrastructure [on which] we rely to communicate, work, advance science, and answer societal problems. ’ For this reason, we can identify the influence of digital in two directions: the transformation of the work in the cultural sector and the cultural dimension of the digital environment.

The digital space, both online and offline, is essentially a cultural space: digital platforms and tools generate exchanges between different people, allow self-expression, create, interact, educate, and build communities. Moreover, artificial intelligence systems and algorithms are now systems for managing knowledge and cultural representation (with acknowledged problems of perpetuation of bias). Below, we set out the key opportunities and challenges followed by a set of structural solutions and complementary support measures.

• Culture in the digital realm

Digital tech is now part of everyday cultural life, for creators and audiences alike. That’s why cultural rights, as set out in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ratified across Europe), matter online as much as offline. Internet and digital tools offer great potential to democratise cultural creation, dissemination, and access. However, the rapid development of digital technologies and AI raise questions about fairness, transparency, diversity, representation, and fair pay for creative work, especially where markets are dominated by a few players and regulation is still lacking.

What can be done: One of the premises of the Europe’s Digital Decade is that anything that is illegal offline should also be illegal online. It is therefore essential that the EU takes a stand in favour of protecting cultural rights in this field as well.

• Use digital where it serves real needs

Too often, digital tools are implemented without real research into what local cultural communities need. When this happens top-down, under ‘modernise at any cost’ policies, it can alienate staff and audiences. Just as important, people should have the right to stay analogue: professionals, institutions, and artists must be able to refuse using digital tools in their work without being sidelined or excluded.

What can be done: The EU should support practical research into sector needs and where digital tools genuinely help, invest in closing the digital divide for cultural professionals, and address possible job displacement due to digital and AI adoption (skills, transition support, fair safeguards). Just as importantly, recognise and protect analogue practices as a valued part of a pluralistic, healthy cultural ecosystem.

• Digital governance for and with the cultural sector

Digital policy shapes cultural space, so it needs the insight of cultural organisations and institutions. Cultural and artistic work often relies on deliberation, inclusion, and negotiation—values that can balance market-driven approaches. Yet cultural professionals are rarely involved in, or even aware of, European and national digital policies. Digital governance should be opened up to collective shaping at local, national, and EU levels. That means creating practical fora for dialogue and constructive disagreement.

What can be done: Cultural organisations can act as testing grounds for bottom-up, participatory models of digital governance. At the same time, cultural professionals should be brought into European digital decision-making, and cultural institutions can engage audiences and communities in designing their own digital strategies.

• Protecting heritage through digital means

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the destruction in Gaza show how vulnerable cultural heritage is and why it must be protected both physically and digitally. For intangible heritage, safeguarding also means enabling collective reinterpretation and intergenerational transmission; that requires preserving cultural agency in digital spaces.

What can be done: EU support for digitising cultural heritage should move beyond guidelines to direct funding for institutions, with a focus on improving digitisation at grassroots level. This work should be coordinated with existing EU initiatives so that cultural memory is preserved, accessible, and widely shared.

• Authorship and remuneration in an AI world

Generative AI is trained on vast amounts of cultural content, often without creators’ knowledge or consent. This undermines fair pay and proper credit, and risks shifting authorship from communities of makers to companies that control datasets and outputs.

What can be done: The AI Act and the Code(s) of Practice do not adequately protect creators or establish a fair remuneration system. EU policy should require transparent disclosure of training data and create feasible and accessible mechanisms for consent and compensation going beyond opt-out options. Clear rules on attribution, licensing, and revenue-sharing must be built into AI governance frameworks so that the cultural and creative sectors keep meaningful control over how their works are used and recognised.

Proposals

• A ‘right to culture’ as a new principle in the Digital Decade. The European Commission should add the ‘right to culture’ to six digital rights already included in the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles to protect cultural rights online and support the notion of cultural democracy in the digital sphere.
• Survey real needs when drafting digital policies. Whenever the European Commission wants to launch a digital strategy that concerns the cultural and creative field (such as the future AI for Cultural & Creative Industries Strategy, Apply AI Strategy, etc.), the process should begin with a Eurobarometer survey exploring real needs in terms of tools, know-how, and community/audience engagement.
• Launch an Open Method of Coordination on collective digital governance in cultural environments. With Member States and sectoral representatives, launch an OMC to explore grassroots best practices for community consultation, co-creation processes, and empowerment in digital governance across cultural environments. The objective is to produce a time-saving, effort-saving toolkit for cultural organisations and institutions to apply bottom-up approaches to digital governance.
• Assess the EU copyright framework and establish fair remuneration in the digital information economy. Review Directive (EU) 2019/790 and related laws to ensure that training generative AI on copyrighted works requires authorisation, remuneration (including licensing), and transparency. The framework should cover rights holders and also require models trained on information commons (e.g., publicly available digitised cultural heritage) to contribute meaningfully to the costs of creating, curating, and preserving culture and knowledge.
• Fund cultural institutions as local hubs for digital governance. To test bottom-up, participatory models of digital governance, the Commission should finance cultural institutions and organisations through Interreg (or its successor in the next Multiannual Financial Framework) to build local community assemblies. Using the Alignment Assembly model, these assemblies would co-design digital strategies tailored to each institution’s needs. The institutions funded through this scheme would form a representative advisory body for the Commission on digital governance.
• Invest in digitising tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Through DIGITAL Europe (or its successor in the new Multiannual Financial Framework, i.e. the European Competitiveness Fund) and the National and Regional Partnership Plans, launch national digitisation strategies across galleries, libraries, archives, and museums. Make funding conditional on: (i) balancing tangible and intangible heritage, (ii) enabling collective reinterpretation processes, and (iii) ensuring fair representation of diverse minority communities. Require that all digitised content is routed to the Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage via national and thematic aggregators.
• Fund digital skills, value analogue practices. Through Erasmus+ and DIGITAL Europe (or their successors in the next Multiannual Financial Framework), support capacity-building for cultural professionals so they can develop digital skills and autonomy. Fund training, facilitation, and infrastructure that enable collaboration and strengthen collective agency, while addressing the downsides of digitalisation. Crucially, funding should also recognise a right to remain analogue: artists, workers, and institutions must be free to decline digital tools without being penalised, and analogue practices should be explicitly accepted in evaluation and assessment.

Annex: Resources

1. Alignment Assembly on AI and the Commons — Outcomes and Learnings, Open Future, 2024.
2. Beyond AI and Copyright — Funding a Sustainable Information Ecosystem, Open Future, 2025.
3. Cookbooks — Digital Leap (Erasmus+ project 2020–2022).
4. Mission Statement — Action Group on Digital & AI, Culture Action Europe; Michael Culture Association, 2024.
5. Museums Paving the Way in an AI-Driven Society, Network of European Museum Organisations, 2024.
6. On Digital Ethics for Cultural Organisations, European Network of Cultural Centres, 2023.
7. Open Letter: Rethinking Digital Practices and Spaces, 20+ cultural networks, 2025.
8. Plan de Derechos Culturales (Plan for Cultural Rights), Ministerio de Cultura de España, 2025.
9. Position Statement: Key Messages for the Future of the MFF, Michael Culture Association, 2025.

Culture Compass for Europe

The Culture Compass for Europe released by the European Commission in November 2025 includes a section on culture and cultural heritage becoming more competitive, resilient and cohesive (section 5), with two parts directly touching upon the importance of digital for culture (sub-sections 5.1. and 5.3.). The Commission recognises that “attention to issues like the proliferation of AI-generated content, access to data and funding, and dependency on non-EU technology is crucial” and believes “a forward-looking and enabling regulatory environment is essential for Europe’s cultural and creative sectors and industries.” As part of this, they announce a new AI strategy for cultural and creative sectors, while reiterating their support for the digitisation and digital transformation of the cultural heritage sector through initiatives including Europeana and the Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage.

The Culture Compass is accompanied by a draft Joint Declaration entitled “Europe for Culture – Culture for Europe” to be agreed upon and signed by the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council of the EU. This initial draft includes a dedicated article on AI systems and culture, committing to:

• promoting human creation and European cultural and linguistic digital sovereignty, and addressing ethical risks of biases and cultural homogenisation;
• protecting intellectual property rights, by addressing the impacts of AI on creators’ remuneration;
• monitoring and mitigate the impact of AI on jobs; and
• fostering the use of AI as a tool to support cultural and creative professionals.

In relation to preserving cultural heritage through digital means, the declaration also commits to “protecting, safeguarding and promoting Europe’s rich natural and cultural heritage – both tangible and intangible – while harnessing digital technologies to foster its preservation, access and innovation.”