The Culture Congress

On Monday 27 October, "The Culture Congress" took place. A cleverly chosen name that suggested that this congress was unique in its kind and that there was a big organisation behind it. All the more surprising that this was only the first edition. And that the initiative came from one person.

During his opening remarks, Job Gerlings took us through the story of how this congress came about. He discovered more or less by chance that the domain name 'Cultuurcongres.nl' was still available. A twitter account and facebook page with this name did not yet exist either. He concluded that he must have found a gap in the market and took the plunge.

While I am somewhat sceptical about the idea that 'a gap in the market' is a guarantee of success - after all, something may not yet exist because there is no need for it - I like the fact that an entrepreneur is taking the initiative to organise it. After all, it always remains a gamble whether you will get enough registrations and thus get the costs out of it. So you can see it as a fine example of cultural entrepreneurship and decisiveness.

With just under 50 paying participants and a large number of workshop hosts and speakers, the room was pleasantly full. Most participants were employees of museums, theatres and libraries.

The congress tries to clearly distinguish itself from the well-known congresses in this sector (such as, for example, the museum congress and the performing arts congress) by having a business-like appearance, a meeting centre as a venue instead of, for example, a theatre, and a programme consisting mainly of marketing and sales experts from outside the sector.

That, then, is my main reservation about the content of this congress. Some workshops cover topics that are still a long way off for many cultural institutions. Cold acquisition, web analytics and microcredit are still a bridge too far for many. This was also reflected in the distribution among the different workshops. Topics such as crowdfunding and social media attracted significantly more participants.

The conference's approach of making marketing and sales inspiration from outside the cultural sector available to cultural institutions is a fine one. But a number of appealing examples of institutions that have applied this knowledge and techniques in their own organisations could take the whole thing to the next level. In this respect, the closing presentation by Roel Vente, director of Schouwburg en Congrescentrum het Park, came at just the right time. Using appealing examples, he managed to show how, as an institution, you can increase your visitor numbers through clarity in your communication.

But let's be honest: with a solid programme of content, a nice turnout and flawless organisation, this initiative certainly has what it takes to grow into an innovative event that can form a bridge between the cultural sector and the world of marketing and sales. And Job Gerlings' entrepreneurial spirit is evident from his announcement: next year on 12 November, the second edition of the Culture Congress will take place. I am definitely marking it down in my diary.