Digital award for Glasgow’s visual arts website

Visual Arts Glasgow, a web-based initiative that  aims to raise the profile of the diversity of visual arts in Glasgow and grow audiences for the city’s museums and galleries, has pipped Edinburgh International Film Festival and a number of commercial businesses to the post in a competition that recognises Scotland’s most successful digital businesses. Conceived by Culture Republic, the mobile-responsive website collates visual content from social media posts by a group of participating venues, to enable visitors to keep up to date with the latest news, see what’s on and engage with exhibitions and commentary.

The website was created in response to research which revealed that, although levels of engagement with the visual arts were high, organisations were experiencing common barriers to audience growth. Culture Republic, which collects data directly from the social media feeds of over 500 organisations on a daily basis, identified that museums and galleries were already sharing a wealth of visual content through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but finding it difficult to use this to improve their long-term visibility. The site aims to put Glasgow on the international stage, raising the profile of participating organisations individually and collectively, and setting major tourist destinations like The Burrell Collection alongside lesser-known places such as Mary Mary and Project Ability.

Dianne Greig, project leader for Visual Arts Glasgow, said: “The website’s biggest strength comes from its sound research basis: we know that it’s responding directly to the needs of the museums and galleries that it represents, and we can already see that it is helping them to reach out collectively to new audiences within Glasgow and beyond. Last night’s award is a testament to the power of collaboration within the cultural sector…”