The Goethe-Institut South Africa and Jamlab Accelerator alumni, Credipple is calling for applications from creatives and tech enthusiasts to apply for the Hack Ur Culture workshops and a Cultural Hackathon.

Hack Ur Culture is a platform that brings together GLAM institutions (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) with creative minds and tech enthusiasts. The programme hopes to enable collaborations and innovations deriving from open cultural data, to bring African cultural heritage to the forefront of virtual experiences.

Open cultural data is cultural information in various formats (texts, manuscripts, pictures, photos, sounds, videos etc.) that can be accessed, used, modified and shared freely for any purpose.

Hack Ur Culture aims to put the question of open cultural data on the agenda and to foster creativity with open cultural data, digitised art works and documents. Its aim is to make cultural data in South Africa freely accessible for the public to use, share, and modify to enable respectful creative reuse.

Stefanie Kastner, regional head of information at the Goethe-Institut South Africa said, “This is an opportunity for brave young minds to lead in the development of innovative solutions that will be used by some of the continents most reputable GLAM institutions. As we begin taking the first steps recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, we are all responsible for building a new normal that will shape our future. With digital experiences and a shared economy at the heart of that, we ask: how can we help make cultural heritage data more open and accessible to all of us? And how can we bring African cultural heritage to the forefront of virtual experiences?”

This is why Hack Ur Culture cooperates with cultural institutions in opening cultural data to the public and invites creative and digital enthusiats to participate in building innovative solutions to revitalise the GLAM community. By bringing together institutions and creatives, a synergy is formed: when the cultural data is transformed, not only do the institution and the creatives benefit, but also the public!

The topic of the Hackathon will be “Cultural Heritage” and will kick off on Heritage Day, 24 September. Participants stand to win numerous prizes, including a fully-paid travel to Germany to take part in the Coding Da Vinci Hack-a-thon in 2021.

Click here for more information on how to apply. Submit your entry by 10 September 2020.

The JamLab Accelerator is a six-month hothouse programme for journalism and media innovators. It is based at Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct in the heart of Johannesburg

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