New partners, new name: cultour.digital has become Discover Culture. The online platform for networking and marketing cultural institutions goes beyond Austria's borders for the first time and can also gain a foothold in Germany.
Digital cultural platform conquers Europe
Friday, 9 July 2021
Discover Culture has also gained a strong new partner in the KHM Museum Association and its important imperial collections. A successful start to global marketing, according to the two platform founders - the Benedictine Abbey of Admont and LightCyde GmbH.
"The time is ripe. We were absolutely sure of this when we launched a digital cultural platform in February that is unrivalled anywhere in the world in this form," says Abbot Gerhard Hafner from the Benedictine Abbey of Admont. This assessment was spot on: after just a few months, "our page views have literally exploded," confirms Thomas Fischbacher, whose software company "LightCyde" developed the platform. No wonder, as Discover Culture (www.discover-culture.com) bundles the digitalised offerings of renowned cultural institutions. "The number of our partners has multiplied in recent months, which can also be attributed to the exceptional advertising value. After all, achieving such a wide reach is only possible when many cultural institutions join forces, as is the case with Discover Culture," explains Mario Brandmüller, Head of Tourism, Culture and PR at Admont Abbey.
High-calibre newcomer
The KHM Museum Association is a high-calibre newcomer to the Discover Culture platform. To launch its video series, a highlights tour of the Kunsthistorisches Museum's Picture Gallery will be available from the summer. Further tours of the Imperial Treasury Vienna, the World Museum Vienna and the Imperial Carriage Museum in Schönbrunn, with a focus on Empress Sisi, as well as an excursion to Ambras Castle in Innsbruck will follow over the next few months. All tours will be available in German as well as in a synchronised version in English, Russian, Chinese and Japanese.
From mid-August, Discover Culture users can also look forward to a special foretaste: a virtual tour of the top-class Titian Room at the Kunsthistorisches Museum will get them in the mood for the major special exhibition "Titian's Portrait of a Woman" in autumn 2021.
"We are extremely interested in making our digital offerings accessible to an international audience, and the Discover Culture platform offers us the ideal opportunity to do so," says Sabine Haag, Director General of the KHM-Museumsverband. "As a museum, we want to give people around the world the opportunity to experience our unique art and cultural treasures at the KHM-Museumsverband digitally in a high-calibre and appealing way - and we look forward to them discovering the originals all the more enthusiastically on their next visit to Austria."
Kick-off for international marketing
In addition to numerous Austrian partnerships, the first international co-operation has now been concluded with the Princely House of Schaumburg-Lippe. Bückeburg Castle will soon be virtualised. The aristocratic family's residence will go online as a virtual tour on the Discover Culture platform in the coming weeks. "We see great potential in the fact that with the latest technologies in the virtual realm, visitors can be provided with previously untouchable experiences. Together with the Discover Culture platform, we have visualised the future and are excited to be a part of this technological advancement. We believe that visitors to our tours can now have regular and instant experiences with Bückeburg Castle that would be difficult or even impossible in real life. This makes our family home one of the first of many backdrops for endless possibilities that could only be rivalled by our own creativity," says SHD Donatus Erbprinz zu Schaumburg-Lippe.
The first step beyond Austria's borders has therefore been successful. The door to the European market is now open and Benediktinerstift Admont and LightCyde GmbH are already pursuing new goals, as Thomas Fischbacher and Mario Brandmüller emphasise: "Discover Culture makes it possible to communicate culture worldwide, which is why we will soon be starting to market the cultural platform internationally." The path has already been paved: the platform already owns international image rights.
Enormous potential given
After Europe, the company plans to focus more on the Asian and American markets. The forecasts are good: research by Goldman Sachs, a global investment banking and securities company, assumes that virtual and augmented reality will grow into a market with enormous potential by 2025.
