What could be better for our area than to be promoted globally? Such an opportunity came about on June 15^th, with Fay Orfanidou’s participation in the international conference Culture Geek. She took part as a speaker, representing Katheti and promoting our area! Culture Geek conference, whose theme this year was innovative development ideas with digital tools, takes place every year in London. This year it took place online and lasted three days, from June 14^th to 16^th. The conference is organized by the MuseumNext team and it functions as a meeting point for the wider cultural community. The event was attended by more than 50 speakers from around the world. They exchanged knowledge, good practices, ideas, experiences, innovations, and discussed new developments in the field of culture. Their purpose was to present innovative development ideas with digital tools. The conference explored the use and contribution of digital technology in the cultural sector. Representatives and collaborators from the fields of opera, museum, theater, festivals and cultural organizations participated. They talked about how they turned to digital technology in the past year and what lessons they learnt in the process. The topics presented were many and interesting. Next, we describe the ones we found most exciting.  

Sound can transport you to a certain place 

A very interesting topic was “The Sounds of the Forest” by the non-profit organization Wild Rumpus. They organize festivals, such as the Timber Festival, and events with music, theater and dance in forests and parks, with the aim of connecting people and nature. In the last year, due to the pandemic, they were led to a different model. They created a free world map of forest sounds, involving people from all over the world, who recorded sounds of nature. Thus, was created on the one hand an archive of forests that in the future may be lost, on the other hand an opportunity for organizations, artists and even schools to use these sounds in videos or art projects and in educational programs.  

The 3D digital world 

Another presentation was that of the Saganworks platform. The platform is free and provides us the ability to create 3D spaces that are very close to reality. It can be museums, galleries, exhibitions, restaurants or personal spaces that we want to share with friends and family. It is fast and simple to use and it can be done even with an iOS or Android mobile. Through the app, anyone can design a space in 3D and upload it on social media or a website.  

Build the museum of your dreams 

The National Museum Wales held a competition entitled “Minecraft your museum” for children aged six to eleven, with the aim of “building” the museum of their dreams. They used the free educational version of Minecraft, one of the most popular games in the world, and had to explore museum collections to get ideas. Thus, children were given the opportunity to develop their creativity and skills in presentation, design, research, interpretation, problem solving and self-direction. The children’s works can be found at People’s Collection Wales and are a good guide for visitor focused spaces which could attract young people. From the examples mentioned it is easy to understand that Culture Geek 2021 was multidimensional and brought together innovative development ideas with digital tools worldwide. This is one of the many reasons why it is very important that Fay Orfanidou was selected as a speaker. Her speech about how Katheti overcame the pandemic challenge using innovation and digital tools was full of inspiration and enthusiasm about Katheti’s future plans and the way it wants to contribute to the development of our area.