How can museums, festivals, and creative organisations use data without losing sight of people, values, and sustainability?
This is the question at the heart of the newly released ARCHS Initial Framework, a key public deliverable launched by EXCENTRIC.
Developed as part of EXCENTRIC’s mission to support a fair, sustainable, and human‑centred digital transformation of Europe’s cultural and creative sectors, the deliverable offers a new way for organisations to reflect on how they use data – not just whether they do.
Putting people and values at the centre of digital change
Across Europe, cultural organisations are increasingly expected to work with data: to understand audiences, improve decision‑making, demonstrate impact, and collaborate across borders. Yet many struggle to do so in ways that align with their missions, capacities, and values.
The ARCHS Framework responds to this challenge by setting out five guiding principles that should underpin digital transformation in the cultural and creative sectors:
- Adaptive – the ability to respond flexibly to change and build long‑term resilience
- Responsible – ensuring ethical, transparent, and legally compliant data practices
- Collaborative – fostering trust, shared goals, and effective cooperation across organisations
- Human‑Centric – strengthening skills, creativity, wellbeing, and human agency
- Sustainable – balancing economic, social, cultural, and environmental goals
Rather than promoting technology for its own sake, ARCHS encourages organisations to see digital transformation as a socio‑technical process — one that must work for people, institutions, and ecosystems alike.
At the core of EXCENTRIC’s approach is the idea of Collaborative Data Ecosystems: networks of cultural organisations that share, govern, and use data together to create collective value that no single organisation could achieve alone.
The ARCHS Initial Framework provides a common vocabulary and reflection tool to support this shift. It helps cultural workers and organisations assess their readiness for collaboration, identify strengths and gaps, and align data practices with shared values and long‑term objectives.
Importantly, the framework operates at three interconnected levels:
- Individual (skills, perceptions, and everyday practices),
- Organisational (governance, workflows, and decision‑making),
- Network (trust, coordination, and collaboration across institutions).
A living framework, shaped by practice
The ARCHS Initial Framework is not a final blueprint. It is intentionally designed as a living document that will evolve throughout the three‑year EXCENTRIC project.
Over the coming months, the framework will be tested and refined through real‑world pilots in experience‑based cultural sectors such as museums, festivals, live music, and performing arts. Insights from these pilots will feed into future tools, including the ARCHS Compass, a visualisation instrument that helps organisations track their progress over time.
By the end of the project, this iterative work will culminate in a practical Toolkit on Collaborative Data Practice for human‑centric digital transformation, supporting wider uptake across Europe’s cultural and creative industries.
The ARCHS Initial Framework (Deliverable D1.1) is now publicly available and marks an important first step in EXCENTRIC’s journey toward more collaborative, human‑centred digital ecosystems for culture.
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