What is Culture Online?

Culture Online is an innovative initiative to increase access to, and participation in, arts and culture. It brings together cultural organisations with cutting-edge technical providers to create projects that will delight adults and children of all ages and backgrounds.

Culture Online aims to:

• enhance access to the arts for children and young people and give them the opportunity to develop their talents to the full;
• open up our cultural institutions to the wider community, to promote lifelong learning and social cohesion;
• extend the reach of new technologies and build IT skills;
• support wider and richer engagement and learning by all adults;
• promote good practice within the industry and within the public sector in regards to commissioning, process, usability and accessibility.

We have funded projects to bring people further into the arts and culture through history, the visual arts, the performing arts, music, crafts and science. Each experience is highly participatory and encourages the innovative use of technologies such as the Internet, digital interactive TV, mobile and wireless devices.

Many of Culture Online's projects are aimed at children of school age. Others serve audiences that might not otherwise participate in arts and culture. Examples of these audiences include those who don't easily have access to arts and culture, people from deprived communities or people with particular educational or physical needs.

Between 2002 and 2004, £13m has been allocated to fund around 20 projects. Culture Online is an integral part of the DCMS e-business strategy, which forms part of the Government's UK Online programme. This programme aims to ensure everyone who wants it has access to the Internet by 2005 and that all Government services are online by that date, and to make Britain one of the leading knowledge economies.