In early December, the French Embassy launched the inaugural French-American Digital Lab//Connecting Cultures, for Paris after two successful New York editions in 2015 and 2016.
The program enables new cultural startups from France and the U.S. to adapt their products across the Atlantic through a six-day program which includes a series of workshops, conferences, and networking events. Additionally, the Digital Lab provides participants access with new ecosystems and leaders of the local creative industries.
Digital agency Bluecadet was recently named one of four U.S. companies to be accepted into the French Embassy’s inaugural French-American Digital Lab. With clients such as the National Air and Space Museum, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, MoMA, The Art Institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this program will help globalize Bluecadet’s work in the digital sphere.
As for what’s next for the agency, founder Josh Goldblum told DIVERGE: “2017 will be a big and busy year for us. The Museum of the American Revolution, a client we’ve worked with for 9 years, is finally opening. We produced all of the interactive media in this new museum and there are some exciting things to show. We also have projects launching for NASA, an Ivy League university, a reactive architectural-scale sculpture, a web platform for one of America’s first and largest civil liberties organizations, more work for the world’s largest charitable foundation, more work on the west coast, some work abroad and three separate projects dealing with climate change education and advocacy. We are continuing to build out our NYC and Philadelphia teams and expanding further into content, editorial and social strategy, film and video.”
DIVERGE spoke to Bluecadet’s Director of Strategy Brad Baer, who was in Paris to see what the experience entailed and what’s next for them in 2017:
What does it mean to be selected in the French-American Digital Lab?
We found out through a friend at Etsy in New York who read the brief and immediately thought Bluecadet was the perfect fit. We were notified a couple weeks ago that we had been selected and we immediately booked our flights from PHL to Charles De Gaulle Airport.
As one of the world’s great cities, it was remarkably rewarding to be accepted into such a small program and to be given such unprecedented access to talk directly with French politicians, diplomats, educators, curators, and technologists. We were given inside access to many of the established organizations in the city including Havas, Vivendi, and Orange and were invited to educate others about Bluecadet at several entrepreneurial hubs around town. The program also includes a great deal of education on French culture and the specifics of doing work in France so we now have a much better understanding of how we can make the process more seamless.
Why did Bluecadet apply?
Museums, universities, and nonprofits have some of the best possible content to work with and Paris has as many high quality cultural organizations as anywhere on earth. We were excited about the opportunity to work directly with the French Embassy and Business France, identified several organizations that could be good potential partners, and learned about opportunities to integrate technology into their institutions. From established museums like the Louvre to new museums like the Foundation Louis Vuitton, we wanted to hear a bit more about how their teams are approaching the challenge of capturing their audience’s’ attention and inspiring a new generation of visitors. We also have a new project in Canada so it doesn’t hurt to brush up on our French a bit, oui?
How will this help the brand expand their global presence?
We believe these preliminary discussions will help to introduce our proven approach to many of the organizations we met, and will open up opportunities to collaborate moving forward. Historically there has been a bit of hesitation to introduce digital offerings, especially at some of the more conservative museums in Paris, but we are confident that technology will soon be as integrated into museums in France as it is around the United States. We also feel like their impressive collections can become more accessible to those who aren’t able to visit via the web and social media. Furthermore, the flight is only a bit longer than a trip to California from Philadelphia so the prospect of working in Western Europe is actually quite feasible.
Who did you meet through this program?
Here is who we met with: Institut Francais, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Fondation Cartier pour L’Art Contemporain, Grand Palais/Reunion des Musees Nationaux, Shiguru Ban Architects, La Maison Rouge – Fondation Antonie de Galbert, INA+BNF, Louvre, Paris Musees, Cite des Sciences et de l’Industrie, the Google Cultural Institute.
