Challenges and opportunities for cooperative projects – Ateneu

Digitization can be an opportunity for the cultural world … but also a risk if it is done without values. In the field of social and solidarity economy, many cooperative cultural projects are finding ways to put technology at the service of the community, shared knowledge and social transformation.

In the Baix Llobregat, as in many other territories, culture is not only created: it is shared, taught and lived. But in the middle of digital age, the forms of creation, access and cultural diffusion are changing at high speed. Cultural cooperatives are often in the face of a double challenge: to adapt to this technological context and do so without losing its collaborative, rooted and transformative essence.

An unequal digitization

Digital tools have democratized access to creation and cultural diffusion. Today it is possible to record, edit, publish and distribute cultural content with modest means. But that does not mean that all projects have the same possibilities.

Many cooperative cultural initiatives have limitations on access to technology, lack of resources or technical knowledge. In addition, the digital context is often dominated by private platforms, opaque algorithms, and poor ethical business models.

That is why digitizing from the ESS involves asking questions:
– How do we guarantee accessibility?
– How do we avoid the precariousness of cultural work?
– How do we protect sovereignty from data and contents?
-How do we have a community look in a hyper-confidence world?

Free tools, shared knowledge

One of the keys proposed by the ESS is the use of free and open tools. Platforms such as PEERTUBE, OBSTUDIO, AUDACITY or WordPress allow you to manage cultural content without depending on large corporations.

Initiatives that use Creative Commons licenses are also growing, which allow sharing works without sacrificing copyrights, and collaborative archives for educational, visual or artistic materials. These formats favor the circulation of knowledge and break access barriers.

Projects such as CommonsCloud or Guifi.net They show that it is possible to generate cooperative and sustainable digital infrastructure. In addition, the Maker movement and open source communities are natural allied ones of cultural cooperativism.

Territory projects that inspire

In the Baix Llobregat and surroundings we find projects that are references of this digital and cooperative look:

• Audiovisual cooperatives which produce and disseminate content in line with critical and inclusive look.
• Cultural Casals or Athenians which have begun to offer hybrid programming (face -to -face + streaming) to bring activities to more people.
• Cooperative Music or Theater Schools who have adapted part of their formations to open platforms and online resources.

These initiatives not only take advantage of technology: they transform it, put it at the service of community territory and culture.

Digital literacy and technological governance

Digitization is not only a technical matter, but also political and pedagogical. Cooperatives that bet on this path also work to train members and participants in digital competencies, foster reflection on the tools we use and make collective decisions on how and why we digitize.

In this sense, some projects already incorporate internal training sessions on digital tools, or use collective governance platforms such as We decide or Loomiowhich allow you to adapt participation to the virtual environment without losing the horizontal and assembly dimension.

A collective challenge for ESS circles

From the Circle of Innovation and Culture of the Ateneu Cooperativa del Baix Llobregat, digitalization is identified as one of the key pillars for the coming years. Not only to facilitate the sustainability of cultural projects, but also to strengthen the intercooperation, the dissemination of good practices and the visibility of cooperative culture.

This circle is committed to opening shared lines of work, detecting needs and generating content that helps to make this digital transition with meaning, putting life and culture at the center.

Conclusion: Digitizing yes, but with values

Digitization is a path that has no reverse. But how and what key decisions are still being. Within the framework of the social and solidarity economy, these decisions are made collectively, with ethical criteria and with a transformative look.

Digitizing culture should not be a resignation, but an opportunity to make it more open, fairer and more participatory.

From the Ateneu Cooperativa del Baix Llobregat, we will continue to support these processes and opening spaces so that cooperative culture can also grow in digital. And do it in our own way: with values, carefully and with community.

🔗 Do you want to be part of the Circle of Innovation and Culture or share your project?
📩 Write us to info@ateneucoopbll.cat