ArtCentrica is an EdTech solution that addresses the education market, a growing sector, reinforced by the pandemic situation. In this context, the cultural digital transformation has become an increasingly urgent need, and at the same time it also has made the development of new ways of teaching and learning. Therefore, guaranteeing access to cultural heritage online is fundamental for our future.
ArtCentrica, has been designed and developed since the end of 2019 by Centrica - Italian company leader in Digital sector for the cultural heritage enhancement -, and allows teachers and students to visualize in intimate detail, compare, virtually measure, correlate artworks, and create lessons that can be used inside and outside the classroom.
The cloud application contains more than 8,000 artworks from the Uffizi Galleries in very high resolution, up to 10 GigaPixel, a selection of artworks from the Brera Museum, the MET, Rijkmuseum, Central Graphic Institute in Rome, Cleveland Museum of Art, Finnish National Museum, Museo Egizio, Reims Musée des Beaux-Arts, SMK (Statens Museum for Kunst), Staedel Museum and 30 Florentine views. It is possible to appreciate intimate details of masterpieces from Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Caravaggio and other hundreds of artists, due to GigaPixel images and enabling technologies, with a quality of images and associated knowledge that is not available in the market.
ArtCentrica EDU allows users to compare artworks coming from different collections, to retrieve visual suggestions starting from a detail (i.e. a jewel), that is interesting for the teacher/students. Moreover it is possible to use existing lessons or create new ones using the ArtCentrica back office. The mix of technology, high quality content and user interface makes ArtCentrica a tool that is engaging for students and that opens new teaching possibilities for teachers.
ArtCentrica's pedagogical approach is based on an active learning approach, which consists of creating an environment that stimulates students to actively get involved in the learning process. The active learning main features are:
- the teacher is a guide whose role is to facilitate the students' learning experience;
- focus on the learning results;
- active involvement of all the students thanks to activities;
- collaborative approach between students and between students and teachers;
- teachers verify what activity the student is interested in, and customize lessons accordingly;
- each student is seen as unique with his/her needs, capabilities, and way of learning.
ArtCentrica cloud application, interactive and intuitive, can easily be used even by teachers who are less familiar with digital tools. This can improve their relationship with technologies and help them keep up with changes in society. Consequently, the teaching experience of their students would also be positively affected. In fact, the quality of the lesson stimulates an approach that fully encourages children's and students' self-motivation and the ability to develop their hidden competences, preparing them for the future development of soft skills.
Making the study of Art and through Art more active can lead to a direct involvement of students and stimulate their rapprochement with culture, also from a life-long learning perspective.
ArtCentrica solution creates engagement in Art appreciation, understanding and learning. Art expresses our feelings and our ideas. It testifies how mankind has represented beauty and society over the centuries. So, ArtCentrica brings features like artworks discovery starting from the interest of teachers and students, driven by ontologies and Al, generating knowledge processes and ideation.
Art discovery brings in children the ability to understand their own potential. Art suggestions bring the possibility to be independent, navigating through different paths created with a wide number of correlated elements such as animals, jewels, characters, and so on. The quality of content brings the joy of learning.
With ArtCentrica, our company also experiences new business models that bring value and additional resources (than traditional ones) to cultural institutions, giving them a percentage from revenues we create by annual subscriptions to the platform of Schools and Universities. Schools, Institutions, Universities pay an annual fee to access high-quality content and features.
Because of its valuable features, ArtCentrica has been recognized among the best ICT tools for teaching and learning by Reimagine Education 2020 (December 2020) and has been awarded by National Geographic in GESAwards That's Geography special track (January 2021). Moreover, ArtCentrica has been selected to enter in the Third Call of the European project IMPACT EdTech (November 2021), to enter in FuturED's acceleration path (January 2022) by CDP Venture Capital SGR - National Innovation Fund and recently awarded in Premio 2031 by H-FARM.
ArtCentrica, now a startup since March 2022, is an active tool in the renewal of the educational and cultural heritage sector and is still evolving, both in technological and content.
We are introducing also ArtCentrica Stories, dedicated to art lovers.
We aim that ArtCentrica can be used by an ever-growing audience, becoming an opportunity for dialogue and enrichment between different cultures and places.
Visit http://www.artcentrica.com to follow the product evolution.