If you're a cultural organisation, or interested in working with cultural and arts organisations, here's a new networking and learning opportunity! In August 2009, a new phase of my ground-breaking project, AmbITion, was launched in Scotland by the Scottish Arts Council. AmbITion Scotland, just like AmbITion in England, is a change programme for the arts and cultural sector – helping organisations achieve their 21st century sustainability ambitions through implementing integrated IT and digital developments.

AmbITion has been running 9 getambition regional networks, across England, and as part of the new phase of the project, we are uniting all of these networks, merging in the Partnerships 2.0 network from Scotland and forming one national, UK-wide network. This new network will continue to connect together individual arts professionals who actively participate in sharing ideas, knowledge and opportunities, but by working, nationally, you can be an even bigger mass of people: collectively advancing digital development in the arts through your open source sharing.

There will be regular getambition opportunities for members to network and connect on the getambition.ning.com network throughout October and November: we'll be learning to use the Ning chat feature and Tokbox’s multi user video conferencing application. (Check the Events section for details). You'll also have access to the learning and training events AmbITion Scotland will be launching in January 2010 - via webcasting - a great opportunity to continue with your own digital development without necessarily increasing your carbon footprint!

You'll still be able to network regionally. Each region will have its own group with:
- a regional forum
- a community notice board
- relevant news feeds
but you’ll still have the whole national network to engage in for development, ideas, promoting and networking. Through the unified network will have a continuous flow of new ideas, events, conversations and resources. The bigger network will also mean that you are more likely to find someone who can answer your questions, who can sympathise with your dilemmas and potentially work in partnership on innovative new projects.

If you've not been part of a previous network but work in the cultural sector, please do sign up at getambition.ning.com. I look forward to continuing the digital development in the arts with you!