In 2018, the ENA launched six specialist communities for members to cultivate and share knowledge, expertise and best practices around a common interest. The members can sign up to receive newsletters, join various communication channels and social media groups, and attend community-related events and meetings.
EuropeanaTech, Europeana Copyright, Europeana Impact, Europeana Research, Europeana Education, and Europeana Communicators launched in the summer of 2018 and became the focus of the Annual General Meeting in Vienna in December 2018. In 2018-19, rules and terms of reference and activity plans were set up, and each community elected its steering group and chairs.
All six communities are involved in programming the Europeana 2019: Connect Communities conference, which will take place at the National Library of Portugal in Lisbon, in November 2019. Europeana 2019 will be a unique interdisciplinary event bringing together over 250 thought-leaders from around Europe and beyond, to see how the six communities can relate and strengthen each other. The event allows participants to work with and learn from world-leading specialists and practitioners, and to benefit from the mutual exchange of ideas and technology.
The 2018 AGM also saw the launch of a well-contested Members Council election in which 89 candidates sought to occupy 28 available seats. Of the 2,198 members eligible to vote, 889 participated in the elections - a 40% participation rate, equalling the turnout in 2017. Participants campaigned on social media under the #EuropeanaElects hashtag - it was used 96 times and reached a total audience of 96,996 people. A new Management Board was formed from the newly elected members in early 2019.