---
title: "Culture revealed: an indispensable online guide for Warsaw's cultural community"
date: 2023-10-06T17:43:24Z
modified: 2025-10-17T05:50:20Z
permalink: "https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/city-project/city-wide-platform-for-culture-online/"
type: city-project
status: publish
excerpt: In September 2021, the City of Warsaw launched a new platform co-financed with the Andrzej Wajda Centre for Film Culture.
wpid: 168600
tags:
  - Creative Space
  - Equity & Inclusion
  - Funding
  - Warsaw
  - Poland
  - Europe
  - Data
  - Health & Wellbeing
  - Technology
region:
  - Warsaw
country:
  - Poland
city-region:
  - Europe
topic:
  - Data
  - Health & Wellbeing
  - Technology
featured_image: "https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Acting4.jpg"
timestamp: 2025-10-17T05:50:20Z
---

## Project: VOD Warsaw platform



![](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Acting4.jpg)

## The Purpose

COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions severely limited access to culture in institutions across the city. Many organisations and creatives rushed to present their content online. However, this was often on commercial platforms governed by market regulations. VOD Warsaw was developed based on the experiences of the cultural sector during the Covid-19 lockdowns, following a survey of the needs and expectations of the creative community. It also aligns with the City’s objectives in the Warsaw 2030 Strategy to develop a digital sphere for culture.

## The Challenge

Cultural producers faced many challenges, including copyright, revenue generation and the quality of digital production. A working group of representatives from municipal cultural institutions came together to discuss the challenge of presenting culture online. In September 2021, the City of Warsaw launched a new platform, co-financed with the Andrzej Wajda Centre for Film Culture.

> The project has successfully generated new opportunities for revenue generation for the cultural sector, promoting economies of scale for cultural projects.

![](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/7-1.jpg)

## The Solution

The platform enables institutions from across the city to present their work online under a single web address. The City has contracts with 30 of the City’s cultural institutions and NGOs on a non-commercial basis. They can broadcast their work under their trademark, with their profile on the platform. It is at their discretion whether they charge for access to their content, whether it is translated, and what accessibility features they introduce. The platform also has a dedicated financial and tax model that complies with copyright law and regulations.

The platform is divided into four main sections: theatre, film, music and exhibitions. It also features safe educational content for children, including theatre shows, audio-visual productions, concerts and films, as well as podcasts, articles and multimedia presentations. Five festivals have been hosted on the platform.

Importantly, VOD Warsaw protects its creators and respects the creative freedom and autonomy of those involved. The system prevents users from recording the materials or saving them on storage devices and does not allow unlogged users to open links copied from the platform.

## The Impact

The platform was created in the spirit of an open, friendly and safe cultural community which safeguards and strengthens tolerance, defends democracy and social equity, and engages minority groups. VOD and live streaming on both the website and TV applications have reached new audiences. Foreigners living in Warsaw can access the navigation functions in Polish, English, Russian or Ukrainian, and organisations can upload audio-visual content in each language. VOD Warsaw platform is also disability-friendly and maintains high accessibility standards. Institutions can publish content with audio descriptions, subtitles, or sign language interpretation. The project has also successfully generated new opportunities for revenue generation for the cultural sector, promoting economies of scale for cultural projects.

_Source:_ [_World Cities Culture Report 2022_](https://worldcitiescultureforum.com/publication/world-cities-culture-forum-report-2022/)

Images Courtesy © Getty/Canva