Linda Spurdle is an expert in the cultural sector, with over 20 years of experience working as a digital leader within museums. She has worked for several large and complex, multi-site museum services, and was the head of the Digital at Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT) for the last 10 years, leading on digital strategy, digital engagement and IT. Her digital transformation work at BMT saw her lead the push towards being “digital by default”, and this included the development and use of Shopify as a single ecommerce solution, bringing together ticketing, retail and F&B sales.
Spurdle led on the open access policy at Birmingham Museums Trust, releasing out of copyright images into the public domain, and developed innovative partnership projects to enhance this work. This includes the large scale success of a partnership with Unsplash ( a million downloads of images a year) and creative projects such as working with Cold War Steve and Vivid Projects on the Cut Copy Remix project and developing a R&D project with Kultura and West Midlands artist performers to take poetry and music into the Occupy White Walls metaverse. Spurdle enjoys working with artists and supporting good storytelling, and feels privileged to have commissioned Pogus Caesar’s The Tiny Spark film in 2023, a moving and inspiring reimagining of the Handsworth Riots which included the poetry of Benjamin Zephaniah.
She is the chair of Vivid Projects, is a non-profit company based in Birmingham that supports media arts practice, encouraging innovation, risk and experimentation. She is a well-known leader in the sector often speaking at events and recognised for my experience of leading high-profile projects. She was named as one of the 2021 blooloop Top 50 Museum Influencers and regularly gives presentations at conferences and events, such as MuseumNext, American Alliance of Museums AAM2021, CultureGeek, Museum and Heritage Show and the Museums Association.
