ARTSDATA.CA
A national knowledge graph for the arts
Artsdata.ca aims to empower the Canadian arts sector to actively promote a more fair and equitable digital ecosystem. This initiative is building a linked open data knowledge graph of the arts that is open and accessible to all.
About Artsdata
Vision
Build a knowledge graph that is open, accessible and community sourced. Under the stewardship of stakeholders from a diversity of organizations, Artsdata.ca is uniquely focused on the Canadian arts sector. The objectives are to:
- Create an essential digital resource that reflects the values of the arts
- Build a substantial web of linked open data of arts-related information
- Provide high-quality data that is comprehensive and up to date
Benefits
The Artsdata.ca knowledge graph enables the arts sector to:
- Gain knowledge, agency and control of descriptive metadata about events, persons, organizations and venues
- Streamline the circulation of arts events to listings sites, recommenders and other search engines by programmatically sharing event metadata
- Optimize the use of the latest web technologies to generate new opportunities
Activities
- Promote a common data model for cultural information about the performing arts, taking advantage of existing ontologies where possible
- Onboard cohorts of Canadian arts organizations to include their descriptive metadata in Artsdata.ca
- Increase the breadth and quality of the Artsdata.ca knowledge graph by adding data from a variety of sources
- Create a library of global identifiers for events, places, persons, organizations and works in the Canadian arts sector
- Link to other knowledge sources like Wikidata; leverage the use of existing global identifiers and linked open data with the goal of creating a substantial web of data
Artsdata in 2023
- Continue onboarding arts organizations into Artsdata.ca
- Improve data quality
- Expand use of data sources including databases, websites and other open data sources
- Develop applications that enable human interaction with Artsdata
- Support applications and services that consume data from Artsdata.ca
- Synchronize global identifiers between Artsdata.ca and Wikidata.org to interlink data about places, artists, organizations and works
Want to know more?
Find out about model classes and properties. Provide feedback and
ask questions.
Data model documentation
Add your events to Artsdata.ca
Need to add structured data to your events?
To structure your events, add JSON-LD or RDFa to your web pages by following Google's instructions. You
will need technical expertise and access to your website backend.
Remember! Use the Artsdata.ca data model when structuring
your own events.
Already have structured data for events?
Let us know so we can add your events to Artsdata.ca.
Contact us
SPARQL Endpoint
Looking for a SPARQL endpoint?
Artsdata.ca works with SPARQL, a query language for linked open data and semantic graph databases. SPARQL
users can query the knowledge graph using the provided YASGUI user interface or a remote SPARQL client.
Access SPARQL
Sample SPARQL queries:
Events
Events by website
Artists
Organizations
Places
Provenance
Triple Count
Meta Catalogs
SHACL Reports
Other Resources
Linked Digital Future
dia-log
Wikidata:WikiProject Performing
arts
Partners
Artsdata Interest Group
The Artsdata Interest Group acts as a governing body for Artsdata.ca and defines priorities for its development through monthly meetings.
The group includes a diversity of stakeholders from the Canadian arts sector, ranging from open data providers to consumers to service organizations.
As of May 2023, members include Association RIDEAU, CAPACOA, Culture Laval, Culture Outaouais, The National Arts Centre, Synapse C, La Vitrine, and
the Government of New Brunswick. If you are interested in joining the Artsdata community group, please contact frederic.julien@capacoa.ca.
Other Supporters
Culture Creates is a small team of arts professionals and technologists specialized in RDF-based knowledge graphs and linked open data for the
arts. Their mission is to make information on what’s happening in the arts compatible with an AI-powered world.
Artsdata.ca has many data providers across Canada. These include dozens of participants in digital discoverability cohorts led by the Linked
Digital Future Initiative and CAPACOA, as well as 13 associations, networks, unions and other service organizations (click
here for a detailed list of data providers).
Past Supporters
From 2017 to 2022, Executive Director Sherrie Johnson (Crow’s Theatre) actively stewarded (with several arts organizations across the country) the Artsdata.ca
initiative through successive multi-phase grant applications.
From 2018 to 2023, CAPACOA’s Linked Digital Future Initiative contributed to the development of Artsdata, of Wikidata and of the broader linked
open data ecosystem for the performing arts.
Supported by
