What is cultural policy?
Can artists influence cultural policy?
Can the language of research and evaluation offer a bridge between arts and policy needs?
This is the presentation of a paper I wrote for the XXVI European Society for Rural Sociology Congress, Places of Possibility? Rural Societies in a Neoliberal World, 18-21 August, Aberdeen, Scotland
Presentación de Adrian Smith, Profesor de Tecnología y Sociedad. Science and Policy Research Unit (SPRU) y STEPS Centre. Universidad de Sussex. Para la Conferencia "Tecnología e Innovación para el Desarrollo" #itdUPM2015
This is the second session of my unit on international business with a particular focus on culture. A brief introduction to the most important topics covered in this lecture is given. National, supranational, digital, sub-cultures etc. are briefly introduced and the stage is set for upcoming in-depth sessions.
This lecture covers the main aspects of national culture in international business. It extensively discusses the dimensions developed by Geert Hofstede, and also shows some of the critics he received for his work. As an alternative approach to his study, GLOBE is discussed.
This is the presentation of a paper I wrote for the XXVI European Society for Rural Sociology Congress, Places of Possibility? Rural Societies in a Neoliberal World, 18-21 August, Aberdeen, Scotland
Presentación de Adrian Smith, Profesor de Tecnología y Sociedad. Science and Policy Research Unit (SPRU) y STEPS Centre. Universidad de Sussex. Para la Conferencia "Tecnología e Innovación para el Desarrollo" #itdUPM2015
This is the second session of my unit on international business with a particular focus on culture. A brief introduction to the most important topics covered in this lecture is given. National, supranational, digital, sub-cultures etc. are briefly introduced and the stage is set for upcoming in-depth sessions.
This lecture covers the main aspects of national culture in international business. It extensively discusses the dimensions developed by Geert Hofstede, and also shows some of the critics he received for his work. As an alternative approach to his study, GLOBE is discussed.
Elite tweets: Analysing the twitter communication patterns of Labour Party Peers in the House of Lords. A session at Twitter and Microblogging: Political, Professional and Personal Practices, Lancaster University 10-12 April 2013 #LUTwit
2010 Digital Trends, Ideas and Technologies (Part 1)David Carr
Digital Trends for 2010 based around 4 themes including: Real-time, Won't believe the hype, Good cause/Cause Good and Developing a Playful Side. David J Carr, Digital Strategy Director, Chemistry Communications
With the ever-changing climate of social media, it’s hard to know what’s “in” and what will help grow your business. Social media, digital marketing and new technology holds tremendous opportunities for companies looking to drive new business, retain customers, create engagement and increase revenue. So many changes have come through social media in the past few years, and no doubt that more are on their way in 2015. Interested in where it is all going? What should be in store for you for the next year? Join Erica Campbell Byrum, Director of Social Media for Homes.com and ForRent.com as she shares insight into social media trends to help you develop a social program that is proactive versus reactive.
This presentation was given to the Hampton Roads American Marketing Association by Erica Campbell Byrum, Director of Social Media with ForRent.com & Homes.com on September 11, 2014.
TrendsSpotting's 2010 Social Media Influencers - Trend Predictions in 140 Cha...Taly Weiss
"2010 Social Media Influencers" is the first report from the series "2010 Influencers Series: Trend Predictions in 140 Characters".
TrendsSpotting Market Research is now running its third annual prediction reports following major trends in six categories. We will be featuring the predictions of digital and marketing experts on the big changes awaiting us in the coming year.
This year we are adopting a new “tweet style” format, easier for you to focus on, comprehend and forward.
The what, why and how of Social Media ROI: Business definitions, methodologies and situational narrative. This presentation's purpose is to clarify what ROI is and isn't within the context of Social Media and offers a basic explanation of how to tie Social Media activities to real ROI.
Presented by Lucie Stephens at the event 'Commissioning for Culture and Sport, 5th December 2014':
http://knowhownonprofit.org/events/commissioning-for-culture-and-sport-5th-december-2014
Part of the Cultural Commissioning Programme
http://www.ncvo.org.uk/cultural-commissioning-programme
Slides used to introduce the discussion at the Dangerous Ground event in Edinburgh, June 2013. More info here: http://culturalvalueinitiative.org/dangerous-ground-project/edinburgh-event-28th-june-2013/
Elite tweets: Analysing the twitter communication patterns of Labour Party Peers in the House of Lords. A session at Twitter and Microblogging: Political, Professional and Personal Practices, Lancaster University 10-12 April 2013 #LUTwit
2010 Digital Trends, Ideas and Technologies (Part 1)David Carr
Digital Trends for 2010 based around 4 themes including: Real-time, Won't believe the hype, Good cause/Cause Good and Developing a Playful Side. David J Carr, Digital Strategy Director, Chemistry Communications
With the ever-changing climate of social media, it’s hard to know what’s “in” and what will help grow your business. Social media, digital marketing and new technology holds tremendous opportunities for companies looking to drive new business, retain customers, create engagement and increase revenue. So many changes have come through social media in the past few years, and no doubt that more are on their way in 2015. Interested in where it is all going? What should be in store for you for the next year? Join Erica Campbell Byrum, Director of Social Media for Homes.com and ForRent.com as she shares insight into social media trends to help you develop a social program that is proactive versus reactive.
This presentation was given to the Hampton Roads American Marketing Association by Erica Campbell Byrum, Director of Social Media with ForRent.com & Homes.com on September 11, 2014.
TrendsSpotting's 2010 Social Media Influencers - Trend Predictions in 140 Cha...Taly Weiss
"2010 Social Media Influencers" is the first report from the series "2010 Influencers Series: Trend Predictions in 140 Characters".
TrendsSpotting Market Research is now running its third annual prediction reports following major trends in six categories. We will be featuring the predictions of digital and marketing experts on the big changes awaiting us in the coming year.
This year we are adopting a new “tweet style” format, easier for you to focus on, comprehend and forward.
The what, why and how of Social Media ROI: Business definitions, methodologies and situational narrative. This presentation's purpose is to clarify what ROI is and isn't within the context of Social Media and offers a basic explanation of how to tie Social Media activities to real ROI.
Presented by Lucie Stephens at the event 'Commissioning for Culture and Sport, 5th December 2014':
http://knowhownonprofit.org/events/commissioning-for-culture-and-sport-5th-december-2014
Part of the Cultural Commissioning Programme
http://www.ncvo.org.uk/cultural-commissioning-programme
Slides used to introduce the discussion at the Dangerous Ground event in Edinburgh, June 2013. More info here: http://culturalvalueinitiative.org/dangerous-ground-project/edinburgh-event-28th-june-2013/
Synopsis Project: training - fundraising activities and philanthropyKarl Donert
The SYNOPSIS project concerns Storytelling and Fundraising for Cultural Heritage professionals.
Cultural heritage covers a variety of activities, and a system of values, traditions, knowledge, and lifestyles that characterise society.
The heritage sector has to deal with new challenges and it is therefore necessary to develop new professionalism, able to promote and support cultural heritage as it improves not only the overall economic growth and employment, but also social cohesion and environmental sustainability.
Storytelling and fundraising skills assume a fundamental role in connecting the past to the future. Cultural Heritage storytelling is concerned with “communicating through stories”, creating narratives through which a cultural heritage enters into an emphatic relationship with people, managing to arouse public emotion. The purpose is to engage people to protect, exploit cultural heritage, and support it financially.
This presentation introduces fundraising and ethical issues as part of the training programme
Presentation by Oto Hudec, Technical University of Košice
Advanced Brainstorm Carrefour (ABC): ‘Smart People in Smart Cities’ Matej Bel University, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia (August, 2016)
Presentation from our Grants for the arts Libraries fund workshops. For more information on the fund visit www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/grants-arts-libraries-fund
This presentation is from the Art of Social Prescribing event which took place on 17th September 2015 in Liverpool.
This presentation was given by Kerry Wilson and Gayle Whelan from the Institute of Cultural Capital. http://iccliverpool.ac.uk/
This one day conference aimed to respond to increasing interest in social prescribing. It presented the latest academic and applied research with particular reference to the role that arts and cultural activities play in social prescribing. A range of workshops took place introduced a range of established arts and cultural programmes, highlighted good practice approaches in mental health and wellbeing and encouraged debate on how to most effectively commission, fund and evaluate social prescribing schemes.
The conference was delivered in partnership by NEF and academics leading the AHRC-funded Art of Social Prescribing project at Liverpool John Moores University. It is a Making Connections event, part of the Cultural Commissioning Programme, an Arts Council England funded initiative to support commissioners, arts & cultural sector and policymakers with undertaking cultural commissioning to improve public service outcomes. www.ncvo.org/CCProg.
Urban Myths? Transforming narratives of place via the media representation of...Beatriz Garcia
Hosting a major one-off cultural event has become a key aspiration of cities attempting to renew or change their local economic base and position themselves as world, international or national cultural centres. This paper discusses evidence gathered in a wide diversity of cities across Europe throughout the last three decades, which is the period seeing the most noticeable growth in culture-led regeneration strategies to the point that they now dominate the policy debate within a majority of post-industrial cities.
The focus is the European Capital of Culture programme, an EU initiative launched in 1985 and hosted by close to 60 cities in 30 European countries. One of the key claims associated with this programme is that it can transform the ‘image’ of a city and that this, in turn, can lead to widespread social (eg. boosting pride) and economic (eg. attracting tourists and investment) benefits. These image transformation claims are mainly the result of the heightened media attention that some of the host cities have been able to generate.
The paper offers a reflection over the media impacts of the programme at large and a closer interrogation of two of the most high profile examples, spanning from the beginning of the initiative in the mid 1980s (Glasgow 1990), to one of the most recent cases, taking place at a time when city branding and the notion of Capitals of Culture as a media event has become common place (Liverpool 2008).
Global mega-events such as the Olympic Games have a worldwide impact thanks to their positioning as media-events gathering multi-billion audiences across all continents. However, such events will fail to provide sustainable local legacies if their mediated dimension is not complemented by a festive use of the street enabling localised ‘lived experiences’ to coexist with the internationally mediated experience.
Celebrating 25 years of European Capitals of CultureBeatriz Garcia
I was a plenary speaker at a major European Commission conference in Brussels, celebrating 25 years of the European Capital of Culture programme.
I made a presentation on the Impacts 08 research programme, placing an emphasis on the relevance of conducting longitudinal (over 5 years) research, and combining an assessment of the economic, social, cultural and environmental dimensions of hosting a major event.
Beatriz Garcia, Plenary within Discussion Panel: Plenary, 'New Beijing, New Media? Emergent Journalistic Practice at the Olympics', in: 9th International Symposium on Olympic Research, International Centre for Olympic Studies, University of Western Ontario & Beijing Capital Universiy (4 Aug)
1. www.impacts08.net
MidWest’s Know Your Place Programme
Can policy be Artist-led?
Perspectives from a policy analyst / researcher
Dr Beatriz Garcia
Director
Impacts 08 – The Liverpool Model
European Capital of Culture Research Programme
2. www.impacts08.net
Background | Practitioners meeting session
• Issues / perceptions emerging from previous conversations
– Artists lack social confidence
– Decision-makers do not offer sufficient support to artist-led initiatives
• Follow-up discussion issues
– Understanding ‘creativity’ | an over-used term?
• Losing meaning since it has been appropriated by policy-makers
– Cultural policy in cities | geography / context issues
• What is common across the UK? What is specific to the MidWest, NorthWEst
• The experiences of Birmingham, Manchester; relationship with London
– Language barriers between artists and policy-makers
• Lack of common meaning between arts community and decision-makers
• Can the arts learn from other sectors? Building on the language of entrepreneurialism
• Main questions
– How can artists influence policy-making?
– What is the role of research and evaluation in informing / influencing policy-
making?
3. www.impacts08.net
Discussion | What is cultural policy?
• Culture is connected to policy in two registers:
the aesthetic and the anthropological.
– In the aesthetic register, artistic output emerges from creative people and is
judged by aesthetic criteria, as framed by the interests and practices of cultural
criticism and history.
– The anthropological register, … takes culture as a marker of how we live our
lives, the senses of place and person that make us human - neither individual nor
entirely universal, but grounded by language, religion, custom, time and space.
• Cultural policy refers to the institutional supports that channel both aesthetic
creativity and collective ways of life - a bridge between the two registers
– Cultural policy is embodied in systematic, regulatory guides to action that are
adopted by organizations to achieve their goals”
– … it is bureaucratic rather than creative or organic
(Miller & Yudice, 2002)
4. www.impacts08.net
Discussion | Implementing cultural policy
• Organisations solicit, train, distribute, finance, describe and reject
actions and activities that go under the signs of artist or artwork,
through the implementation of policies.
• Governments, trade unions, colleges, social movements,
community groups, foundations and businesses,
aid fund, control, promote, teach and evaluate creative persons;
in fact, they often decide and implement the very criteria that
make possible the use of the word ‘creative’.
(Miller & Yudice, 2002)
5. www.impacts08.net
Discussion | Can artists influence cultural policy?
• Language differences… barriers?
– The language of policy is bureaucratic, systematic, regulated
• It emerges out of: “legal doctrine, citizenship education, tourism aims,
impresarios’ profit plans or philanthropic desires”
– The language of art is creative and organic
• It emerges out of personal (individual) experience, inspiration …
• Opportunities to influence policy…
– policy is not always the result of highly deliberate practices
– at times it results out of ad hoc decisions, on an inconsistent basis
– “Performativity rather than constatitivity characterizes policy”
– It is frequently made ‘on the run’ in response to unpredictable pressures
• In order to have a chance to influence cultural policy…
– Artists must engage and try to understand the decision-making process
6. www.impacts08.net
Discussion | Can artists influence cultural policy?
• Overcoming the language barrier
– Policy cannot respond to individual demands / needs / aspirations
– Artists must thus act as an organised group rather than individuals
– Finding the common ground, learning to ‘lobby’
– Acting as brokers, protecting ‘practice’ beyond particular interests
• The policy setting cannot address all artists’ needs
– Policy is designed to establish coherent frameworks
– The arts world is not coherent, nor stable, nor easily ‘framed’
– Artists need to understand which areas of policy they should try to
influence, benefit from, and which areas should remain outside the policy
remit in order to protect their capacity to challenge the status-quo
7. www.impacts08.net
• The need to understand the wider political agenda
– To maximise the opportunity to influence policy, artists should engage with
the process of decision-making within which policy operates
– The political agenda often drives policy beyond the arms’ length principle
– This is done on the basis of agreed values and targets that justify spending
efficiency
– Due to the growing lack of public trust in the political process, ‘evidence’ is
branded as the ultimate justification for policy decisions
• The emergence of a new language: evidence-based policy making
– Can the world of research and evaluation support artists’ interests?
– How does ‘evidence’ inform and influence policy-making?
Discussion | Can artists influence cultural policy?
8. www.impacts08.net
Discussion | Evidence-based policy-making…
• E.g. Arts and social impact
– “Arts policy today (within the wider remit of cultural policy) is infused with
the idea that the arts are good for society, and that they can help achieve a
number of social policy objectives. The people who fund the arts, provide
the arts, and research the arts have all produced a consensus about the
value of what they do, which hardly anyone challenges.” (Mirza, 2006)
• Issues to consider
– Is there any evidence?
– Can the arts deliver such evidence?
– Are we risking the freedom of the artist by imposing box-ticking?
– Can research and evaluation provide adequate measures for the arts?
– Are researchers in a better place to influence policy-making?
9. www.impacts08.net
Discussion | … or policy-based evidence-making?
• We need to ensure ‘quality’ of evidence
– Advocacy can replace evidence and damage arguments
• Arts agencies (representing artists) must be pro-active
– they should be prepared to liaise with policy-makers and provide hard and
soft evidence in support of their case
– they should argue for appropriate key performance indicators rather than
accept imposed measures
• Research councils (AHRC) should partner arts organisations to
commission work and thus move away from advocacy
• Researchers should be more confident in shaping evidence
– Establish a shared ‘language’: not ‘measure’ but ‘value’ and ‘assess’
– Present a mix of qualitative and quantitative evidence as appropriate
– Assertiveness on the need for alternative evidence should be used to
convince government about limitations to appreciate the value of the arts
10. www.impacts08.net
Case studies | Urban cultural policy experiences
• Culture-led regeneration | a definition
– Using cultural activity as the catalyst and engine for the transformation of a place that has
displayed the symptoms of environmental, social and/or economic decline
• Approaches to culture-led regeneration | cultural ‘engines’ for change
– Major cultural events
– Iconic cultural infrastructures / ‘grand projects’
– Cultural / creative quarters
• Common aims of culture-led regeneration
– reposition urban centres | branding exercise, attracting tourists, inward
investment, retaining talent
– revitalise urban economies | making the transition from industrial into post-
industrial (service-led, knowledge-based) economies
– upgrade service provision for locals and visitors | transport links, shopping,
hospitality, … - ‘cultural attractions’
11. www.impacts08.net
• Who benefits from culture-led regeneration?
Case studies | Urban cultural policy experiences
In Sydney and Torino, a non-arts led mega
event led to some legacy towards artists
12. www.impacts08.net
• Who benefits from culture-led regeneration?
Case studies | Urban cultural policy experiences
Barcelona and Bilbao are celebrated as cultural centres, but the local
arts community has not benefited as much as the ‘city’ at large
13. www.impacts08.net
• Who benefits from culture-led regeneration?
• It is possible to develop successful culture (arts)-led regeneration
without actually benefiting the local artist base
• Approaches to measurement tend to allow for this to remain
unnoticed :
– You can argue positive economic impact, physical impact, social impact
– No clear emphasis on demonstrating cultural/ arts impact
Case studies | Urban cultural policy experiences
14. www.impacts08.net
Conclusions | Provoking additional debate
• The language of policy is bureaucratic. The language of arts cannot be
– Policy provides a frame, but cannot respond to all arts and creative needs
– To protect integrity, freedom, risk, leave some aspects at the margins of policy
• To influence policy, artists cannot act as individuals
– They need to act as a coordinated group of interest / lobby.
– This requires a compromise – some values may not be fully represented
• Creativity is not exclusive to the artist, but all areas of human enterprise
– Do not consider the arts world in isolation from other areas of human creativity
– The corporate world can be a relevant point of reference for artists, as it has been for
policy makers by providing the language of ‘entrepreneurialism’.
– The world of science can also provide relevant reference points.
– Business and science worlds can be good allies for the arts - to produce the kinds of
‘lobbies’ that, ultimately, may influence policy
• Evidence is relevant to policy-making, but must be of the right quality
– Researchers must ally with artists to challenge established approaches to
‘measurement’
15. www.impacts08.net
A personal take on the questions proposed…
• Can policy be artist-led ? Not fully, nor should it
• What is arts policy? A bureaucratic exercise to guide decision-making
• What is the artists’ relationship with policy?
– policy frames the artists’ work, but should not guide it
– ongoing artists’ frustration results from a lack of a shared language
• What could the artists’ relationship with policy be?
– act as a group of interest, beyond the individual - compromise
– link to other interest groups beyond the arts - build on their language
– challenge policy, so that it evolves, but do not become the policy-maker
– act on the fringes of policy, as well as within it - respond to policy
imperatives in order to get the funding that can also support independent
practice
From Glasgow to Liverpool. Understanding the long term legacies of becoming European City of Culture
Fourteen years after hosting the European Capital of Culture title, Glasgow remains a key point of reference for culture-led urban regeneration schemes. In the run up to the nomination of Liverpool as the second UK city to host this title in 2008, the UK media and most candidate bid proposals referred to Glasgow as the most successful example of such event and the model that most cities wanted to replicate. At this point, some questions arise: how relevant is Glasgow’s 1990 experience to the present and future of Liverpool? Which are the key lessons? And which aspects cannot be replicated and might require new models and new approaches to regeneration? This paper uncovers key findings from a three-year project investigating the long-term cultural legacies of Glasgow 1990 and sheds new light on both the positive and negative myths surrounding the definition, implementation and sustainability of such experience.