Everyday creativity - for everyone?

Graphic showing magic, gaming, cookery, drawing, a microphone
24 May 2023

Our recent research into everyday creativity reveals new ways cultural organisations could serve wider communities. But making the most of them, says Anne Torreggiani in this preview of a forthcoming resource, might need a radical rethink.

Understanding the needs of disabled artists

Diana performing on the floor in front of her wheelchair
22 May 2023

In the last in our series on widening participation, Diana Niepce writes: Two burnouts a year is not sustainable for anyone, but it’s a reality for disabled dancers. The sector needs to change.

Fresh calls for arts funding reform

19 May 2023

While arts professionals debate if arts council funding should consider a two-tiered system, a group of academics suggest a move away from competitive funding models is the answer.

Falmouth University awarded research grant to archive performance practice

17 May 2023

Falmouth University has been awarded £850,000 in research funding to undertake an immersive archives project capturing Cornwall’s cultural heritage.

The project will use cutting-edge technologies to capture and archive performance practice, exploring new ways to widen access and provide new income streams to support Cornwall’s creative industries.

The funding comes from the AHRC's Creative Research Capability Fund, part of UK Research and Innovation.

GWITHA, from the Cornish word to guard, or to keep, will establish an open centre for immersive approaches to archival practice in the performance space. The project aims to capture and preserve performances that have previously been difficult or impossible to document because of their transient nature. 

Cornwall is renowned for site-specific landscape theatre that is challenging to document and record, making the project particularly relevant in a local context.

The project will employ technologies including augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality, working with artists and performance companies to capture sound and vision in three dimensions.

It will also use the archives housed at Falmouth University to build a digital infrastructure capturing the collections of material objects, textual artefacts and the documentation of performance practice, with a goal of improving access and developing strategies for new income streams from these new digital assets in support of local creative industries.

“We are committed to being the leading university for the nexus of creativity and technology and I can’t think of a project that would encapsulate this better,” said Emma Hunt, Falmouth University Vice Chancellor.
 
Dr Lee Miller, Head of Postgraduate Research at Falmouth University said the project “will allow Falmouth to build a sector leading approach to the capturing, preservation and accessing of resistant archival objects. 

“It will also provide an infrastructure to better capture and share Cornwall’s intangible cultural heritage,” he added.

Educators warn of decline in dance education

Young people taking part in a dance class
15 May 2023

A survey of educators working in higher education institutions finds the number of higher education dance courses and the number of specialist dance staff has fallen.

ACE confirms further delay to audience data platform

People inside an auditorium
15 May 2023

Launch of new audience data platform rescheduled for second time meaning it will be two months late.

Opera North and Newcastle University launch three-year partnership

A scene from an Opera North production of Kiss Me Kate
12 May 2023

Organisations plan to build on previous work together through formal partnership to improve audience accessibility.

Growing number of craft skills 'under threat'

11 May 2023

Traditional craft skills are "on the verge of extinction" in the UK, according to new research.

Five new skills have been added to the "critically endangered" category of the Red List of Endangered Crafts, a research project by the charity Heritage Crafts.

These include straw hat making and encaustic tile making, which join a list of 146 at-risk crafts. Other endangered crafts are Cornish hedging, marionette making, and pigment making.

Researcher Mary Lewis said factors such as the energy crisis, inflation, the pandemic and Brexit had all made matters worse for those working in traditional crafts.

She said: “We know that heritage craft skills operate like an ecosystem; if we lose one part it can have devastating consequences on other parts of the system.

"If we allow endangered crafts to disappear then we seriously diminish the opportunities for future generations to create their own sustainable and fulfilling livelihoods and deal with the challenges of the future.”

The Red List of Endangered Crafts 2023 edition can be viewed online at redlist.heritagecrafts.org.uk.

How can R&D address regional inequality?

Graphic of interlocking jigsaw pieces
09 May 2023

In a new report, Katy Shaw explores how incentivising and investing in cross-sector co-creation can create a new culture as well as generating economic and social value for hard-to-reach communities across the UK. 

Learning the lessons of cultural mega-events

03 May 2023

As Liverpool stages Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine, Jenny Elliott considers the lure, risks and opportunities inherent in large-scale cultural interventions. 

Heritage sector ‘over reliant’ on volunteers, survey suggests

a tour guide speaks to an audience in a town square
03 May 2023

Dependence on volunteers is found to be highest in organisations with lower turnover, although issues of attracting volunteers from varied backgrounds appear widespread.

Culture Recovery Fund saved hundreds of organisations

Woman wearing a face mask views an exhibition in a museum
27 Apr 2023

The government’s emergency support package helped funded organisations stay afloat, attract new audiences and continue to support employees and freelancers.

UKRI unveils funding round for research into health inequalities

18 Apr 2023

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced the third phase of a programme funding research into the use of community assets including museums and galleries to tackle health inequalities.

The total funding available in this phase is £25m and it will mark the final batch of applications for the programme, which is supported by a partnership with the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH). 

Applicants are invited to apply for funding to create and test collaborative models for the integration of cultural, community and natural environment assets into health and care systems.

Examples of community assets included in the research programme include artists and arts organisations, libraries, museums and heritage sites, as well as parks, public spaces, community gardens, farms, sports-related assets and housing, legal debt and advice services.

Applicants must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding and applications must be interdisciplinary and include non-academic partners and co-investigators. 

The funding will back successful projects estimated to cost between £625,000 and £2.5m for 36 months, providing 80% of the full economic cost.

Applications for funding are expected to open later this month and close in June. Researchers who were funded during phase one and phase two of the programme are encouraged to apply.

Why are disabled people asked to work for nothing?

Pull Up sharing by Delson Weeks, Blink Dance Theatre
18 Apr 2023

In a survey of disabled arts professionals, Unlimited found 87% had been asked to do something for nothing. Lucy Peters asks Jo Verrent: When will the sector stop exploiting disabled creatives and acknowledge their value?

Creative degrees can deliver skills and employment

Ravensbourne University London, Film and TV department. There are two people setting up a camera in a workshop.
18 Apr 2023

In Culture Minister Lucy Frazer's first address to the sector, she highlighted the skills gap facing the creative industries. So how can industry and education come together to address this? Andy Cook of Ravensbourne University has some thoughts.

Research highlights gender disparities in dance sector

Two women dancing
04 Apr 2023

Study finds dance companies in receipt of most funding - and exerting greater influence on the sector - are more likely to be led by men, despite higher overall levels of female leadership.

Visa system needs urgent reform to ensure global standing of UK's creative industries

UK border control at Heathrow airport
04 Apr 2023

Without urgent reform there is a danger our creative industries – once the envy of the world – won’t be able to access the talent needed to thrive at a time when the sector should be booming, says Eliza Easton.

Major study to explore impact of online arts on mental health

Young woman looking at images in a gallery
03 Apr 2023

Researchers from Oxford University will help young people create an online museum to support the mental health of diverse and underrepresented groups.

Audience figures highlight ongoing recovery from pandemic

30 Mar 2023

Latest data from The Audience Agency (TAA) suggests a “long shadow” from the Covid pandemic is still affecting the sector.

The charity published its findings from its Cultural Participation Monitor on Tuesday (28 March), which found that more than a quarter of the population are attending arts and culture less than before the pandemic.

More than a third (37%) said they were attending less, compared with 12% who said they were attending more. These results were largely in line with those from a year ago, when 31% said they were attending less, compared with 12% more.

TAA says the pandemic has “receded as a perceived risk,” but added that it “remains a key factor for between a fifth and a quarter of people across a range of measures”.

Those attending cultural destinations less appear most influenced by the cost-of-living crisis, with 56% stating that their reduced attendance was because of money.

Elsewhere, TAA’s findings suggest that venues are reporting higher levels of late bookings – with 41% of audience members saying they tend to book last minute.

People are also planning to donate less, with 50% of those who currently donate to cultural organisations saying they plan to donate less across the next year.

TAA Chief Executive Anne Torreggiani says the new evidence confirms arts and cultural organisations are suffering a “double whammy” right now.

“Trying to navigate these complex reasons for income being down is very challenging for organisations,” she said.

“Developing a really deep understanding of your audience is going to make a big difference because what's working for a peer organisation in a different place with a different audience won’t necessarily work in your community.”

The arts in schools: Foundations for the future

Carlton Keighley students at The Hepworth Wakefield
30 Mar 2023

The 1982 publication ‘The Arts of Schools’ was hugely influential with local education authorities and arts professionals. Here Sally Bacon and Pauline Tambling share the findings from their new consultation, more than 40 years later. 

Pages

Subscribe to Research