Community arts organisations are at the heart of the response to the Covid-19 crisis, but their spaces are threatened by arguments that focus on the economic value of the arts. It’s time we started measuring social value, says Zain Dada.
Last autumn the community of South Kilburn in the London Borough of Brent packed out the Granville Centre for an evening of poetry and film organised by the Granville Community Kitchen. It included the launch screening of Granville, For Us, By Us, a new documentary by local film-maker Dhelia Snoussi, which was created as part of an intense local campaign fighting for the survival of two 100-year-old community spaces – the Granville and Carlton Centres
The Granville Centre was built in... more
Subsidy doesn’t shield or separate arts activities from the economic system; it enables them to be part of it, says Stephen Hetherington. Wringing more value out of creative assets could deliver new sources of finance.
2008 saw the publication of New Flow, a radical vision for a new framework that abandons narrow definitions of the arts and embraces "the full, delicious cacophony of what artists and citizens believe the arts to be". Author Tim Joss reflects on his vision for the future.
Post-Covid, the twin pillars of cultural policy should be social justice and environmental concern – but collectively we have been failing on both counts. Can this pandemic finally spur us on to make a better world, asks John Holden.
When it's time to rebuild, the cultural sector will have to start owning up to failure if it is to learn from its previous mistakes. David Stevenson reports on a research project encouraging just that.
Investment in soft power assets can deliver huge financial returns – and could be the catalyst for redressing regional economic and cultural imbalances. Ian Wray shares the evidence and suggests how.