Your February Research Round Up

COVID-19 Impact

Culture in Crisis: Impacts of Covid-19 on the UK cultural sector and where we go from here
Centre for Cultural Value, February 2022

Culture in Crisis shares research findings from one of the world's largest investigations into the impacts of Covid-19 on the cultural industries. Over 15 months, research findings were shared in real time with policymakers and more widely, so that cultural sector policy and practice could be informed by evidence emerging from the project. Key findings discussed in this report include:

Audiences: While the shift to digital transformed cultural experiences for those already engaged with cultural activities, it failed to diversify cultural audiences.
Workforce: The UK’s cultural sector is undoubtedly at an inflection point and facing imminent burnout alongside significant skills and workforce gaps.
Organisations: In light of the pandemic and Black Lives Matter, many cultural organisations reevaluated their purpose and their relevance to local communities, which was complemented by increased local engagement.

Road to Recovery? Cultural Freelancers Wales Report 2022
Cultural Freelancers Wales – Steffan Donnelly, Marlen Komorowski, January 2022

16 months after the publication Rebalancing and Reimagining, this report analyses the changes to freelancers’ lives, looks at the current situation and future outlook for freelancers, and asks what - if any - progress has been made to rebalance the cultural sector as we progress on the road to recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. A comparison of both studies shows that the longer the Covid-19 pandemic continues, the worse impact it is having on freelancers’ well-being.

The Covid-19 pandemic disproportionately affected freelancers, who make up half the cultural sector workforce in Wales. This report suggests those effects will disproportionately weigh down on the freelance sector over the next few years — strengthening the case for intensive strategic investment in freelancers by cultural organisations and stakeholders over that period.

COVID-19 and Sheffield's cultural sector: planning for recovery
The University of Sheffield, 17 Nov 2021

A major new report revealing the economic impact of Covid-19 on the UK’s arts, culture and heritage sector has been published by researchers at the University of Sheffield. The report has revealed that the sector suffered from a 60 per cent decline in output due to social distancing rules and lockdowns over the past 18 months.

These dramatic falls in output mask some significant variations between sub-sectors, with activities such as cinema, performing arts, museums and historical sites suffering most.

Cultural Participation Monitor - Wave 5
Centre for Cultural Value in collaboration with the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre and The Audience Agency, December 2021

Initial findings from the November 2021 wave of Insight Alliance’s Cultural Participation Monitor look at a trend of increased in-person attendance over last year, a dip in online engagement and a keen appetite for venue safety measures, even pre-Omicron.

Missing Audiences: Wave 1 results
Insights Alliance – Indigo, Baker Richards and One Further, November 2021

The Missing Audiences survey is designed to help cultural organisations find out why some previously frequent audiences and visitors haven’t returned since Covid. During a six-week period in September and October, cultural organisations sent out the survey to a selection of their previously frequent bookers who had not yet returned to their organisation or booked any future tickets. There were 10,834 responses generated by 50 cultural organisations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Pivot to Digital: How Museums and Galleries Responded to COVID-19
Policy and Evidence Centre – Dr Jenny Kidd, Dr Eva Nieto McAvoy, Dr. Ania Ostrowska, Nov 2021

As the UK went into full lockdown in March 2020, museums and galleries were faced with the prospect of having no visitors and limited audiences for the foreseeable future.

As a result, many institutions turned to digital as a way of staying connected to their audiences. They began to experiment with new ways of opening up their collections through online platforms. For some organisations, this meant accelerating the digital strategies that they already had in place. For others, they needed to quickly learn how to innovate in order to retain and build audiences through digital systems.

This research looks at how museums and galleries experienced this ‘pivot to digital’. It examines some of the lessons learnt by these organisations, and sets out some best practice principles for the sector going forward.

Innovation and resilience in the arts, culture, and heritage in Canada
Phase 1 led by Hill Strategies, Kelly Hill & Blanche Israël - commissioned by Creative City Network of Canada, Cultural Human Resources Council, Les Arts et la Ville, and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, February 2022

Many artists and organizations in the arts, culture, and heritage have responded and adapted to pandemic-induced challenges by doing new things or doing things in new ways. This report offers 29 stories of artists and organizations using innovation to find resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The artists and organizations profiled in this project actively sought out changes and innovations that provided a measure of stability in turbulent times, whether that stability involved interesting new directions, significant personal opportunities, promoting diverse voices, combatting racism, limiting staff layoffs, or increasing revenues.

Creative Industries

A Global Agenda for the Cultural and Creative Industries: 11 key actions
Policy and Evidence Centre International Council (PEC) & the British Council, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how the human spirit and creativity shines through even in the darkest hours. As the world attempts to navigate its way out of simultaneous public health, economic and climate crises, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to reassess and reset the way we live, and to consider policies that promote sustainability and community well-being as well as economic growth.

It is in this context that the PEC’s International Council offers these eleven action points to optimise the potential of the creative sector in helping solve the challenges of the moment. It is the first time an international group of this kind has come together – entrepreneurs, investors, policy-makers and academics from across the world – pooling a diverse experience of the creative economy to set out an agenda for the immediate future.

Equalities, Diversity & Inclusion

Creative Majority Report
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Creative Diversity - Wreyford, N, O’Brien, D, and Dent, T, September 2021

The UK’s creative economy contributes almost £13 million to the UK economy every hour, according to government figures, yet the benefits of this economic success are not equally distributed. Straight, able-bodied, white men living in London are only 3.5 per cent of the UK population but this small minority still dominates the creative sector, and occupy a vast number of the most senior creative roles.

This report is about everyone else: the creative majority, or those who currently occupy a smaller percentage of roles in the creative sector than their number in the population as a whole. In the creative sector, our creative majority are to be found in smaller numbers, often as isolated individuals, on the margins, in segregated spaces, dropping out of the workforce early or not gaining access at all.

Time to Act and Reflecting on Change
The British Council – Tim Wheeler, 3 December 2021; the British Council – On the Move, November 2021

Two new reports describe the British Council’s global disability arts programme as a ‘revolutionary movement’, while also highlighting the huge barriers preventing disabled artists from fully accessing the international cultural sector.

Reflecting on Change, an independent report by UK disability arts specialist Tim Wheeler, explores the British Council’s global disability arts programme since 2012, celebrating achievements and learnings so far, sharing stories of change in countries such as Bangladesh, South Korea and Indonesia, and making additional recommendations for the future.

An additional report, Time to Act, authored by mobility information network On the Move for Europe Beyond Access, the world’s largest transnational arts and disability project, reveals how a continued lack of knowledge in the European cultural sector creates barriers for disabled artists and audiences.

The value of International experience, skills and connections for young people
British Council, All Party Parliamentary Group. Dec 2021

The latest British Council APPG report explores the value of international experience, skills and connections for young people in the UK, arguing that ensuring young people have the opportunities to explore, experience, understand and contribute to the wider world is not only in the interests of young people themselves, but of the whole country as well.

The report points a spotlight at the uneven access to these opportunities for so many of our young people, arguing that if we are to ensure our young people are able to fulfil their potential and realise the promise of Global Britain and “level up” that we must broaden access to international opportunities, skills and experiences.

Music

Learning, Playing and Teaching in the UK: ABRSM Making Music Report 2021
ABRSM, 29 Nov 2021

Not surprisingly, the last year has seen a massive shift to online music making. However, our data shows that this trend that was already well underway with the pandemic merely accelerating what was taking place as can be seen in other areas of life. In fact, for the first time even before the pandemic, we are seeing a large rise, especially among the young, in people finding new avenues to make, share and practise their music.

Using trends observed through the data, we look at how music education is likely to change and the conditions that might be required to support this change. The aim here is to highlight the opportunities we can take as a sector to make music education more engaging, relevant and inclusive.

Place and Communities

The Role of ‘Place’ in Collaborations Between HEIs and the Arts and Cultural Sector
The National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange (NCACE), Arts Professional – Evelyn Wilson, Dr Federica Rossi & Emily Hopkins, November 2021

This report was designed to give a deeper understanding of the formation, nature and successes of place-based and place-focused collaborations between universities and practitioners/organisations from the arts and cultural sector. It considers a number of factors such as: economic, cultural, and social implications of place-focused collaborations; interactions with local students; and the content of most impactful collaborations with HEIs.

Similarly, a companion report drawn from the same NCACE Survey, Collaborating with Higher Education Institutions, aims to gain both a broader and a deeper understanding of knowledge exchange practices between the arts and culture sector and universities.

Placemaking, Culture & Covid
Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre International Council, Centre for Cultural Value – Trevor MacFarlane, November 2021

As part of the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC)’s research agenda, the PEC consulted a Panel of its Industry Champions on their experience of policy associated with the development and sustainability of ‘Creative Places’.

This report outlines the panel discussion and recommendations in response to the 3 main briefing questions:
1) What local, regional, national, or UK-wide interventions have successfully incorporated creative businesses, cultural organisations or individuals into the development and promotion of your area’s identity or brand?
2) What interventions have enabled the creative and cultural sector in your area to support the wider community (this might be through engagement with underprivileged communities, the development of skills, reinvigorating the high street or contributing to public health)?
3) What role does the creative community in your area play in attracting and retaining a creative and cultural workforce?

Spaces for Creativity
Creative Lives, January 2022

With this survey, Creative Lives builds a picture of the needs and concerns for creative groups and the spaces they occupy, both pre-pandemic and currently. The report presents an overview of findings and demonstrates a wide array of issues as creative groups started to reconvene after the restrictions of the pandemic, but the overall picture is that local creative groups are struggling to find suitable venues in which to meet. Groups reported difficulties finding large enough venues with adequate ventilation; restrictions on their activities or participant numbers; and finding accessible venues at a reasonable cost.

Touring

Going Places: Touring and shared exhibitions in the UK
Art Fund in partnership with Creative Scotland, February 2022

New research has been published providing an overview of current practice and future potential for touring and sharing museum and gallery exhibitions and visual arts programmes within the UK.

Over 200 museum, gallery and heritage professionals across the four nations were surveyed to find out how cultural organisations are working together to share collections and programme temporary projects. The research will inform the development of funding programmes of support and help to build a strong UK-wide policy framework.

Wider research

Creatively minded Heritage
The Baring Foundation and The Restoration Trust, Nov 2021

This report uses 18 case studies across multiple art forms, heritage assets, organisational structures and health settings to demonstrate that all heritage can be used creatively to improve people’s mental health and community connections nationwide.

The Covid-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the ways in which inequalities and isolation have contributed to rising levels of mental distress across the UK. The case studies in this report reveal the ambition and ingenuity that we can all use in our planning ahead to maximise the impact of our work within the communities we live in and contribute to.

Screen

UK Screen Sector Economy
BFI, December 2021

This second edition of the Screen Business report provides a comprehensive analysis of the value of the screen sector tax reliefs to the industry and to the wider UK economy. It shows the tax reliefs have been instrumental to how UK made and developed film, high-end, children’s and animation television and video games have flourished since the reliefs were introduced.

Broadcast Expectations of Minority Ethnic Audiences
Ofcom, 3 November 2021

Alongside broader audience expectations research and offensive language reporting, this study is the first of its kind for Ofcom. It researches, in-depth, the particular expectations that minority ethnic audiences have of the TV channels and radio stations that directly serve them and their cultural or religious communities.

Ofcom’s annual report on the BBC
Ofcom, 25 November 2021

This is Ofcom’s fourth annual report on the BBC, covering April 2020 to March 2021. This year, the report also looks back to assess how the BBC has performed since the beginning of the Charter period in 2017.

In the approach to the mid-point of the Charter period (running from 2017 to 2027), this year Ofcom also set out an assessment of how the BBC is fulfilling the Mission and Public Purposes and summarise the key themes we have identified across all our areas of responsibility since we took on regulation of the BBC. This feeds into our ongoing review to consider whether our regulation of the BBC remains fit for purpose in holding the BBC to account for viewers and listeners.

Covid-19 news and information: consumption and attitudes
Ofcom, 17 December 2021

In late March, Ofcom commissioned an online survey of around 2,000 people every week, which continued until week 14 of lockdown (in June), at which point it moved to monthly surveys. This report, Week 76, marks the final survey for 2021.

What is the Public Value of Public Service Broadcasting?

Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) and Cardiff University – Chivers, T & Allan, S, January 2022

This question has long been a subject of lively debate, bringing together the competing priorities of policymakers, stakeholders and members of the public. Recent changes in media technologies, audience habits and market conditions — not least those driven by the rise of new media giants such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Netflix — have made agreeing a straightforward definition of the value of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) even more difficult.

Is ‘public value’ best understood as primarily an economic measure? Or do other PSB priorities — such as promoting cultural excellence, encouraging civic engagement and fostering a sense of national community — warrant a greater recognition?
This Discussion Paper contributes to these debates by examining public value as a strategic concept, and explores how it can be used to identify and evaluate different types of value created by PSB.

Research Round Up February 2022

What is the Public Value of Public Service Broadcasting?