The Arts Are Vital to Emergency Planning: Performance Strategies for Managing Pandemics

About the project Working with strategic decision-makers in Bristol, Glasgow and Newcastle City Councils, the research team investigated everyday innovations (social performances) and artistic interventions (aesthetic performances), to understand how performance can reimagine and facilitate city life in times of social distancing, and how performance theory and analysis might contribute to more nuanced, creative and […]

UK literary heritage sites and COVID-19: Measuring impact, enhancing resilience, and learning lessons

About the project This study sought to identify and quantify the challenges posed to UK literary heritage sites by Covid-19, to evaluate and compare responses between sites, and to help the sector develop its future resilience. Principal Investigator Dr David Rudrum(University of Huddersfield) UKRI website Explore related projects Bridging Distance in the Creative Industries Cultural […]

Digital footprints and search pathways: Working with National Collections in Scotland during COVID-19 lockdown to design future online provision

About the project The pandemic was particularly damaging for Scotland’s many museums and galleries since many had undeveloped online infrastructures. This research undertook a longitudinal study of the digital footprints of users in two national collections – National Museums Scotland and National Galleries of Scotland over a 12 month period. It examined how people engaged […]

A National Day of Reflection: Lessons from past memorialisation initiatives and attitudes in the present

About the project The question of when and how to memorialise the pandemic and those who have died from COVID-19 or during periods of social restriction has inspired ongoing and sometimes difficult discussion. This project focused on the evolution of those arguments and debates as they unfolded in 2020/2021. It incorporated historical expertise on civic […]

Mutual Aid Groups and Their Lessons for Post-crisis Community Care

About the project COVID-19 and accompanying restrictions on social and economic life has led to increased food poverty and vulnerability. This project examined how mutual aid was enacted during the pandemic, investigating who organised mutual aid initiatives and asking what helped or hindered their enactment of mutual aid. The project team consisted of academics from […]

Nature and Sustainability

Arts and Humanities research on Covid-19 often has a bearing on environmental sustainability and the relationship between the individual and their natural environment.  Research on how to help the creative industries weather the shocks of lockdowns has notably explored digital media as a low-carbon alternative to travel and designed digital platforms that enable new forms of virtual co-presence. Performance practitioners have also turned […]

Walking Publics / Walking Arts: Walking, Wellbeing and Community during COVID-19

About the project Walking Arts/Walking Publics explored the potential of the arts to sustain, encourage, and equitably support walking during and recovering from the pandemic. It examined the impact of COVID-19 on walking practices and how the pandemic informed, and could be informed by, creative walking approaches. The project worked in partnership with experts and […]

British Ritual Innovation under COVID-19

About the project BRIC-19 studied the creative adaptations made by diverse religious, faith and belief, and local communities across the UK. The project aimed to harness and share this learning to identify and understand the social benefits of ritual in the pandemic and nurture the work of ritual in British society moving forward. They worked […]

COJO for COVID Recovery: Solutions-focused Constructive Journalism as an Exit Strategy for the UK’s Local/Regional Communities

About the project COJO for Covid Recovery investigates whether and how solutions-focused constructive journalism (COJO) can help communities in the UK in their recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Over 50 journalists working in local and regional outlets across the UK have been trained and mentored to produce a wide range of solutions-oriented stories on how […]

Places and Communities

The challenges of the pandemic have often demanded local and place-based responses that can speak directly to the needs of particular communities.  Through Arts and Humanities research, we now know more about the way in which local cultural ecologies and infrastructures function, including how these have been impacted by the crisis. Studies have emphasised the […]