Arts and Humanities research during the pandemic has shown how the crisis is galvanising practitioners and stakeholders in the cultural sector to find new models for producing work and for reaching audiences. However, it has also exposed structural inequalities and exclusions for audiences and for the sector’s workforce.
Technological innovations, including hybrid modes of digital and analogue production, and an increasing focus on local social and civic responsibility have the potential to support the sector’s economic sustainability, to widen public access to culture, and to build new audience communities. We also have a deeper understanding about how the infrastructure of a local cultural ecology can support public health.
Findings reveal several implications for future arts and culture funding models and strategic priorities at the local, regional and national level. They also provide increased insight into the role that the cultural sector can play in driving place-based economic growth and recovery, and in helping build individual and community health and wellbeing.
Additional skills and training are needed to support the sector’s ongoing transformation and adaptation.
Projects
Collaborative Solutions for the Performing Arts
A Telepresence Stage
Professor Paul Sermon
(University of Brighton)
COVID-19 CARE
Culture and the Arts, from Restriction to Enhancement: Protecting Mental Health in the Liverpool City Region
Professor Josie Billington
(University of Liverpool)
Culture Box
Remote and Digital Delivery of Arts and Creative Activities to Improve the Wellbeing of People with Dementia in Care Homes
Professor Victoria Tischler
(University of Exeter)
Digital Theatre Transformation
A Case Study and Digital Toolkit for Small to Mid-Scale Theatres in England
Professor Pascale Aebischer
(University of Exeter)
DREEM
Digital, Regeneration and Experience Economy Modelling
Professor Jane Harris
(University of the Arts, London)
Far Apart UK
Looking Beyond Lockdown – How UK Arts Organisations Can Continue To Support Young People’s Wellbeing During COVID-19
Professor Paul Heritage
(University of London)
HEartS Professional
The Health, Economic and Social Impact of COVID-19 on Professionals in the Arts
Professor Aaron Williamon
(Royal College of Music, London)
Making it FAIR
Understanding the Lockdown ‘Digital Divide’ and the Implications for the Development of UK Digital Infrastructures
Professor Julian Richards
(University of York)
Museums, crisis and COVID-19
Vitality and vulnerabilities
Professor Elizabeth Crooke
(Ulster University)
Outside the Box
Open-air performance as a pandemic response
Dr Evelyn O’Malley
(University of Exeter)
Performing Leadership Differently
Co-creating Collective Strategies for Change
Dr Amitabh S Rai
(Queen Mary University of London)
Responding to and modelling the impact of COVID-19 for sheffield’s cultural ecology
A case study of impact and recovery
Professor Vanessa Toulmin
(University of Sheffield)
The Application of Motion-Capture Technology in Telematic and Virtual Dance Performance Through a Framework for Long-distance Remote Communication
Dr Dan Strutt
(Goldsmiths, University of London)
