Cultural intermediation: project and progress

Phil Jones

School of Geography, Earth & Environmental SciencesUniversity of Birmingham

26 October 2012

The project

The research problem we identified

• Florida, DCMS, AHRC etc. all tell us how important the creative economy is

• If the ‘creative economy’ is significant, then who is benefiting from it?

• How is the creative economy connected to different communities?

• What processes of ‘cultural intermediation’ operate to make these connections?

Overall aim

To identify means of enhancing the effectiveness of cultural intermediation as a mechanism for connecting different communities into the broader creative economy

Creative vs. cultural

• Slippage between terms ‘creative’ and ‘cultural’ industries– Tendency to subsume cultural within creative

industries• ‘Cultural economy’ allows us to think wider

and think about contribution that museums, galleries etc. can make– More than simply direct economic output– Fascinating debates on nature of ‘value’

Research Questions

• To develop techniques to capture the value of cultural intermediation (WP1)

• To examine how cultural intermediation has developed historically, whose interests it has served and what lessons this provides for understanding best practice today. (WP2)

• To critically evaluate the role of intermediaries in the changing governance of cultural economy initiatives and how different actors undertaking cultural intermediation operate within the sector (WP3)

• To explore how intermediation connects communities into the creative economy and how this can be enhanced to break down the tension between hard-to-reach communities and inaccessible cultural resources. (WP4)

Research Questions

• To design and deliver practice-based interventions with local stakeholder panels of academics, policy-makers, community groups and artists to improve the effectiveness of cultural intermediation. (WP5)

• To contribute to academic, policy and practitioner debates on the value of cultural intermediation in shaping creative economy initiatives (WP6)

• To reflexively examine and evaluate the process of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary working through innovative project design and delivery (WP6)

• To produce high-quality academic, policy and artistic outputs based on best practice in knowledge exchange (WP0-6)

What do we want to get from project continuity days

• A chance to catch up on the work the team have been doing

• Looking at how the different strands fit together

• Review whether we’re on track and how the project needs to evolve from the original plan

• Identify things we’ve missed, potential avenues to explore

Management CommitteePhil Jones (PI/WP5)Dave O’Brien (WP1)Ian Grosvenor (WP2)

Beth Perry (WP3)Paul Long (WP4)Tim May (WP6)

Steering GroupMitra Memarzia (AIR)Clayton Shaw (Sampad)Chris Jam (Unity FM)Yvette Vaughan Jones (Visiting Arts)Manchester International FestivalBrighter SoundManchester City CouncilThe Community Development TrustRuth Daniel (Un-Convention)David Tittle (MADE)Tony Whyton (Uni of Salford)Kate Mcluskie (Uni of Birmingham)

Virtual panelSusan Jones (AN)Rachel Smithies (ACE)Ed Pickering (DCMS)Paul Collard (Creative Partnerships)Paul Benneworth (Uni of Twente)

Birmingham TeamPhil Jones (coordinator)Saskia WarrenAndrew DubberPaul Long

Manchester TeamBeth Perry (coordinator)Karen SmithPaul Heywood

Cross cutting teamPhil Jones (coordinator)Dave O’BrienLisa De PropisSam MwauraIan GrosvenorNatasha McNabbYvette Vaughan JonesAntonia LayardTim MayKerry WilsonRichard ClayRussell BealeTom Duffy

Birmingham Local Panel

Commissioning interventions. Composition to emerge from

activities in WP3 & WP4

Manchester Local Panel

Commissioning interventions. Composition to emerge from

activities in WP3 & WP4

Intermediation

What is ‘cultural intermediation’?

• Bourdieu’s (1984): intermediaries as agents who tell communities what cultural phenomena to passively consume

• Hesmondhalgh (2006) argues that the ways of thinking through production-mediation-consumption need to evolve– Reflects changes in these relations through the

rise of the creative industries

Joys of ambiguity

• Ongoing debate about how intermediaries can be conceptualised– Lots of room to encompass different

conceptualisations as the project evolves– Intermediation as ‘shared territory’ (Bakhtin)

• Broader notion of ‘intermediation’ as processes linking cultural economy to the wider world– individual artists, public arts venues, creative

industries, agencies/networks supporting the arts, etc. etc.

Intermediation as connection

• Implicit assumption that connecting more people to the creative economy will reduce inequality

• Cultural intermediation already exists• But– Is cultural intermediation the best way to make

connections?– Does it function in the most effective fashion?– Can modes of working be found that improve this

‘connecting’ role?

Fellow travellers

AHRC Creative Economy call

• University of Birmingham: Connecting communities in the creative urban economy

• University of Manchester: Understanding everyday participation and its role in creating social and cultural value (PI Andy Miles)

• Cardiff University: Understanding the value of the creative citizen (PI Ian Hargreaves)

Communities and Culture Network (CCNetwork+)

• EPSRC-funded, PI Helen Thornham, Leeds• “The impacts brought on by the convergence

of digital technology, culture, and practice raise real questions around how and what communities and cultures might/could/should be understood”

• Networking, commissioning action research, undertaking pilot projects

Kings Cultural Institute

• Run out of Kings College London• Getting artists and researchers to work

together– Generating new forms of knowledge– Getting communities involved in arts-based

research practices• Creative intersections project with the RSA

Chicago Cultural Plan

• Driven by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events

• Huge citizen participation exercise– 8 Town Halls, 20 Neighbourhood ‘conversations’,

50+ other meetings• Released October 2012– 36 recommendations, over 200 initiatives

Chicago priorities

1. Foster arts education & lifelong learning2. Attract/retain artists & creative professionals3. Elevate & expand neighbourhood cultural assets4. Facilitate neighborhood cultural planning5. Strengthen capacity of the cultural sector6. Optimize City policies and regulations7. Promote the value and impact of culture8. Strengthen Chicago as a global cultural destination9. Foster cultural innovation10. Integrate culture into daily life

“...the blizzard of 36 recommendations in the completed Cultural Plan, with multiple initiatives listed under each one, makes the document more of a Christmas wish list than a comprehensible course of action. Real, tangible ideas share acreage with grandiose hopes; ideas that could be launched tomorrow compete for attention with visions that are not likely to be realized, for decades, if ever.

Nothing wrong with dreaming big, of course, but in these hard times — with the city and the state deeply in the red — only ideas grounded in reality seem likely to generate results. ”

Howard Reich, Arts Critic, Chicago Tribune 19/10/12

• 18/19 October 2012• Council Leader taking personal charge of city’s

cultural strategy• Arts/culture placed at centre of a city agenda

which places inequality as #1 priority– Economic growth but also– Place making / community engagement– Wellbeing

• Continued anxiety over perception of the city

• Regional strategy for economic development• Three themes: Business; People; Place• Commissioned research for the Creative City

initiative aiming to:– Secure investment for cultural/creative industries– Identify key factors driving/constraining growth in

the sector– Identify key areas for investment in the sector

White Paper on Growth

Research for Creative CityTheme Growth Drivers Barriers to growth

A growing & evolving sector Emerging digital industryBelow the radar activity

Decline of major mediaDecline of fashion/jewellery

Size Few barriers to entryExcellent venues (SHTH)

Career progressionDecline of major mediaPoor mid-scale venues

Location Lower capital costs than London

Proximity to London (HS2)

Planning/development Facilities/incubatorsDeveloping a ‘buzz’

Zoning/land assembly not mapped to needs of sector

PR / Marketing Large, organic sectorPositive perception in the sector

Lack of local prideLack of creative IDLow profile in mediaUnder the radar activity

Research for Creative CityTheme Growth Drivers Barriers to growth

Networking Existing clusters/networks e.g. Custard Factory / Jewellery Quarter, plus non-geographic networks

Geography militates against a central ‘hub’No obvious ‘zones’ to bring activity togetherNo definitive ‘directory’ of creative activity

Skills Strong start up culture, high resilience

Artisanal rather than entrepreneurial mindsetMicrobusinesses struggle with skills/training

Access to finance Organisations keen to access funding in new ways

Agencies lack understanding of creative sectorSupport insufficiently responsive

Timelines & targets

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

WP0 Scoping & Theory Building

WP2 Historic

WP3 Governance

WP1 Valuation & Mapping

WP4 Communities WP5 Interventions

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

WP0 Scoping & Theory Building

WP2 Historic

WP3 Governance

WP1 Valuation & Mapping

WP4 Communities WP5 Interventions

Delivery

• International scoping studies commissioned (WP0)

• Staff appointed (WP1, 3-5, 6)• Initial scoping of archives and priority areas

(WP2)• Working paper on valuation (WP1)• Data collection & initial analysis for mapping

(WP1)

International scoping studies

• Mapping the Creative Urban Economy– How has the creative/cultural economy developed historically in this city? – What are the key features of the creative urban economy in this city?

• Policy and Governance– What is the policy framework (national/local) in which the creative economy operates

within this city? – What are the local governance arrangements? – To what extent are different communities implicated in the

formulation/implementation of policy and governance frameworks? • Connecting Communities

– To what extent is the city’s wider community engaged with the creative and cultural economy

– What evidence is there for intermediation processes within the sector locally beyond encouraging consumption?

– Are there particular examples of intermediation processes as two-way dialogue? – In these examples, what were the critical success factors?

International scoping studies

• Chicago – Cultural Policy Center, University of Chicago• Toronto – Heather McLean, York University• Guangzhou – Fang Yuan-ping, Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies,

South China Normal University• Hobart – ties into a three year ARC project run by Justin O’Connor, Queensland

University of Technology• Budapest – Emilia Barna Assistant Professor at the Budapest University of

Technology and Economics Institute for Media Education and Research (BME MOKK) • Delhi – Raj Isar, Professor of Cultural Policy Studies, American University of Paris,

(author of forthcoming UNESCO Creative Economy Report)• Sweden , South Africa, France• TBC

– UAE– Caracas– Medellin

Staff appointed

• Samuel Mwaura – research assistant on the mapping project (WP1)

• Saskia Warren – Research Fellow for Birmingham (WP3-5)

• Karen Smith – Research Fellow for Manchester (WP3-5)

• Laura Ager – PhD student, role of universities as cultural intermediaries (WP6)

Today’s presentations

• Mapping cultural intermediationLisa De Propris, University of Birmingham

• Cultural intermediation in historical perspective

Ian Grosvenor & Natasha Macnab, University of Birmingham

• Measuring the value of cultural intermediationDave O’Brien, City University (Presented by Saskia Warren)