Are you a recent creative arts graduate? Do you want to be part of a national research project exploring the impacts of Covid-19 on the cultural industries across the UK?

By taking part you will be lending your story and your experience to research that will inform those directly responsible for making cultural policy across the UK.

We’re developing a series of case studies exploring the impacts in different sectors and across the four nations of the UK. As part of this research, we’d like to hear from recent creative arts graduates who graduated in summer 2020 and who have embarked, or are still planning to embark, on a career in the arts and cultural sector in the UK.

What will be involved?

We would like to tell the story of recent graduates’ experiences of Covid-19 so far. We will be developing this through a mixture of interviews and creative methods, including diaries, blog posts, vox pops, etc. Your story will help us make sense of some of the other data being collected in this project and elsewhere.

We are sensitive to the pressures you face with time and capacity and will be led by you in determining your level of involvement. At the minimum we would be keen to hold a one hour interview with you. Your involvement will be anonymous and kept confidential, unless explicitly agreed otherwise.

£40 per interview for freelance / unwaged.

We already have the involvement of a wide range of practitioners and organisations in this study, but we want to include more, and we are aware that young people have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

What is the timeframe for this?

We want to start working with you as soon as possible, so we are asking for you to contact us before Friday 13 August 2021.

How do I get involved?

Please click here to complete this short online form to express your interest. If you’d like to know more or have any questions about the project, please contact ccv@leeds.ac.uk.

While we can’t guarantee to include everyone in our case studies, we will be creating specific opportunities in the next year for everyone to comment on and further contribute to the findings of this study as they are released.

This research programme is led by the Centre for Cultural Value in collaboration with the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre and The Audience Agency. This project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through UK Research and Innovation’s COVID-19 rapid rolling call.

Image: Company Chameleon. Photographer: Ben Williams