Centre for Cultural Value

Everyday creativity: a research workshop
2021-09-09 14:00 - 16:00 UTC
Everyday creativity challenges the idea that art is only something that artists do by exploring the many and diverse creative and cultural activities that people do every day at home or in their community. But how do we capture the value of everyday creativity and the difference it makes to people and communities?
In this interactive workshop, you’ll help us refine the scope of our next research review so it’s as useful and relevant as possible to cultural practitioners, voluntary and community groups, participatory arts organisations and those who fund cultural activity and develop cultural policy.
Our research review will examine the evidence base surrounding everyday creativity. It will explore the value of activities that are facilitated by amateur or voluntary groups in shared community spaces, and activity that is self-initiated and takes place at home. The themes within this will be shaped and refined with your input.
The workshop won’t cover everyday creativity that’s facilitated by professional artists as there is already a focus on this area and we want to shine a light on the evidence around voluntary, amateur and self-facilitated activity.
Shaping our research topic – where should we focus?
The workshop will be facilitated by Chuck Lowry and we’ll also have guest contributors who are working in this field (names to be confirmed).
We’ll start by introducing the initial scoping we have done in this area. Then we’ll work together as a group to define the questions and sub-topics you would find most useful for us to include in the research review.
Who’s this workshop for?
You’ll be working in voluntary / amateur / community settings, with experience or interest in creative activities. Or you might be a researcher or policy maker with a specific interest in this area. Please note the workshop won’t include a focus on work that’s facilitated by professional artists.
The workshop has a limited number of spaces which are prioritised for people working in this area. It isn’t suitable for students.
What’s a research review?
We review and summarise existing research within a topic area and share these summary findings in an accessible digest, so it can usefully shape future practice and policy. Here’s an example of a research review into culture on referral programmes.
Please could you also fill out this short survey to help us shape the review by following the link here.
Accessibility
We want to make the webinar a positive experience for all participants. If you have particular access needs please let us know in advance at ccv@leeds.ac.uk
Live transcription by a palantypist (speech to text reporter) is provided for this session. Transcription will be available on Zoom captions, and on StreamText.net.
The session takes place on Zoom. Read Zoom’s accessibility FAQ’s here.
Image: Fun Palaces 2019. Photographer: Roswitha Chesher

Recovery and renewal: creative approaches to the Covid crisis
2021-06-18 14:00 - 16:00 | Online
How have cultural organisations responded and adapted to the Covid crisis? What new ways of working have emerged as a result?
The pandemic has forced the cultural sector to reassess, regroup and reimagine. With buildings closed, audiences at home and jobs on the line, cultural organisations have had to innovate, upskill and adapt in order to survive, and continue engaging audiences.
How successful have these new ways of working been? What challenges have organisations had to overcome, and what learnings can we take with us moving forward?
Join us for the second webinar from our major research programme examining the impact of Covid-19 on the cultural sector, we’ll be looking at examples of creative and inspiring approaches to the crisis. You’ll hear from project researchers John Wright, Karen Gray, Eva McAvoy, Harry Weeks and Danielle Child, who between them have interviewed cultural sector workers from over 50 different organisations across the UK.
You’ll also hear first-hand perspectives from two of our case-study participants including Liz Chege, film programmer, critic, curator, and director of Africa in Motion, as well as Julia Negus, award-winning artist-producer with Theatre Absolute, who will share how their organisations have adapted and innovated in the face of Covid-19.
The webinar will be chaired by Dr Abigail Gilmore.
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. It is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through UK Research and Innovation’s COVID-19 rapid rolling call.
This is the second of our webinars sharing emerging findings from the research. You can watch the first webinar, looking at inequalities, here. The research programme runs until November 2021 and there will be further events in November to share final findings.
Accessibility
We want to make the webinar a positive experience for all participants. If you have particular access needs please let us know in advance at ccv@leeds.ac.uk
Live transcription by a Palantypist (Speech to Text Reporter) is provided for this session. Transcription will be available on Zoom captions, and on StreamText.net.
If you will be using the transcription to access the session or have any other accessibility requirements, please let us know in the booking form in good time before the event date.
The session takes place on Zoom. Read Zoom’s accessibility FAQ’s here https://zoom.us/accessibility/faq

Older people - culture, community and connection
2021-05-13 14:00 - 16:00 | Online
A research workshop
What’s the impact of cultural participation in later life, and how do we capture its value for people and communities?
In this interactive workshop, you’ll help us refine the scope of our next research review so it’s as useful and relevant as possible to people working in the cultural sector, as well as those who fund cultural activity and develop cultural policy.
Our research review will examine the evidence base surrounding the cultural participation of older people, with a focus on community and connection*. Within this we are anticipating exploring themes such as loneliness, isolation, resilience and wellbeing, but this will be shaped and refined with your input.
Shaping our research topic – where should we focus?
The workshop will be facilitated by Chuck Lowry and we’ll also have guest contributors who are working in this field (names to be confirmed). We’ll start by introducing the initial scoping we have done in this area. Then we’ll work together as a group to define the questions and sub-topics you would find most useful for us to include in the research review.
Who’s this workshop for?
You’ll be working in the cultural sector specifically on projects with older people, or as a researcher or policy maker in this area. The workshop has a limited number of spaces which are prioritised for people working in this area. It isn’t suitable for students.
What’s a research review?
We review and summarise existing research within a topic area and share these summary findings in an accessible digest, so it can usefully shape future practice and policy. Here’s an example of a research review into culture on referral programmes.
*NB We are already undertaking a separate research review into older people, cultural participation and physical health. This event and the subsequent research review is focusing on older people and how cultural participation can build community and connection.
If you are unable to attend the workshop please complete this short survey to share your thoughts about this research review.
Image: Still from We Are All Artists, an Artlink West Yorkshire film by Sally Molineaux

Covid-19: "The great unequaliser?"
2021-03-12 14:15 - 16:00 | Online
Early evidence shows that Covid-19 is exacerbating existing inequalities in the cultural sector.
Is the pandemic the catalyst the sector needs to build a more equal future? What questions should we be asking and how can we accelerate the pace of change?
In this webinar, we share emerging findings from our major research programme examining the impact of Covid-19 on the cultural sector. We’ll focus on what the research is telling us about inequality, and you’ll hear from project researchers including Mark Taylor, Karen Gray, Ben Dunn, John Wright and Oliver Mantell.
We’ll be joined by leading contributors including Dr Roaa Ali from the University of Manchester and Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity and Lara Ratnaraja, a cultural consultant who specialises in diversity, leadership, collaboration and innovation in cultural policy. They will respond to the research findings and share their thoughts on what needs to happen next.
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. It is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through UK Research and Innovation’s Covid-19 rapid rolling call.
This is the first of our webinars sharing emerging findings from the research, with another scheduled for June. The research programme runs until November 2021 and there will be further events in November to share final findings.
Accessibility
We want to make the webinar a positive experience for all participants. If you have particular access needs please let us know in advance at ccv@leeds.ac.uk
Live transcription by a palantypist (speech to text reporter) is provided for this session. Transcription will be available on Zoom captions, and on StreamText.net.
The session takes place on Zoom. Read Zoom’s accessibility FAQ’s here.

What is the value of online cultural engagement?
2020-11-13 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
What does meaningful digital engagement look like and does it change the way we value culture?
**Waiting list only**
In the current climate, it’s likely that the growth in online cultural engagement in the UK will continue for the foreseeable, as cultural organisations have pivoted the focus of their work from live experiences to digital output and engagement.
But how does online engagement change the way we value culture? What can we learn from organisations that have found ways to engage with audiences and the community with and without using digital engagement, and what is the emerging research telling us about digital engagement with culture and its associated new ways of creating value?
In this session you’ll hear from Kim Wide, CEO and Artistic Director of Take A Part, an organisation that has focused on in-person engagement through lockdown, Portia Tremlett, Public Programme Engagement Officer at Novium Museum, who are developing online field trips for schools, Rishi Coupland, Head of Data Intelligence at National Theatre who brought theatre into our homes, and Hasan Bakhshi, Director of the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, Nesta, which recently published a report into online cultural consumption.

Failure – the ultimate taboo?
2020-11-12 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
How can we better recognise, acknowledge and learn from failure?
**Waiting list only**
Not every cultural participation project will achieve the impact that it set out to or deliver all the aims for all its stakeholders. This doesn’t mean that these projects are not of value or cannot generate wider learning.
The FailSpace research project, led by Dr Leila Jankovich, University of Leeds and Dr David Stevenson, Queen Margaret University, explores how cultural policy can better recognise, acknowledge and learn from failure.
This interactive session will share some findings from the research and invite you to propose and discuss ways in which the cultural sector can have more honest conversations about its failure.
Demand for demonstrating impact often means we default to making the case for the value of participation projects rather than identifying opportunities to learn and change.
We believe that critically reflecting on both success and failure, drawing on a range of different perspectives, is the best route to ensuring this sort of learning takes place and can be built on and shared in future.

How can we use research and evidence to influence policy change?
2020-11-11 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
Learnings and insights on how to effectively influence policy
**Waiting list only**
We’re excited to welcome contributors from a range of organisations in a session that focuses on using research and evidence to shape policy change.
Each speaker will share their learnings and insights on how to effectively influence policy – and you’ll hear from Harman Sagger from the Department of Culture Media and Sport, Ailsa Macfarlane from Built Environment Forum Scotland discussing making heritage relevant and getting traction when stats aren’t turning heads, Paul Cairney, policy researcher from the University of Stirling, Julia Lamaison, Head of Research and Statistics at British Film Institute (BFI),and Kate Clark, heritage expert and former CEO of Cadw (the Welsh Government heritage service) who will explore both how we can influence policy and use policy to influence behaviour and skills.
This session is chaired by Abigail Gilmore, University of Manchester and you’ll be invited to share your insights and questions too. You’ll leave with some practical tips and advice about how you can use evidence and research to influence what policy gets made and how it gets made.
In association with the Cultural Policy Centre at Leeds

How can we centre young people in cultural organisations?
2020-11-10 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
How can we centre young people in cultural organisations?
**Waiting list only**
This session was selected as part of our Open Call to practitioners and organisations to host an event for ‘What value culture?’.
Facilitated by Rebecca McGreevy and Francesca Robson, Pilot Theatre’s Young Creatives, this interactive online workshop will explore the role of young people as decision-makers and evaluators in the activities of cultural organisations.
Participants will be invited to share approaches of supporting young people as consultants and creators, and to explore the range of cultural values held by young people today.
As research in action, the Young Creatives will devise and deliver this event, along with the premiere of a new artistic experience created by them.
Pilot Theatre is an international touring company creating work for, by and with young people, based in York.

How should we evaluate? Co-creating cultural evaluation principles
2020-11-09 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
How should we evaluate?
**Waiting list only**
Join us for an interactive workshop facilitated by artist Paula Varjack and feed your ideas into the co-creation of a set of evaluation principles that could underpin the evaluation of cultural projects in the future.
Dr Beatriz Garcia from the University of Liverpool and Oliver Mantell from The Audience Agency are leading this work to co-develop a set of principles drawing on the ideas and expertise of a wide range of practitioners.
They’ll present their work in progress, and invite you to share your ideas, suggest models and tools, and contribute to the development of an evaluation principles wiki.

Young people and mental health: shaping our research
2020-11-06 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
Mental wellbeing makes headlines every day, with an estimated one in ten children and young people in the UK living with a mental health diagnosis.
**Waiting list only**
With Covid-19 creating an environment for heightened loneliness and isolation, there’s a need for a stronger focus on the mental health of young people.
The Centre for Cultural Value is currently developing a research digest which centres on the question: what is the value of cultural experiences for young people’s mental health, wellbeing and resilience? Our role is to review and summarise existing research and to share these summary findings in an accessible digest, to help inform future practice and policy.
Join us for an interactive workshop where we share the introductory stages of our research in this area and invite you to feed in your ideas to the development of this research review, so we can tailor the digest to be as useful as possible to the sector and policymakers.
Some areas of cultural practice focusing on mental health have strong evidence-based research demonstrating strengths, whereas other areas have been under-researched. Led by artist and facilitator Viv Gordon, you’ll help shape the research digest and collectively identify the strengths, challenges and knowledge gaps in practice and research in the sector.
Also participating in the discussion are Dr Robyn Dowlen, Centre for Cultural Value who is writing the research digest, Dr Kat Taylor from Greater Manchester’s Arts and Mental Health Innovation programme, Kevin Edward Turner, dancer and co-artistic director of Company Chameleon and Errol Francis, CEO at Culture&.
This event is also part of Beyond Measure, a collaboration between the Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network, Cultural Institute and Centre for Cultural Value. Beyond Measure is a programme of digital engagement exploring research and evidence in culture and health.

Who and what is evaluation for? And when is it useful?
2020-11-05 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
Why do we evaluate our work and who do we do it for?
Is it to meet the expectations of funders and stakeholders or to assess a project’s success and capture the difference it makes? Are we missing a trick if we don’t use evaluation as an opportunity to enhance our practice and deepen our learning and critical reflection skills? When is evaluation useful and when should we not do it?
Join us to discuss and question evaluation in the cultural sector and explore how we might be able to do and share it better, so collectively we can articulate the difference culture makes to people and to society.
Led by Anne Torreggiani, the Centre Co-Director and CEO of The Audience Agency, we’re also joined by artist Grace Ndiritu, who works collaboratively with museums across Europe, Hilary Jennings from the The Happy Museum Project that looks at how the museum sector can respond to the challenge of creating a more sustainable future, Holly Donagh, Director of Strategic Learning, Insight and Influence at Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Harpreet Kaur, consultant and project manager at Xtrax and Chris Batsford. The session is introduced by Beatriz Garcia from the University of Liverpool.

What does cultural participation look like with and post Covid-19?
2020-11-04 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
How do you create opportunities for cultural participation in communities through a global pandemic?
**Waiting list only**
We’ve been entertained and engaged during lockdown, as cultural organisations and creative practitioners have created an impressive array of rapid responses during the ongoing pandemic to try and keep us connected to their work and to each other.
As a society, we have learnt to adapt to the current environment, initially mindful that it was ‘short term’. But as new lockdowns roll on and off across the country…what happens next and how do you create opportunities for cultural participation in communities through a global pandemic?
Chaired by academic researcher Dave O’Brien, join our contributors to hear what they have learnt during this time and how they might have done things differently, so we can gain insights into how we can help understand cultural value in the future.
The line-up includes Zulfiqar Ahmed, an expert in community-led development and now progressing, in the midst of coronavirus, the 10-year £3.5m Bradford Creative People and Places project The Leap; Amerah Saleh, General Manager of youth organisation Beatfreeks, whose recent Take The Temperature report focused on the impact of coronavirus on young people; Nisha Tandon OBE, director of ArtsEkta, who has created cultural activity packs and an online Mela in Belfast, and Sarah Clarke, Learning & Participation Manager at the National Civil War Centre, who are creating activity boxes for schools with genuine and replica artefacts.

Culture on referral: sharing our findings
2020-11-04 11:00 - 12:30 | Online
There’s a growing belief that there is an important role for the arts and culture in supporting people’s health and wellbeing.
The Centre for Cultural Value has published its first research digest, exploring the evidence surrounding culture on referral (or arts on prescription) programmes.
Dr Robyn Dowlen from the Centre for Cultural Value presents the findings from this recent  review of research into culture on referral, sharing what we can be certain of, where there is emerging evidence and where future research is required to strengthen the evidence base.
Take part in a discussion chaired by Alex Coulter, Director of Arts and Health South West with invited contributors, Gavin Clayton, CEO at Hoot Creative Arts, Christiana Melam, CEO at National Association of Link Workers, Helen Chatterjee, Professor of Biology at UCL, and Emily Bradfield, Director at Arts & Minds, to debate the findings, whilst gaining an insight into the learning and critical reflections around the key themes of the digest.
This event is also part of Beyond Measure, a collaboration between the Leeds Arts Health and Wellbeing Network, Cultural Institute and Centre for Cultural Value. Beyond Measure is a programme of digital engagement exploring research and evidence in culture and health.

Collaborate – building research partnerships for cultural value
2020-11-03 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
How do you know the cultural value of your work?
**Waiting list only**
Join us to discuss what value research can bring to your creative practice and find out how the Centre for Cultural Value can support you to develop your own research project.
This workshop is for people working in cultural sector organisations or individual practitioners in the UK. It isn’t suitable for researchers, students or international guests.
Led by Lisa Baxter, The Experience Business, with Becky Parnell, Manchester Camerata and Liz Harrop, Centre for Cultural Value this interactive workshop will provide insights into the benefits of engaging in research and an opportunity to shape the Centre for Cultural Value’s Collaborate programme, which will launch in early 2021, supporting collaborative research projects responding to sector-driven questions and artist-led curiosity.

Whose cultural values?
2020-11-02 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
Does everyone place a value on culture and if so, do they value it in the same way?
**Waiting list only**
And do people get the opportunity to engage in what they value most?
Whilst many argue that art, heritage and culture define what it means to be human, it doesn’t mean that we all share the same idea of what culture is, or how it plays a role in our lives.
We’ve brought together contributors whose work is reshaping cultural value in the UK, including Tobi Kyeremateng, whose initiative Black Ticket Project gives young Black people free access to the theatre, artist and activist Harry Josephine Giles, who is currently producing a disabled artists’ manifesto ‘imagining a crip future’, Rabab Ghazoul, director of Gentle/Radical, a cultural and community organisation in Cardiff working hyper-locally from a basis of social and healing justice, and Dadirai Tsopo of Hard Times Require Furious Dancing and Wales House Farm Big Local, whose work focuses on ‘enabling voices from the grassroots a place to be heard’. Chaired by Eleonora Belfiore of Loughborough University.
Together they will discuss the headline ideas of cultural value and cultural engagement in the UK and how we can see and move beyond them. How can we step outside the established norm and reshape what cultural value looks like? Audience participation encouraged!
