Place
This resource section has been researched and compiled by Charlie Birtles, CVAN NW's Cultural Producer for Place. Follow the links through to the full reports and case studies.
Reports, evidence and inquiries into place and placemaking relevant to artists and those working in the visual arts.
Culture and Place Data Explorer, Arts Council England, 2024
Culture and Place Data Explorer | Arts Council England
This interactive tool is designed to support us and our partners understand the impact of our investment and development work in communities across the country.
Arts and Place Shaping: Evidence Review, Wavehill, May 2020
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/placemaking%20wavehill.pdf
Commissioned by Arts Council England, this review builds on previous research into ‘place-shaping’ and assesses the importance of arts and culture in the lives of people, communities and places, pointing to a body of evidence that demonstrates how culture-led regeneration and investment can help drive local economic growth, help regenerate the high street, and promote social cohesion.
The Case for Culture: What Northern Culture Needs to Rebuild, Rebalance and Recover, Levelling-up Inquiry: Report and Recommendations, All-Party Parliamentary Group, January 2022
https://northernculture.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/NCAPPG-The-Case-for-Culture-Report.pdf
At the time of publication, this All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into northern culture provided evidence on what the north needed to recover following the COVID-19 pandemic and to build back support for, and investment in, the cultural sector in a post-covid and post-Brexit world.
Reimagining where we live: cultural placemaking and the levelling-up agenda, House of Commons Department Culture, Media and Sport committee, November 2022
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/31429/documents/176244/default/
This inquiry was launched in January 2022 to examine the role that culture might play in delivering the Government’s commitment to ‘level up’ the country, in response to ambitions set out in the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper (summary here). The DCMS Committee’s inquiry considered funding for cultural initiatives and how well the current model ensures that distribution goes to areas that might be missing out. MPs also planned to explore how harnessing local creative talent and businesses could help bring back footfall to high streets and town centres, enlivening commercial buildings and protecting them against closure.
The DCMS Committee invited submissions of written evidence, of which 137 pieces were received, including a submission representing the national voice of the CVAN Network. These have been published online and can be accessed here. In January 2023 the Government published a response to the Inquiry’s findings which can be found here.
Cornerstones of culture: Commission on Culture and Local Government, Local Government Association, December 2022
The Commission on Culture and Local Government was established to explore the important contribution local culture can make to what is currently described as ‘levelling up’ and its role in responding to the ongoing impact of COVID-19. Its aim was to bring national, regional and local actors engaged in local publicly funded culture together to communicate the unique role of council funded and supported culture, and to set out a vision for its future in the context of place. The findings of the Commission have led to the creation of this report, exploring the contribution of local culture, the barriers it faces and the four cornerstones that are essential to a healthy local cultural ecosystem, which aims to inform the way in which the Local Government Association will work in the coming years.
The artist’s voice: case studies, best practice and prompts for further thought.
Thinking out-loud Blog, In-Situ
In-Situ explore how creative practices and artists’ approaches can enhance and facilitate community, societal and environmental, interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue, through the co-creation of visible, self-sustaining art and culture. They work in an embedded way, through the formation of long-term relationships and dialogue. This blog, Thinking out-loud, demonstrates this ongoing discourse with thoughts and ideas all around their practice; from artists, team members, collaborators, and participants, reflecting on the role of art in their everyday lives in Pendle, the place they live, work and connect in.
Considering Co-Creation, Heart of Glass and Battersea Arts Centre, April 2021
artscouncil.org.uk/media/20717/download?attachment
Arts Council England asked Heart of Glass and Battersea Arts Centre to share some thoughts on principles, ethics and references pertinent to the area of Co-Creation, with a view to supporting the cultural sector to develop a shared understanding of what is meant by co-creation as well as pulling together existing and developing new, learning and resources. This research supports Arts Council England’s newly launched strategy for 2020–2030, Let’s Create.
Practising Place, In Certain Places
incertainplaces.org/project/practising-place
Practising Place is a programme of events and essays, led by curatorial practice In Certain Places, which explore place-related themes through conversations between artists and academics, with a view to generating new understandings of places through the sharing of ideas and approaches. These conversations have been made public through a series of events across the north, commissioned essays hosted on The Double Negative arts and culture website, and a book of collaborative texts, projects and conversations published by Art Editions North, details of which can be accessed on the link above.