Culture Commons in UK Parliament to support launch of new report on Northern Culture
Culture Commons Founder & CEO, Trevor MacFarlane FRSA was invited to attend the launch of the Northern Culture APPG’s new report to explore how the norths cultural potential might be untapped.
Culture Commons Founder and CEO Trevor MacFarlane FRSA was delighted to join MPs, Peers and cultural leaders this evening in Parliament for the launch of Northern Culture Untapped, a new report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Northern Culture.
Drawing on evidence from right across the North, the report makes a powerful case for recognising culture as a driver of economic growth, stronger communities and opportunities for people and places.
Culture Commons was pleased to contributed an extensive body of evidence to the inquiry from our groundbreaking nationwide research programme, The Future of Cultural Devolution in the UK and through in-person evidence sessions too.
Launch of ‘Northern Culture Untapped’ report at the UK Parliament
At the launch event, Trevor joined senior representatives from The Lowry, Arts Council England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the BBC and Greater Manchester Combined Authority, each highlighting the importance of sustained investment, stronger partnerships and recognising the ways in which cultural organisations, artists, infrastructure and communities depend on one another.
The overall message was clear: unlocking the North’s potential requires investment in whole cultural ecosystems, not isolated projects, institutions or parts of the country.
“A huge congratulations to the APPG for Northern Culture and everyone who contributed to this important inquiry. The North has never lacked cultural ambition, talent or creativity. What it needs is the investment, infrastructure and powers to realise its full potential. This report makes a compelling case for change, and its recommendations arrive at a particularly exciting moment for the we’re doing here at Culture Commons on cultural devolution...”
Devolution offers a new opportunity
We particularly welcome the report’s recommendations to embed culture within Northern growth strategies, strengthen Mayoral powers, develop long-term cultural investment frameworks and connect cultural policy more effectively with skills, transport and regeneration.
These recommendations closely align with Culture Commons’ policy proposals for cultural devolution, including new approaches to cultural governance, Cultural Ecosystem Plans, stronger national and regional investment partnerships, and better evidence to support decision-making.
Following sustained policy development and advocacy led by Culture Commons alongside partners from across the sectors, culture was formally recognised as a standalone area of devolved competence in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 – an important breakthrough acknowledged during the Parliamentary launch.
But recognising culture as a devolved responsibility is only the beginning. Our work has consistently argued that devolution must be about more than transferring powers and responsibilities. It must give places the tools, resources and influence to improve cultural opportunities and outcomes for their communities.
We therefore particularly welcome the report’s recognition that devolution cannot simply mean redistributing diminishing national resources. Its ambition for stronger national, regional and local partnerships, sustained investment and a thriving cultural ecosystem closely reflects the principles underpinning our own policy work.
Turning recommendations into action
For us, the report illuminates several important and complex questions about how cultural devolution will actually work in practice across different parts of the country - questions such as:
How should responsibilities and investment be shared between different tiers of government?
What new governance arrangements are needed?
How can Mayors connect culture with their wider powers?
And how do we ensure devolution delivers meaningful improvements for people and places?
These are precisely the challenges Culture Commons has been exploring with different tiers of government and sector partners, and which will shape the next phase of our work.
Through an Open Policy Development Platform for Cultural Devolution, we’re bringing together policymakers, researchers and cultural leaders to develop practical solutions. From new approaches to cultural governance and ecosystem planning to long-term investment frameworks and better cultural data, the programme offers a way to explore how recommendations - like those made by the APPG - could be translated into workable policies.
We’re particularly interested in examining which recommendations require distinctively Northern solutions, which challenges are shared by other regions, and where collective national policy proposals could be developed to support better outcomes right across England.
We look forward to exploring how the report’s findings can inform this next phase of our work, and to continuing conversations with the APPG and its partners.
Help shape the future of cultural devolution
We’re building strategic partnerships with researchers, cultural organisations and local/regional governments interested in contributing their expertise, developing solutions and helping shape the next phase of our work on Cultural Devolution.
If you’re interested in joining the work, please get in touch with us here.