Today, Culture Commons Director Trevor MacFarlane FRSA attends the launch of ‘Pandemic Culture: The Impact of Covid-19 in the UK Cultural Sector and Implications’ - a book he contributed a chapter to covering the UK's national policy response.
Based on the findings of a 15-month research project led by the Centre for Cultural Value, the book offers a rigorous statistical analysis of the impacts of policy responses and of the pandemic itself on the cultural workforce across the UK. It also provides a mixed-methods analysis of cultural organisations and audiences’ responses to the pandemic.
Culture Commons worked with the core research team immediately following the study to design a series of policy recommendations directed towards various UK Government departments, the devolved administrations, regional leaders and sector bodies.
The event was attended by academics, practitioners, policymakers and students working in the cultural industries and those interested in cultural policy. An panel of experts reflected on the core, recurrent themes that have emerged from the research.
“It was a pleasure to be in Manchester today as part of the team launching this important book chronicling one of the most pivotal times in living history. The policy recommendations we put forward back in 2022 really do stand up today, and I hope that the new UK Government, leaders in the devolved administrations and regions will dig into the evidence that the book now gives in unparalleled detail. We have to ask ourselves: have we moved the dial on the structural issues that led to the wildly unequal experiences that different parts of the DCMS ecosystem and groups in society had? Or are we walking headlong into the next crisis with the same structural issues left unaddressed?”
- Trevor MacFarlane FRSA, Director of Culture Commons
You can get a copy of the book here: Manchester University Press - Pandemic culture
You can read the original study here: Culture in crisis - new report from our major research project into the impacts of Covid-19 - Centre for Cultural Value
You can read the policy recommendations developed by Culture Commons here: Culture in Crisis: Recommendations for Policymakers (culturecommons.uk)
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