I am pleased to have featured in #France24 Culture / @encoref24 programme dedicated to discussing the impact of Brexit on the UK’s arts world. I spoke of the value for the UK of hosting the UE European Capital of Culture twice and of the legacies #Glasgow1990 and #Liverpool2008 generated not just for their cities and…
Find below highlights from our 10 year anniversary symposium, launching Impacts 08 ~ 18 | #Impacts18, the major research programme I have directed since 2006 on the impacts and long term legacy of hosting a European Capital of Culture. The Symposium opened a global conversation about the value of being a ‘‘#cityofculture’ after 30 years of…
Impacts’18 is a longitudinal research programme dedicated to capturing the long-term effects of hosting the European Capital of Culture title on the city of Liverpool. Using the data baseline and methodological framework established by Impacts 08 — a five-year study on the economic, environmental, social and cultural impacts of Liverpool 2008 — Impacts 18 offers a…
I have just published this academic paper within the Urban Studies Journal. You can access it here Abstract This paper looks into the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) programme as a leading example of culture-led regeneration intervention aimed at renewing or diversifying the economic base and positioning of host cities. One of the key claims…
On the day the United Kingdom decides whether to remain in or leave the EU, I share my personal take on the value of this relationship. This is a personal reflection informed by 16 years researching urban change and documenting the journeys of cities trying to rebuild their economic base while protecting their social fabric and advancing their cultural outlook.…
On 21 June I am speaking at Common Ground, a day event for AHRC Commons members aimed at: “enabling ideas and skills to be exchanged, new collaborations to be forged, networks to be enriched, knowledge to be produced, and the value of the arts and humanities to be expressed, discussed, and celebrated” I will make…
On 14 June 2016, I am speaking on the implications of devolution, rebalancing and the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ for the arts and cultural ecologies of the north of England. The Art of Devolution: Culture and the North aims to provide a space for civic, cultural and academic partners to discuss plans and ambitions for arts and culture in times…
I have interrogated cities and event-led cultural policy-making since 1999. I started by revisiting the cultural legacy of the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games to inform my work on the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festivals. This was followed by research on the legacy of Glasgow 1990 as European Capital of Culture; the experience of Cultureshock – cultural programme for…
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) supports ICC research programme on the ten year legacy of Liverpool as European Capital of Culture The Institute of Cultural Capital has been allocated funding from the AHRC Cultural Engagement Fund to kick-start an exciting new programme of research on the ten year legacy of Liverpool as European Capital…
On the 23rd September I am speaking at Sharing Cultures 2015 – the Fourth International Conference on Intangible Heritage. My paper discusses findings from my research on the impacts of the Liverpool World Heritage Site on city narratives and ambitions. The paper challenges the false perception that there is an irreconciliable tension between urban development and heritage protection. The project: In…
Find below my contribution to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) ‘Knowledge Exchange 2015‘, an excellent forum dedicated to discussing ways of debating, evidencing and pushing forward the societal values of Public Service Media across Europe. The event attacted 100 participants from 32 countries, representing 31 different broadcasters. I spoke on the importance of capturing cultural…
Presentation at AIMAC 2015 (Aix-en-Provence & Marseille) My paper abstract, below: Ever since the widespread acceptance that the arts can have economic value, artistic interventions have been commonly interrogated through an economic and, often, purely instrumental lens. Economic or – at most – socioeconomic effect narratives and associated methodologies to capture such effects have…
I am in Helsinki presenting the paper ‘The cultural value of event-led city regeneration. What makes a European Capital of Culture sustainable’ . My presentation is part of the international symposium Culture(s) in Sustainable Futures: Theories, Policies, Practices, organised by the University of Jyväskylä as part of a COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) research programme. Find my…
On the 14 & 15 May I am contributing to “The Global City: Past and Present“, as part of an AHRC international research network that interrogates the city and its varied international projections & representations from a historical as well as contemporary perspective. I will present a paper focused on the varied cultural representations of…
Urban Myths? Transforming narratives of place via the media representation of one-off international cultural events Paper presented at: Mediated City – Los Angeles Hosting a major one-off cultural event has become a key aspiration of cities attempting to renew or change their local economic base and position themselves as world, international or national cultural centres.…
Exploring the contribution of World Heritage Site (WHS) status to a city’s future development In 2012, the Institute of Cultural Capital embarked on a year-long assessment of Liverpool’s status as a World Heritage Site. This work emerged in the context of the threat and eventual decision by UNESCO to place the Liverpool WHS on the ‘List of World…
I have finally had the chance to tidy up the links to a series of films produced under the series ‘Culturefighters’ by Kosice 2013 European Capital of Culture with support from the British Council. The films were produced back in 2011 and cover a range of topics in the format of ‘mini-masterclasses’ around the notion…
Claudio Bocci, Director of Institutional Relations at Federculture and Ravello LAB committee member, has built on the evidence provided by Impacts 08 on Liverpool 2008 and the Cities and Culture project on Glasgow 1990 to advance discussion about a potential City of Culture initiative in Italy. Find his paper in Italian (with English version at…
In 2009 I attracted funding from the European Commission to establish an international network of researchers and programmers working on the European Capital of Culture initiative. The group focused on finding a common and replicable framework for programme assessment and delivery. This collaboration led to a series of workshops, managed by Liverpool via the Impacts 08…
Garcia, B. (2007) ‘Building on the European Culture Capital as impulse for cultural and creative development’, in: Change through the Cultural Economy. Perspectives of a Sunrise Industry, The State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia, Essen, Germany (17 Sep 2007) [presentation] Seventeen years on, Glasgow is still remembered for its achievements as 1990 European City of Culture.…