Article written for the Arts and Humanities Research Council After a year of on-and-off global lockdowns the need to gather and experience collective joy feels more urgent and pressing than ever. Festivals and outdoor cultural experiences offer us the chance to connect and feel part of a community in positive and inspiring ways. In this…
Final report of the Salzburg Global Seminar I co-curated in 2020, asking the question ‘What future for Festivals?’ The seminar involved weeks of intense discussion with festivals leaders and scholars from around the world. It was an intense and tough process as this event was supposed to take place in Salzburg in March of 2020,…
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…
On the 4th December 2019 I was in Brussels presenting at the European Parliament. It was a public hearing to the Culture and Education Committee on the legacies and challenges of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) Programme. I shared with MEPs the wealth of evidence that exists about what works (or not) for ECoCs…
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…
Valletta 2018 launches its year with Erba ‘ Pjajez, “Four squares” involving multiple repeating shows throughout the city, a good concept to ensure as many local citizens & visitors as possible experience the opening party of their European Capital of Culture It is Important for locals too that all events were in Maltese rather…
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 researched the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) initiative since 2002 and have documented the experience of all ECoC hosts (over 65 cities, in more than 30 European countries) since the initiative’s launch in 1985. My research has focused on studying the symbolic regeneration potential and long-term cultural legacies of hosting an ECoC, as well as…
As expert appointed to the European Capital of Culture Selection panel, I have joined my colleagues in making a statement in response to the announcement that the UK European Capital of Culture 2023 selection process is to be interrupted
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.…
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 European Commission and Iberoamerican General Secretariat have invited me to contribute to ‘Urban Culture for Social Inclusion in Latinoamérica’, an international seminar hosted in Brussels, on the 21 April 2016. This will open the doors to important discussions and knowledge exchange between European city experiences and Latino American cities. * La Comisión Europea y la…
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…
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 have been invited by the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center to join an international research gathering at the university’s Paris campus. The event is a select convening of about 25 researchers, practitioners and policymakers around the theme of urban cultural placemaking. It has been organised as part of the Center’s efforts to develop a more international and…
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.…