2010-02-15
A "Golden Age"? Reflections on New Labour's Cultural Policy and its post-recession legacy
Britain was the last major economy officially to come out of the recession although commentators predict that it will take years for the economy to recover its strength. Public sector funding and support for the cultural sector from businesses and foundations will be tight.
Former Prime Minster, Tony Blair, claimed that his New Labour government presided over a Golden Age in the arts in the UK. Cultural Trends, the journal that champions the need for better evidence-based analyses of the cultural sector, is delighted to provide a major opportunity for researchers to consider whether that Golden Age actually existed; if it is now over; what it achieved; what the effects of the recession on the cultural sector might be in terms of changes in audiences and audience profiles, the economics of the sector and its financial impacts, and how government policy, and the sector itself albeit in the UK, Europe and elsewhere might assess its legacy and learn the lessons that should inform a post-recession economy. All of this will be discussed at the Cultural Trends third one-day international conference, A "Golden Age"? planned for November 2010.
A "Golden Age"? provides the occasion for cultural commentators, policy analysts and historians to brigade the evidence for cultural achievements since 1997 and consider the relationship between culture and recessions since the 1970s. While this might appear retrospective, we are also keen to look forward and bring together ideas for the longer term impacts of what we observe and to develop hypotheses about cultural policy and activity in the future. Papers will be welcomed from British, European and other perspectives.
Cultural Trends is inviting abstracts (max 400 words) for papers on
- What New Labour's cultural policy has achieved
- The impact of the recession on the cultural and creative sectors
- The preparedness of the cultural and creative industries workforce to operate effectively in a post-recession economy
- How cultural policy and the creative and cultural sectors responded during previous recessions.
These can deal with any area of the cultural and creative sectors including built heritage, museums and galleries, the visual and performing arts, film, television, print and digital media. Submissions should be consistent with the aims of Cultural Trends, having a relevance to policy development and being based on original, assembled evidence.
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is Sunday 21 March 2010 for selection by the Cultural Trends Advisory Board. To submit your abstract please send an email headed Cultural Trends Conference to the journals editor, Sara Selwood at sara@saraselwood.co.uk.
All presentations given at the conference will be considered for publication in a special issue of Cultural Trends.
Cultural Trends is based on the proposition that cultural policy should be informed by evidencebased analyses. It aims to:
- stimulate analysis and understanding of the arts and wider cultural sector based on relevant and reliable evidence;
- identify clear trends in cultural provision, funding;
- consider participation, including the differences between different social groups and the impact of culture on individuals and society, as well as how such assessments are made and used;
- provide a critique of those data upon which arts and wider cultural policy may be based, implemented, evaluated and developed and encourage improvements in the coverage, timeliness and accessibility of statistical information on the arts and wider cultural sector; and
- examine the soundness of measures of the performance of government and public sector bodies in the arts and wider cultural sector.
More details about Cultural Trends can be found on the website http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ccut
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