Sustainable Cultural Futures: COVID-19 and Resetting Cultural Policy
Lead Research Organisation:
King's College London
Department Name: Culture Media and Creative Industries
Abstract
This interdisciplinary project will be thematically structured around 3 issues: the values of culture; cultural work; and digitalised cultural consumption. It will focus on performing arts (e.g., theatre) and museums, two sectors that have been significantly affected by the pandemic and are under intense pressure to actively embrace the virtual. First, we will re-map the meanings and benefits of culture in the context of the pandemic via a systematic literature review and large-scale online surveys. From this, we will identify and describe the new, emerging social consensus regarding the values of culture and the purposes of cultural policy. Second, we will examine the functions of key institutions that affect the nature of cultural work (artists' unions, public funding, contracts, industry practices and relevant labour policy) and identify potential changes that would allow them to more effectively address the precarity of cultural work in the context of the continued impact of the pandemic. Third, via case studies of select performing arts organisations and museums, we will investigate how these entities reconcile their traditional beliefs in materiality and 'live' with the pressures to go digital in production and audience engagement. Cross-national online surveys will give us a bigger picture of whether and how the online delivery of digitalised cultural content can bring larger and more diverse audiences to culture. Across these three project themes, we will employ a mixed methodology, combining a systematic literature review, surveys, discussion panels, interviews and case studies. Many of our research events will be held online across the UK and Japan with simultaneous interpretation.
Despite their differences in social structures and public attitudes toward culture, both Japan and the UK have continuously struggled to justify state subsidy for culture, and their funding systems were not directly connected with individual artists and cultural workers prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cultural policymakers in both countries have also shown concern about the uneven level of public cultural participation and are keen to know whether and how this will change with the rise of digitalised cultural consumption. By pulling together the interdisciplinary expertise of the research team and involving stakeholders from the cultural sectors of the two countries, this research will help policymakers freshly engage with the core issues of cultural policy through cross-national conversation, learning and problem-solving. The Agency of Cultural Affairs (Japan), Mori Art Museum, Ohara Museum of Art, Arts Council England and Equity have agreed to be our project partners, and there will be additional partners from both countries. We will actively engage with cultural practitioners and with experts in artist labour, labour policy and law, contracts, copyright and digital technologies to explore specific policy measures to tackle the continued impact of the pandemic as well as unpredictable future risks.
After the project ends, the UK-Japan project team will publish 2 co-edited books (1 in English, 1 in Japanese) and minimum 4 journal articles (2 in English/open access, 2 in Japanese) to widely disseminate the project findings in Japan and the UK and to international researchers and policymakers.
Despite their differences in social structures and public attitudes toward culture, both Japan and the UK have continuously struggled to justify state subsidy for culture, and their funding systems were not directly connected with individual artists and cultural workers prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cultural policymakers in both countries have also shown concern about the uneven level of public cultural participation and are keen to know whether and how this will change with the rise of digitalised cultural consumption. By pulling together the interdisciplinary expertise of the research team and involving stakeholders from the cultural sectors of the two countries, this research will help policymakers freshly engage with the core issues of cultural policy through cross-national conversation, learning and problem-solving. The Agency of Cultural Affairs (Japan), Mori Art Museum, Ohara Museum of Art, Arts Council England and Equity have agreed to be our project partners, and there will be additional partners from both countries. We will actively engage with cultural practitioners and with experts in artist labour, labour policy and law, contracts, copyright and digital technologies to explore specific policy measures to tackle the continued impact of the pandemic as well as unpredictable future risks.
After the project ends, the UK-Japan project team will publish 2 co-edited books (1 in English, 1 in Japanese) and minimum 4 journal articles (2 in English/open access, 2 in Japanese) to widely disseminate the project findings in Japan and the UK and to international researchers and policymakers.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Hye-Kyung Lee (Principal Investigator) |
| Description | Theme 1 findings: As part of Theme 1 research activities, we conducted a public survey looking at the English public's cultural life/engagement and their understanding of cultural values and cultural policy. We found a mismatch between the public's and policymakers' everyday understanding of terms such as 'culture' and 'art'. While policymakers have shifted away from the terms 'art' and 'artist' in their articulation of cultural policy, the public continues to associate 'creativity' with 'art' much stronger than with culture. Also, the survey affirms that interest in the arts is 'sticky', meaning that disinterest in the arts tends to persist, especially among individuals who lack opportunities to participate during childhood. In connection to the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that nearly 40% of English adults still hesitate to visit cultural venues due to the risk of contracting the virus (data collected in 2022). While the cinema would remain the most attended venue, the attendance of live music events, outdoor festivals/carnival/street arts, musicals, heritage sites, and museums was predicted to rise. Throughout the pandemic period, a bigger proportion of the public (61%) realised the importance of in-person/live cultural experiences compared to those (around 50%) who realised the importance of online events, suggesting that in-person engagement with culture and the arts is preferred. We also found that the online viewership levels of certain cultural/artistic forms/events are somewhat higher for events that are free of charge as well as among the younger population, the latter signifying that the viewership of cultural/artistic events online is likely to be in a long-term upward trend. People believe that free admission would increase the public's participation in cultural/artistic activities the most. Yet, the significance of children as a driver should not be ignored. Remarkably, our findings indicate that the interest in the arts is not an isolated phenomenon but is correlated with one's levels of social participation overall, as those interested in the arts are significantly more likely to participate in all kinds of social organisations and activities (ranging from local communities and associations to labour unions, for instance). The public is not particularly satisfied with the state of cultural and arts provision in their local areas, with only about 1 in 3 saying there is a good range of cultural and arts events to attend locally. Yorkshire & Humberside residents are among the least satisfied. At the same time, the English public displays relatively low levels of interest in getting involved with local cultural/artistic events. Here, money appears to be the top barrier. Our survey generated some insights into the public's outlook on cultural policy. For example, the public recognises a wide range of cultural values. Instead of prioritising a single (or a set of few) value(s), they showed appreciation for a wide range of values and benefits that culture and the arts have for them as individuals, as well as for their local area and society, more broadly. This finding offers a refreshing antithesis to the existing dichotomist debate on this matter. Furthermore, we found that only 1 in 5 would object to individual artists benefiting directly. Finally, the public feels that an independent public body is best suited to be the decision-maker in charge of public spending on the arts. Theme 2 findings: After interviewing 17 cultural sector stakeholders and asking them to talk about potential measures to tackle the issue of cultural freelancer precarity, we were surprised to find an undeniable lack of consensus when pinpointing concrete policy solutions and specific policy measures. This is a significant finding highlighting an urgent need for further research looking into the required conditions under which such consensus would emerge. Despite the lack of consensus, Theme 2 interviews and our literature review reveal several findings beneficial for understanding and tackling precarity in cultural freelancing. First, the findings helped us to thematise a range of pervasive challenges that perpetuate precarity into three categories such as societal, labour market, and sectoral conditions. It is also suggested that it is impossible to successfully tackle precarity without understanding and addressing these diverse factors. We learned that an important (societal) condition contributing to precarity is the lack of value our society attributes to culture and the arts (and artists and cultural workers). Being aware of the cultural value debate over the past 20 years in the UK and beyond, we wonder why, so far, we have not seen significant shifts in society's recognition of the value of culture and, thus, the value of cultural work. Given the continuous undervaluation of cultural work, our findings indicate that it is imperative to revisit discussions around cultural value and find ways to reinvigorate them. Second, our findings underscore the urgent need to involve cultural freelancers more in policy- and decision-making and to find/develop new, more sustainable ways of such involvement. From Theme 2 research, we learned about the many difficulties, barriers and sacrifices freelancers must face to engage in policymaking. Third, our findings indicate the need for a complex ecological approach to precarity - one that is both deeply collaborative and comprehensive. Given the complexity of the issue, we find that it can only be resolved with help, involvement, and collaboration among all stakeholders, namely freelance artists and cultural workers; employers; trade unions and associations; universities; researchers and policymakers. Also, given the diversity of challenges, we find it too complex to be resolved through cultural policy alone. Therefore, we call for a comprehensive approach that includes multiple policy domains: cultural, labour, social, and economic policies. Finally, despite the lack of a clear consensus on concrete solutions, we still identified some potential policy directions to explore in the future, including, but not limited to, innovative funding frameworks, fiscal policy interventions, income support schemes and Freelancer Commissioner. |
| Exploitation Route | With Theme 1, our findings especially on the public's understanding of multi-faceted cultural value, their level of satisfaction with local cultural environment and their (lack of) intention to take part in participatory creative events directly inform policymaking. Another important finding (the close corelation between the interest in the arts and social participation) urges cultural policy to broaden its perspective and approach the public's cultural life from societal perspectives. As suggested by testimonials by a policymaker and a campaigner, Theme 2 findings are already impacting policymaking and campaigning on behalf of freelancers in the UK. Once our Theme 2 report has been translated into Japanese, it will be circulated to trade unions, campaign organisations, policymakers and researchers in Japan. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://sustainableculturalfutures.weebly.com/ |
| Description | It is too early to evaluate the impact of the project but there have been evidence of the project's potential to make impact on policymaking. As for our Theme 1 project report (2022), Arts Council England's Andrew Mowlah states: 'Arts Council England launched a new strategy 'Lets Create' in early 2020 before the pandemic hit. [] As the Cultural Engagement and Cultural Values report states, the pandemic has opened up a moment of 'critical juncture' for cultural policy and a moment where previous assumptions are being seriously challenged. Arts Council England looks to reports like these to offer new insights in order to stress test the ambitions set out in our strategy to see if they are still relevant and on track.' Our Theme 2 UK-Japan seminar was was attended by policymakers from England (Arts Council England) and Scotland (Creative Scotland). After the seminar, we received positive feedback from Kirsteen Macdonald, a Visual Arts Officer from Creative Scotland, who requested a more detailed report on our Theme 2 data and shared the following testimonial: 'The insights shared from this recent research at the SCF seminar provided an interesting context around the work Creative Scotland are doing to deliver the Scottish Government's Fair Work First priority and our ongoing support for creative practitioners. The research findings demonstrate that there are many shared issues for artists and freelance cultural workers working in different geographical locations. The nuances between the structural responses to emergency arts funding in the UK and Japan during Covid-19 provided a useful framework for thinking about how we continue to learn from international colleagues as we develop policies and approaches to support the creative sector in the future.' The seminar was attended by Alister Cope, a representative from Freelancers Make Theatre Work, a major group campaigning on behalf of the freelancers in the theatre sector. He also highlighted the positive policy impact of the seminar in his testimonial: 'The seminar was exceptionally insightful and useful. The information shared and presented aligns with our own research and findings and will help feed into our ongoing lobbying effort to help encourage more support for freelancers in the arts.' |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal Policy & public services |
| Title | Interview transcripts: Policy Approaches to Tackling Precarity in Freelance Cultural Work |
| Description | To identify potential policy ideas and approaches to tackle precarity in cultural freelancing, we interviewed seven campaigners/campaign group representatives, three trade union representatives, five policymakers and two researchers. This led to 17 interview transcripts. These will be fully anonymised and deposited in the UK Data Service for long-term storage within a year of the project's completion so that it can be used by other researchers. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Our interview data provides in-depth insights into how different stakeholders in the cultural sector view the precarity facing cultural freelancers and what they suggest as potential solutions to it. |
| Title | Survey Data: Cultural Engagement and Cultural Values in England |
| Description | This fully anonymised data was collected through a 20-minute online survey. In total, 2,123 English adults completed the survey across a demographically representative sample of age, gender, region, social grade, ethnicity and income. The data collection was carried out Savanta from 18 to 20 August 2023. The data demonstrates the participants' responses to our survey questions on their cultural engagement in childhood and adulthood, cultural engagement pattens in the COVID and post-COVID contexts, social participation, interest in the arts, their understanding of cultural values, local cultural environment, social values and their personal values. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This dataset allows us to investigate not only the multiple dimensions of the public's cultural life and engagement but also their correlation with personal values, social participation and happiness, which has hardly been researched before. The dataset (excel and csv files) will be deposited in the UK Data Service for long-term storage within a year of the project completion so that it can be used by other researchers. |
| Description | Industry partnership |
| Organisation | Equity |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Our project provides Equity (the actors' and performers' union) with a unique opportunity to engage with the UK-Japan cross-national exploration of more sustainable institutions of cultural work. We have invited Equity's industrial official (Theatre) to a workshop at Doshisha University (06/2023) where Equity can create connections with Japanese unions, experts and policymakers and participate in cross-national discussion on the roles and limitations of unions in the cultural and creative sectors. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Equity is one of the strongest and most prominent trade unions in the UK cultural sector and has approx. 47,000 members. Its expertise and experience in industrial relations and its current engagement with the government offer essential resources to draw on. Its in-kind support for the project includes advice on Theme 2 (Institutions of cultural work) and Theme 3 (Digitalisation of cultural consumption); helping us interview members of Equity staff; providing relevant work or member consultations Equity has already done; participation in our research events; and connecting our research team with cultural organisations that are pioneering digital work and online distribution. Equity's Charlotte Bence (Industrial Official, Theatre) and Tom Peters (Policy Officer) briefed us on its key missions, collective agreements with theatre associations and its positions on various policy proposals. Equity's participation in the Theme 2 workshop (Doshisha University) will contribute to the comparative analysis of cultural unions, as well as their roles and limitations. |
| Impact | Too early to produce outputs as the collaboration started in February 2023 |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Policy partnership |
| Organisation | Arts Council England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | This project provided us with an excellent opportunity to initiate a collaborative partnership with Arts Council England (ACE). ACE is our project partner and is keen to further develop the KCL-ACE collaboration to explore key issues concerning cultural democracy and the decentralisation of arts funding. Our Theme 1 findings offered the ACE timely and helpful insights into the pre-COVID and post-COVID cultural engagement patterns, local cultural environment and the public's views of cultural policy and cultural value. We found a mismatch between the public's and policymakers' everyday understanding of art, culture and creativity. Another important finding is that the public sees different cultural values as complementing, not competing. By demonstrating the correlation between cultural engagement and social participation, our research also calls for joint-up thinking across cultural and social policies. We have carried out the Theme 2 (Institutions of cultural work) literature review and are currently writing a journal article. Our findings will deepen the partnership by engaging ACE with discussions on the feasibility and rationale of various policy options proposed to tackle the precarity in cultural work. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Arts Council England has made substantial contributions to the partnership via in-kind support. Andrew Mowlah (Director of Research) briefed us on ACE's public surveys and its approach to cultural democracy (its Let's Create strategy) and the decentralisation/regionalisation agenda. This helped us to locate our research within the ongoing cultural policy debate. Joe Shaw (Senior Office, Policy and Research) helped us develop the survey questionnaire. Andrew Mowlah brought ACE's perspectives to our first online seminar. The ACE will make further contributions in 2023 and 2024 by helping us interview ACE staff and taking part in our Theme 3 research activities. |
| Impact | This interdisciplinary collaboration involves expertise in policy discourse, policy analysis and public survey. As mentioned earlier, a public survey on cultural engagement and cultural values in England was carried out (08/2022), producing datasets that will be deposited in the UK Data Service. We have recently published a report of the key findings of the survey (for more details, refer to the 'Other outputs/outcomes' section). ACE's Andrew Mowlah presented ACE's policy priorities and responded to the UK and Japanese research teams' findings at our online seminar 'Cultural engagement in the UK and Japan: Key findings from the SCF surveys' (02/12/2022). |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | UK-Japan cultural policy research collaboration |
| Organisation | Doshisha University |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | 'Sustainable Cultural Futures (SCF): COVID-19 and Resetting Cultural Policy' is embedded in UK-Japan collaborative cultural policy research. This project is an outcome of King's College London and Doshisha University (Kyoto)'s collaborative research bid with the same title. This bid was one of the ten successful bids selected jointly by JSPS, ESRC and AHRC (https://www.ukri.org/news/uk-japanese-collaboration-to-address-covid-19-challenges/). For the three-year period from February 2022, the UK and Japanese research teams work on three main themes and explore potential sustainable cultural futures from cross-national perspectives. The UK team consisting of Hye-Kyung Lee (KCL), Sana Kim (KCL) and Kirsty Warner (KCL) contributed to this partnership in multiple ways. We co-developed with the Japanese team survey questionnaires and co-organised a UK-Japan panel at the ICCPR (09/2022) and two UK-Japan online seminars (12/2022 and 02/2023) to share initial findings with the broader audience. We piloted the Theme 2 literature review and inspired the Japanese team to thematise their Theme 2 review and interviews. This will lead to country-specific as well as cross-national research outputs. Via UK-Japan internal seminars, we enhanced the Japanese researchers' understanding of the public's cultural engagement trends, as well as broader cultural policy debates in the UK. Furthermore, we positively contributed to the development of a comparative analytical framework for investigating cultural consumption and public cultural funding. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Japanese team - Nobuko Kawashima, Doshisha University (Japanese PI) (cultural policy and creative industries), Tadashi Yagi, Doshisha University (cultural economics), Sayaka Sakoda, Kyoto University (labour economics), Naoya Sano, Uenogakuen University (cultural management) and Rene Kobayashi, Kobe University (cultural policy) - have contributed multidisciplinary expertise to the partnership. Yagi and Sakoda shared their statistical expertise with us and provided feedback on the UK survey questionnaire and datasets (Theme 1). Yagi's factor analysis of the UK survey data led to an important finding that people who value culture and the arts for intrinsic and personal reasons tend to highly recognise their economic values and more instrumental values. Kawashima, who chairs the cultural policy advisory committee for the Agency of Cultural Affairs, helped to extend the reach of the project's findings to Japanese policymakers and cultural practitioners via her networks. Doshisha University fully funded the cost of hosting two online seminars on Zoom, which involved two professional simultaneous translators in each event. Via discussions with the Japanese team, the UK researchers have enhanced their knowledge of Japanese cultural policy, which is in the process of remaking, and potential ways for the UK-Japan collaborative research to engage with this process, e.g., involving policymakers in focused workshops centred on problem-solving. |
| Impact | The outputs are interdisciplinary, involving expertise in cultural policy, cultural economics and statistical analysis. First, a public survey on cultural engagement and cultural values in England was carried out (08/2022). A similar survey was done in Japan (07/2022). Several key questions on the COVID rescue package, cultural values, social participation and personal values were co-developed and shared. We have recently published a report of the key findings of the UK survey (for more details, refer to the 'Publications' section). Second, there was a UK-Japan panel at the International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (20/09/2022). The UK and Japanese teams presented the initial findings from the Theme 1 literature review and UK/Japan surveys, receiving feedback from international cultural policy researchers. The discussion focused on the pattern of cultural engagement in England, its relevance to cultural democracy and the issue of 'non-attendance' in Japan. Third, we co-organised with the Japanese team three UK-Japan online seminars: 'Cultural engagement in the UK and Japan: Key findings from the SCF surveys' (02/12/2022), 'Cultural value and cultural policy in the UK and Japan: Key survey findings' (24/02/2023), and 'Cultural labour: policy approaches to tackling the precarity in cultural freelancing' (09/11/2023) (for more details of the two online seminars, refer to 'Engagement activities' section). We are currently co-developing a survey questionnaire on digital culture and cultural consumption in the UK and Japan. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | HEResearch Global Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series - 'Policy Proposals to Tackle the Precarity in Cultural Work: A Case Study of the UK' (26/05/2023) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Hye-Kyung Lee and Dr Sana Kim gave a talk titled 'Policy Proposals to Tackle the Precarity in Cultural Work: A Case Study of the UK', which attracted 100 academics, students and cultural practitioners from China, UK and Australia. The talk discussed the overall historical and structural contexts for precarious cultural work and presented the key findings of the project team's literature review (Theme 2). Through thematic analysis of academic discussions, parliamentary debates, and sector reports, Lee and Kim discussed the emerging policy ideas to tackle precarity in the UK context. They stressed the need for ultimately redesigning the social contract of cultural work so that cultural workers and their contributions are properly valued. The discussion also highlighted the variety of needs of different social groups, revisited some of the advantages of non-standard employment and problematised overreliance on bottom-up policy solutions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://genurb.apps01.yorku.ca/heresearch-scholars-analyze-cultural-policy-in-the-u-k/ |
| Description | International Workshop on Cultural Labour (24-25/06/2023) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The SCF teams from the UK and Japan organised an international workshop at Doshisha University in Kyoto. SCF team's participants included Professor Nobuko Kawashima, Professor Tadashi Yagi, Dr Sakoda Sayaka, Dr Naoya Sano, Dr Rune Kobayashi, Professor Hye-Kyung Lee and Dr Sana Kim. The workshop focused on project planning and reporting on Theme 2 findings. The discussion benefited from the comments, questions and insights offered by a group of invited Japanese experts: Professor Yuki Akino (Waseda University), Sachiko Kanno (AIR Lab, Arts Planner/Researcher), Chika Ochiai (K-Three, consultant to arts organisations), Professor Shinji Oyama (Ritsumeikan University) and Dr Takao Terui (Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University). On day 1, the UK and Japanese project teams had a project planning meeting, followed by a talk by Professor Nobuko Kawashima on the findings of focus groups carried out in Japan on how and why people's cultural tastes change throughout their lives. The discussion involved the invited experts and focused on cultural capital, cultural consumption and values. Then, an expert session on 'Cultural Labour in the Changing Contexts of Cultural Policy, Social Policy and Labour Policy in Japan' was held. The speakers included Chika Ochiai, Professor Yuki Akino and Professor Hye-Kyung Lee. Chika Ochiai reported on her experience setting up and managing a fund (Arts United Fund) to support independent artists in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report was followed by in-depth comments on the future of the fund, the sustainability of and relationships between similar interventions/intermediaries, as well as the issue of the legal status of freelancers in Japan. Then, Professor Yuki Akino introduced influential international comparative research on social protection for creative freelancers commissioned by the Japan Council of Performers Rights and Performing Arts organisations (Geidankyo). Finally, Professor Hye-Kyung Lee discussed the emergence of cultural labour policy in South Korea as a comparative reference point. Day 2 of the workshop focused on the project's interim findings and planning. Dr Naoya Sano reported on key themes emerging from their interviews with experts and practitioners: intermediary functions, policy participation, policy proposals/delivery, and self-management. The discussion noted the importance of empowering cultural intermediaries and equipping cultural freelancers with practical skills, which can help reduce precarity through self-management. Then, Dr Rune Kobayashi presented a comprehensive account of cultural policy developments during COVID-19. This account was followed by two talks by Dr Sana Kim, who presented findings from the UK team's analysis of the literature on precarity in cultural freelancing and 12 interviews with various stakeholders on how to tackle the precarity. Kim emphasised the need for freelancers' voice, freelancers as agents of change, a comprehensive approach and joined-up thinking, and the need to rearticulate cultural value. She highlighted the need for a comprehensive policy framework converging cultural, labour, social and potentially economic policy domains and the need to involve freelancers more in policymaking. The workshop allowed UK and Japanese scholars and experts to explore the fundamental question about how culture and cultural work are valued in society and how recognition of cultural value impacts cultural labour. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://cmcikings.wordpress.com/2023/07/18/sustainable-futures-of-culture-project-international-work... |
| Description | SoFTA CCI Online Seminar - The Precarity of Freelance Cultural Work in the UK (11/12/2023) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Twenty-three academics and students from China, South Korea, Japan and Poland attended the online seminar on 'The Precarity of Freelance Cultural Work in the UK' hosted by Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (China). Dr. Sana Kim highlighted various ongoing challenges that perpetuate the precarity of freelance cultural work. Then, she discussed general policy directions to tackle freelancer precarity, emphasising the need for (1) greater freelancer involvement in policymaking and (2) a wider need for a more holistic approach to addressing precarity. She also reported on some more specific policy measures mentioned by the interview participants. Her reflection on the lack of clear consensus on concrete policy solutions among the interviewees led to an engaging discussion with participants on cultural sector stakeholders failing to properly articulate the ideal world they want to achieve and the importance of envisioning an ideal scenario of eradicating precarity: how would the cultural sector without precarity look like? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/events/2023/12/cci-online-seminar-kcl |
| Description | UK-Japan Online Seminar - Cultural Labour: Policy Approaches to Tackling the Precarity in Cultural Freelancing (09/11/2023) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 66 policymakers, researchers and practitioners from the UK and Japan participated in the UK-Japan online research seminar, 'Cultural Labour: Policy Approaches to Tackling the Precarity in Cultural Freelancing' (09/11/2023) where SCF's academic partners (KCL and Doshisha University) presented their interim findings on Theme 2. Thanks to simultaneous translation, audience members could easily access all presentations and participate in the Q&A without language barriers. The seminar was recorded, and three versions of the recording (in English, Japanese and original language) were made available on YouTube for three months after the seminar. The speakers included Dr Sana Kim (KCL), Dr Naoya Sano (Ueno Gakuen University), Dr Rune Kobayashi (Professional College of Arts and Tourism), and Professor Sigrid Røyseng (Norwegian Academy of Music). The seminar explored policy approaches to address the challenges of precarity in cultural freelancing in the UK and Japan. Professor Sigrid Røyseng added valuable insights from the context of Norway and noted common challenges across the three countries. The discussion highlighted the role of intermediary organisations such as advocacy/campaign groups, and the importance of involving freelancers in policymaking and instilling them with 'self-management' skills in areas such as social security, tax and business management. The seminar stressed that universities should do a better job educating future artists and cultural workers about their societal value and significance, enabling them to advocate for their livelihoods more effectively. Cultural policymakers were called to take on a mediating role, convening discussion and responses across various policy domains (i.e., social, labour, and economic policies). The seminar also raised critical questions about the role and value of artists in society, with some contributors advocating for revisiting and reinvigorating the ongoing debates around cultural value. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sustainable-cultural-futures-uk-japan-online-seminar-tickets-73473872... |
| Description | UK-Japan online seminar: Cultural Values and Cultural Policy (24/02/2023) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | 65 policymakers, researchers, cultural practitioners and students from the UK and Japan participated in our second UK-Japan online seminar, 'Cultural value and cultural policy in the UK and Japan: Key survey findings' (24/02/2023) on cultural, social and personal values. The speakers included Sana Kim (KCL), Tadashi Yagi (Doshisha University) and David Throsby (Macquarie University). The presentations and Q&A focused on the English public's broad agreement with a wide range of equally important cultural values and social values, challenging the 20-year-long debate in cultural policy regarding intrinsic vs. instrumental values. The seminar explored the relationship between cultural values and daily life/personal values in Japan. It also highlighted the importance of the pro-social attitude as a major factor for cultural engagement. The seminar raised two fundamental questions for the future of cultural policy in the UK and Japan: (1) is its current scope appropriate given the abundance of the public's cultural life outside policymaker's narrow understanding of culture and the roles of social factors on cultural engagement? and (2) when the public perceives every cultural and social value as equally significant, what should the policy priorities be, and how should the decision be made? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cultural-value-and-cultural-policy-in-the-uk-and-japan-key-survey-fin... |
| Description | UK-Japan online seminar: cultural engagement (02/12/2022) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | 85 policymakers, researchers, practitioners and students from the UK and Japan participated in our first UK-Japan online seminar, 'Cultural engagement in the UK and Japan: Key findings from the SCF surveys' (02/12/2022) on the public's understanding of culture, their attitude towards the arts and their cultural engagement. The whole seminar was simultaneously translated; audience members could easily access all presentations, and took part in the Q&A without language barriers. The speakers included Sayaka Sakoda (Kyoto University), Sana Kim (KCL), Emi Kataoka (Komazawa University) and Andrew Mowlah (Arts Council England). The discussion focused on the high rate of non-engagement in Japan (approx. 40%), the stickiness of the lack of interest in the arts, the strong correlation between the interest in the arts and social engagement, and the need for cultural democracy. The seminar explored how the habitus of policymakers and researchers affect their understanding of culture, how cultural policy can address various cultural activities beyond its scope, and how decentralising arts funding can help make cultural policy more democratic. Important questions arose on the role of digitalised culture, which we will explore in detail in 2024 with our Theme 3 activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cultural-engagement-in-the-uk-and-japan-key-findings-from-the-scf-surve... |
| Description | Webinar Series on Global Sustainability - Cultural Policy and Cultural Work in the Time of AI (12/07/2023) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Hye-Kyung Lee and Dr Sana Kim gave a talk titled 'Cultural Policy and Cultural Work in the Time of AI' at a 90-minute webinar on AI and the cultural sector hosted by the National Taiwan Normal University. The event was a rare opportunity for the UK team to engage with 70 Taiwanese, South Korean, Japanese, American and British academics, experts and practitioners in the fields of AI, cultural technology, digital communication, sustainable development and arts management. Firstly, Professor Hye-Kyung Lee traced the evolution of labour perspectives within cultural policy discussions and pointed out that generative AI deepens the precarity of cultural workers. Then, Dr Sana Kim explored a range of examples of generative AI tools capable of generating different types of creative content. Then, the discussion focuses on unpacking some of the initial responses from the cultural sector. Professor Li-Jung Wang (National Central University, Taiwan) talked about the broader policy implications of generative AI. The seminar has raised several fundamental issues around the significance of body and materiality in the arts, copyright, and AI's potential for cultural democracy and cultural democratisation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://members.futureearth.org/events/50387 |