DCMS Cultural Placemaking Fellowship
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Arts Languages and Cultures
Abstract
Each fellowship will last up to 18 months to cover:
a 3-month inception phase for set up activity
a 12-month placement with the host organisation
an impact phase lasting up to 3 months
Fellows will co-design projects and activities with their host and produce analysis to inform government decision-making across a range of policy priorities. Fellows willalso engage across the host organisation, building effective working relationships and supporting wider knowledge exchange with researchers.
This will be supported through their embedded role within the host organisation, including line management support.
a 3-month inception phase for set up activity
a 12-month placement with the host organisation
an impact phase lasting up to 3 months
Fellows will co-design projects and activities with their host and produce analysis to inform government decision-making across a range of policy priorities. Fellows willalso engage across the host organisation, building effective working relationships and supporting wider knowledge exchange with researchers.
This will be supported through their embedded role within the host organisation, including line management support.
| Title | Showing the town's colours: the Engine Room, Southport & its creative communities |
| Description | Short film co-commissioned with the University of Manchester and made by Simon Buckley, Not Quite Light (https://notquitelight.com/) in collaboration with Prof Abigail Gilmore, Dr Claire Burnill-Maier and Dr Eric Lybeck and the creative communities of Southport. This project was supported by the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024, UKRI/AHRC DCMS Cultural Placemaking Fellowship and the SEED Research & Scholarship Fund. It was a joint commission as part of a broader investigation into needs and opportunities for supporting local cultural infrastructure, led by Prof Abi Gilmore, and to provide creative documentation for the 'Engine Room' initiative, led by Dr Eric Lybeck. The Engine Room is a co-working and co-learning space designed to counter the trend of creatives leaving Southport for employment and opportunities. It forms part of a strategic effort to produce a generative 'civic ecology' where creative and digital entrepreneurs can start and scale new industries locally. The film is a sequel to Simon Buckley's earlier work devised with Prof Abi Gilmore and Dr Claire Burnill-Maier utilising a similar methodology of interviews and visual documentation of 'left-behind' places on the periphery of conurbations. The film visits different locations in Southport, Sefton Council, to hear from residents and creatives from Southport about their perceptions of the town and its surrounding areas as well as their vision for its cultural future. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Impact | Film-making as process has supported relationship building with cultural practitioners and stakeholders in Southport and Liverpool City-Region. It has been promoted within DCMS with potential for future impact. |
| URL | https://youtu.be/CF30tC1AAIg?si=7f2KFTfm3gIY_QQu |
| Description | Importance of identifying place-based factors that influence the successful outcomes of investment in arts and cultural venues, initiatives and programming Challenges of bringing together data at appropriate geographical levels to evidence priorities, place selection and evaluation of outcomes associated with policy interventions Opportunities of devolution in English city-regions/strategic combined authorities in coordinating cultural investment strategies at a sub-national level Relevance of 'thinking infrastructurally' in relation to cultural investment to support placemaking and quality and parity of outcome, to include identifying assets, services and flows associated with opportunities for cultural participation |
| Exploitation Route | The fellowship objective is that the outcomes of this funding inform policy design for arts, culture and heritage sectors that improve access to local social and cultural infrastructure and associated positive benefits for communities and individuals |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | My research is being used to inform policy papers and conversations internally relating to the development of business cases for government spending and to advise evaluation and research frameworks for evidence of outcome. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Policy & public services |
| Title | Causal Loop/Systems Dynamics Modelling for Cultural Infrastructure |
| Description | Development of SDS mapping of place-based factors that influence the outcome of investment in cultural infrastructure |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Data model currently used as a heuristic tool for analysis of qualitative interview data with potential to develop into a diagnostic tool informing secondary data analysis for policy business cases. |
| URL | https://kumu.io/abigilmore/cultural-infrastructure-participation-and-place#place-characteristics |
| Description | DCMS CCI/CSA collaboration |
| Organisation | Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | DCMS is building its evidence base on how its sectors can help drive regional productivity, reduce regional inequalities and support placemaking to inform place-based policy development in the context of Levelling Up. This policy fellowship has been established to lead a co-designed project which will contribute to and inform evidence base development and policy design. Main activities are: - co-designed research including qualitative interviews and secondary data analysis investigating needs and challenges and identifying benchmarks and policy levers for place-based policy/investment in cultural infrastructure - advisory role on Culture and Creative Industries Spoke Analytic Team supporting ad hoc quality assurance and review of research reports and analysis - advisory roles on specific workstrands: Bradford 2025 City of Culture Technical Reference Group, ACE Place Data Explorer, National Data Culture Observatory demonstration project, DCMS2030 Place workstrand and Place strategy; SR Submission on Towns of Culture proposal, SR Submission on Cultural Futures - advisory role to CSA office on academic engagement and induction for further Policy Fellowships |
| Collaborator Contribution | Line management and access to regular team meetings/key contacts and project steering group Access to workspace, IT equipment and training |
| Impact | to follow |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | CCI Town Hall Deep Dive - Key concepts for place-based policy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Online Deep-dive talk on key concepts from academic research useful to designing and evaluating place-based policy initiatives delivered to the Culture and Creative Industries directorate including policy professions, analysts and economists. Received very positive feedback from chair and audience members on the presentation including the use of the research within an internal policy paper informing submission on place selection and cultural inequalities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | In Conversation with Professor Tom Crick: REsearch opportunities and growth in the cultural sector: lessons from the pandemic |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Hour-long In Conversation online with the Chief Scientific Advisor, DCMS Prof Tom Crick discussing the UKRI Covid-19 impact on the cultural industries project and the publication Pandemic Culture. Discussion described the research process and experience and the lessons for policy-oriented research in the context of a public health crisis. It was promoted within the DCMS across all directorates aiming to promote understanding of benefits of collaborative research between policy stakeholders and academics and to encourage engagement with the project's findings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |