City Change Through Culture: Securing the Place Legacy of Coventry City of Culture 2021
Lead Research Organisation:
Coventry University
Department Name: Ctr for Creative Economies
Abstract
Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 is a year-long programme of cultural activities and participation. It is being delivered in a partnership between the City of Culture Trust, Coventry and Warwick Universities, and Coventry City Council. UK Cities of Culture are held every four years, the last one was Hull in 2017. What is argued as different about Coventry's year is how it is targeting its activity especially to, first, increase long-term cultural participation in the city and, second, in the belief that such cultural participation can deliver longer term social, economic and environmental benefits to the city. It is argued that the year is a 'city change model', through culture targeted at residents and citizens throughout the city. Activities are much more community-based around the city than the usual big city centre-based spectaculars. Residents are co-creating their ideas of culture and participating in all sorts of local activities in community centres, pubs, clubs, parks and streets - even a graveyard - as well the usual theatres, galleries and other venues.
Given the scale, scope and nature of this 'mega-event', there is great interest as to whether Coventry's version of culture-led social and economic development will achieve the benefits and changes for the city it is seeking. Will it become a model of culture-led social and economic development? Led by the two universities, a very large range of research and evaluation studies and quantitative and qualitative data collection has been put in place to research what has happened. Much of this research is innovative in how it will collect evidence and the types of evidence it will use to see if Coventry City of Culture 2021 has made a (lasting) difference to the city. There is much interest across towns, cities and regions as to the experience of Coventry, its research and the evidence it has found - because many places are very interested in culture as a way of regenerating and/or growing their local places as places where residents and people can happily work, rest and play. One example is that twenty places across the UK have submitted Expressions of Interest to be the next City of Culture in 2025.
This project will support all this research material on City of Culture 2021 to be engaged with, understood and discussed. A programme of engagement activity is targeted at those organisations and people who bid for and or spend public money on places. Both locally, like Coventry City Council and partners in the city interested in culture but, also, places around the country such as the City of Culture 2025 bidders. The aim is for them to use the new knowledge from the research on culture-led development in their plans and bids for spending on their places. These organisations have been involved in planning a range of knowledge exchange activities for the project which include activities like their own Knowledge Exchange Champions, Lightning Talks, Demonstration Events, Knowledge Cafes/Sandpits, and the facility to ask specific questions of researchers.
Led by Coventry University in partnership with the University of Warwick, the project will employ a specialist Knowledge Exchange Officer for 2021 - 2022 with a budget to support this range of activities with local and regional partners such as Coventry City Council, Culture Change Coventry and the City of Culture Trust.
Given the scale, scope and nature of this 'mega-event', there is great interest as to whether Coventry's version of culture-led social and economic development will achieve the benefits and changes for the city it is seeking. Will it become a model of culture-led social and economic development? Led by the two universities, a very large range of research and evaluation studies and quantitative and qualitative data collection has been put in place to research what has happened. Much of this research is innovative in how it will collect evidence and the types of evidence it will use to see if Coventry City of Culture 2021 has made a (lasting) difference to the city. There is much interest across towns, cities and regions as to the experience of Coventry, its research and the evidence it has found - because many places are very interested in culture as a way of regenerating and/or growing their local places as places where residents and people can happily work, rest and play. One example is that twenty places across the UK have submitted Expressions of Interest to be the next City of Culture in 2025.
This project will support all this research material on City of Culture 2021 to be engaged with, understood and discussed. A programme of engagement activity is targeted at those organisations and people who bid for and or spend public money on places. Both locally, like Coventry City Council and partners in the city interested in culture but, also, places around the country such as the City of Culture 2025 bidders. The aim is for them to use the new knowledge from the research on culture-led development in their plans and bids for spending on their places. These organisations have been involved in planning a range of knowledge exchange activities for the project which include activities like their own Knowledge Exchange Champions, Lightning Talks, Demonstration Events, Knowledge Cafes/Sandpits, and the facility to ask specific questions of researchers.
Led by Coventry University in partnership with the University of Warwick, the project will employ a specialist Knowledge Exchange Officer for 2021 - 2022 with a budget to support this range of activities with local and regional partners such as Coventry City Council, Culture Change Coventry and the City of Culture Trust.
Organisations
- Coventry University (Lead Research Organisation)
- CACI International Inc (Collaboration)
- Coventry UK City of Culture (Collaboration)
- COVENTRY CITY COUNCIL (Collaboration)
- University of Warwick (Collaboration)
- Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- City of Culture Trust (Project Partner)
- Coventry City Council (Project Partner)
- Culture Change Coventry (Project Partner)
| Title | Walking Through Coventry Data |
| Description | Walking Through Coventry Data was an immersive event that celebrated the city and its cultural heritage. Coventry data, together with images of Coventry through the years were displayed on the digital gallery walls at The Reel Store. Running on a nine-minute loop the presentation was designed to present Coventry past, present and future. It highlighted the cultural attributes that Coventry has always been proud of, how the year of UK City of Culture 2021 had benefitted the city, and ended with a forward-looking message considering (cultural) opportunities to come. Coventry's year as the UK City of Culture 2021 generated an unprecedented amount of data relating to cultural participation, perceptions and engagement. The exhibition was designed to highlight the types of data and images available to members of the public and interested city stakeholders. It also made use of the fantastic Coventry Digital archive - https://coventry.digital/ - that includes photographs of Coventry through the years, of local people at home, at work and in public. The many images selected for the exhibition told a powerful story of the city. The event was organised by Coventry University and Coventry City Council, with support from Warwick Business School and The Reel Store. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | Walking Through Coventry Data successfully brought together 74 people, including representatives of the two Coventry based universities, Coventry City Council staff and Councillors, leaders of local organisations, creatives, students and interested members of the public that were all interested in Coventry. It forged new links between people and organisations that have the potential to be built upon in the future. The event gave all Coventrians a strong sense of civic pride. |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/walking-through-coventry-data/ |
| Description | The project has collated, presented and exchanged through knowledge events a great array of research and evaluation data on Coventry UK City of Culture 2021. This has been undertaken to not only expand knowledge of the year but ask broader questions and investigations of the role of (place-based) culture in the generation of social and economic change (for example, wellbeing, cultural participation, partnerships, faith, environmentalism, policing). Through partnership working across anchor institutions in Coventry - especially the City Council - the project has demonstrated innovative methods of knowledge exchange with other academics, policy and data officers, politicians, cultural participants and citizens. These methods include reports, presentations, webinars, cultural hackathon, immersive digital exhibition, digital archives, animations, etc. These outputs have deliberately utilised disciplinary knowledge and skills across arts and humanities, social sciences, business and management to achieve creative evidence-based outputs. Lessons on the research and evaluation of Cities of Culture have been generated and animated. A website (coventry21evaluation.info) has been created through this project to to bring together the outputs of the Coventry UK City of Culture research and evaluation process, and to make these available for those that want to understand what happened and to learn lessons for future culture and place interventions. |
| Exploitation Route | The project has generated several forms of data artefact - reports, presentations, webinars, films, digital archives, lessons animation, etc. - and a data repository itself. All will be stored in an open access website to be maintained and updated for at least two years in the first instance. The materials and data behind these outputs have formed part of awareness-raising, business cases, bids, and people development - all of which have left imprints and some of which continue. There are three immediate pathways: - Academics seeking evidence and research reports on culture and place, mega-events and impact, cities of culture, etc. - Policy officers and evaluators seeking to develop policy, bids, comparative reports and so forth on culture and place and, specifically, cities of culture. - Cultural and creative organisations building strategy, business plans and project bids to national and local government, foundations and charities, Arts Councils, etc. seeking a research and evidence-base for their rationales. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/ |
| Description | The materials generated, hosted and exchanged have been done so in direct partnership with local and national policy machinery and officers to generate learning and insights around cities of culture specifically and the role of culture in supporting broader policy outcomes (health, service delivery, citizenship, etc.). This is expected to support the effectiveness of public services and policy. Some of this exchange activity has been achieved through innovative creative output to support greater awareness and levels of engagement as the basis for actions and behavioural change. The process of evaluating Coventry UK City of Culture was enhanced through this AHRC project, as it supported report writing, further outputs and the development of a website to host and share findings. This information and the lessons learned are available to inform the design and delivery of future cultural mega-events (and are therefore useful to organisations such as DCMS and Bradford UK City of Culture 2025), but they also have a significant Coventry, place-based, dimension that can be used to inform local choices and decision making. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee's inquiry on cultural placemaking and the levelling up agenda |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/106459/html/ |
| Description | Implementing the Culture and Heritage Capital Approach Workshop: Cost Benefit Analysis Framework |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | The findings provided a leading edge methodological approach to EIA in support of DCMS's development of its Cultural and Heritage Capital Framework as the basis for future EIA of cultural mega-events. |
| URL | https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1072... |
| Description | Invited member of DCMS Commonwealth Games Evaluation Advisory Group |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Peer review activities have contributed towards the quality, accuracy and effectiveness of official evaluation reports for the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games. This will contribute towards future Commonwealth Games bidding, design and evaluation internationally. |
| URL | https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-birmingham-2022-commonwealth-games-inte... |
| Description | Coventry City of Culture Trust and Coventry University |
| Organisation | Coventry UK City of Culture |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | In addition to Judith Mossman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor - Faculty of Arts and Humanities, acting as a Trustee, the Coventry University research team worked closely with the City of Culture Trust, offering expertise and capacity both through the AHRC project and as members of the independent monitoring and evaluation team. The team brought evaluation consultancy experience, which included introducing a Theory of Change model to set clear lists of anticipated outputs and outcomes that activity within the City of Culture year would be measured and monitored against. It also supported the authors of Trust commissioned focus studies, both reviewing and copyediting research reports ahead of completion and encouraging authors to present their results via webinars. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Coventry City of Culture Trust ran a programme of activities throughout the city during 2021 and 2022. Their link to the independent monitoring and evaluation team included the provision of data relating to events and other programming aspects, as well as providing comments that were taken into consideration for evaluation reports that were written against the Theory of Change. The Trust's direct connection with the project was their commission of the focus study research, as well as their lease of The Reel Store, which was the venue for the Walking Through Coventry Data exhibition. Both have been important aspects of the place-based knowledge exchange plan. |
| Impact | In a sense, the outputs and outcomes stem from the activities of Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 and their associated monitoring and evaluation. These reports are all available on the evaluation website. In relation to the projects, the Trust supported the Walking Through Coventry Data exhibition that was designed to raise awareness of Coventry's data and heritage. It also gave university researchers the opportunity to examine thematic aspects of City of Culture activities and publish independent reports. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Coventry Cultural Challenge Caci Ltd |
| Organisation | CACI International Inc |
| Department | CACI Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Following its year as UK City of Culture 2021, Coventry has become a rich place for cultural data. During the weekend of 5 and 6 November 2022, the Coventry Cultural Challenge gave teams unprecedented access to local big data and sought ideas/proposals that were forward-looking, underpinned/evidenced by the data, thematically linked to culture and had the potential to 'make life better in Coventry'. The content of the event was put together by Coventry University and Coventry City Council's Insight team, with data also provided by Warwick Business School. However, for teams to make their proposals more realistic, a wider range of data were needed. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Council approached their partner CACI Ltd who supply commercial data. In this case, an agreement was reached where CACI Ltd offered to make available their paycheck data (that provides details of salaries) to teams for the duration of the weekend. In addition, a director of CACI Ltd attended the second day of the event to participate within the jury that would evaluate teams' presentations and select the winning idea. |
| Impact | The relationship between Coventry City Council and CACI Ltd has been strengthened and a new industry and university collaboration took place for mutual benefit. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Coventry University and Coventry City Council |
| Organisation | Coventry City Council |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Following the award of UK City of Culture 2021 to the city of Coventry, Coventry University and Coventry City Council increased their collaboration and have worked together as part of the independent monitoring and evaluation team. Coventry University operates in a different way to the City Council by undertaking a wide range of research and interacting with individuals, communities and businesses. It is also able to draw down funding for specific activities. Based upon knowing the Coventry City Council's Insights team and its collection of cultural data, the university developed the AHRC place-based knowledge exchange project to deepen the relationship between the two institutions and undertake a series of activities for mutual benefit. Specifically, Coventry University provided experience, expertise and premises to organise and hold the Coventry Cultural Challenge that asked teams to develop new ideas. It organised the Walking Through Coventry data event and, through Coventry Digital providing a collection of images of Coventry through the years, contributed a digital exhibition. Neither of these events could have been held by the university alone |
| Collaborator Contribution | Coventry City Council has regularly conducted Household Surveys which ask a representative sample of Coventry residents about their views of their local area, city, behaviour, services, concerns and cultural participation. These data, amongst other demographic, housing and environment, economy and prospects, and health and wellbeing data, enable cultural and non-cultural data - including a number of surveys capturing the sentiment of residents specifically related to Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 - to be compared and contrasted with other routine socio-economic and place-based metrics. It was this richness of data that prompted the Council to propose both the Coventry Cultural Challenge and Walking Through Coventry Data events that were held in the final months of 2022. In the former, datasets were made available to teams that were challenged to generate ideas to 'make life better in Coventry'. In the latter, the latest city related data was projected onto the walls of The Reel Store to highlight Coventry demographics, to show interested stakeholders the type of data available to aid planning. Although there was vision, the Insights team did not have the funding nor the experience to hold these events itself. |
| Impact | The link between Coventry University and Coventry City Council is stronger as a result of this collaboration. The groundwork has been prepared to explore other opportunities to work together and to combine data and research activities and new projects have arisen. The events held have promoted the awareness of the wealth of data available that has led to enquiries, with people wanting to learn more and use it within their roles. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport/Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 |
| Organisation | Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The Coventry University research team offered DCMS expertise and capacity as members of the independent monitoring and evaluation team and membership of the Technical Reference Group chaired by DCMS. It brought evaluation consultancy experience, which included introducing a Theory of Change model to set clear lists of anticipated outputs and outcomes that activity within the City of Culture year could be measured and monitored against. It also worked with focus study research teams to help them optimise their reports that contained findings useful to DCMS. |
| Collaborator Contribution | DCMS led the Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 Technical Reference Group that comprised a team of independent and impartial experts from a range of organisations with vested interests, including funding bodies. It was therefore able to provide national intelligence and oversight, as well as guidance on appropriate methodological approaches and assist in identifying gaps in the reporting data. |
| Impact | In a sense, the outputs and outcomes stem from the monitoring and evaluation of Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 activities which have been detailed within reports. These have led to the development of more thorough monitoring and evaluation processes, as well as a spectrum of lessons being learned that can inform future cultural mega-events that include Bradford UK City of Culture 2025 and beyond. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | University of Warwick and Coventry University |
| Organisation | University of Warwick |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Coventry University research team offered the University of Warwick leadership, expertise, capacity and resource as members of the independent monitoring and evaluation team. In particular it brought evaluation consultancy experience, which included introducing evaluation methodology such as a Theory of Change model to set clear lists of anticipated outputs and outcomes that activity within the City of Culture year could be measured and monitored against. Coventry University also supported authors by contributing to, critically reviewing and copyediting reports. The Coventry team set-up an independent website that could both house UK City of Culture evaluation findings and those related to the AHRC projects, making them easily accessible for those seeking to understand and build upon the practice that had taken place. This was one example of a number of additional outputs instigated by the Coventry University team. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The University of Warwick team also provided leadership, expertise, capacity and resource to the independent monitoring and evaluation team. Not only did it invest funds, and a larger team, it also drew upon knowledge to provide leadership and set the ongoing team agenda. The Warwick team oversaw specific activities, including social return on investment and cleansing the data provided by the Coventry City of Culture Trust. For the AHRC project, the Warwick team supported Coventry City Council in providing data for the Coventry Cultural Challenge and Walking Through Coventry Data events. |
| Impact | As anchor institutions within Coventry, that were in place both before and after Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 took place, the working relationship has developed and grown much stronger. Research teams from the universities have worked together to explore activities and write reports, with personnel from both institutions reviewing and providing feedback to ensure that findings were more robust. The processes used for monitoring and evaluation have been recognised nationally and together with a spectrum of lessons learned will inform future cultural mega-events that include Bradford UK City of Culture 2025 and beyond. The website coventry21evaluation.info highlights the work undertaken and will be available for interested stakeholders to use in the future. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | AccessCULT project presentation on Coventry City of Culture programming |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the AccessCULT project Coventry University hosted for 15 students (BA and MA) from Slovenia, Lithuania and Spain in October 2022 and provided a programme of talks, activities and tours. This was designed to share specialist expertise to increase the professional competences of students as future heritage professionals. A request was made for the presentation of a high-level session on Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 programming and how the needs of different groups of people had been addressed. This was delivered by Nick Henry on 20 October 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/research-directories/current-projects/2020/accesscult/ |
| Description | City of Culture Data Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Coventry's year as the UK City of Culture 2021 generated an unprecedented amount of data relating to cultural participation and engagement across the city's neighbourhoods and communities. This has made Coventry into a rich place for cultural data. Working with Coventry City Council's Insights team, several data-related projects were commissioned and managed by the Council, to analyse Coventry residents' participation in Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 events. Results of these projects were presented on 6 September 2022 via a webinar to 27 people, from the academic community and the Coventry City of Culture Trust, to raise awareness of the types of data available that could potentially be used within future research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/city-of-culture-data-webinars/ |
| Description | Coventry Cultural Challenge |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Following its year as UK City of Culture 2021, Coventry has become a rich place for cultural data. During the weekend of 5 and 6 November 2022, the Coventry Cultural Challenge gave teams unprecedented access to local big data and sought ideas/proposals that were forward-looking, underpinned/evidenced by the data, thematically linked to culture and had the potential to 'make life better in Coventry'. The weekend was attended by 38 people, comprising five teams, data support staff and independent jury members from a range of backgrounds. The teams analysed data and came up with ideas that they presented to the jury for assessment. A webpage is available for each team, with most including a video; links can be found on the main Challenge page. (The recently uploaded videos have been viewed 19 times so far.) This event demonstrated another approach to knowledge exchange through the promotion and analysis of local place-based data. The proposals made by the teams prompted the Coventry City Council Insights team to consider new ways of looking at data and undertake further analysis. Participants visibly improved their team working and presentation skills during the weekend and commented positively on the experience. An event participant applied for a job and joined the Coventry City Council Insights team, as a result of participation within the Challenge weekend. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/coventry-cultural-challenge/ |
| Description | Coventry National Portfolio Organisation Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As a city, Coventry was underrepresented in the previous allocation of National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) between 2018 and 2022, having only five. Coventry's Cultural Strategy and the year as UK City of Culture 2021 had raised the profile of a number of Coventry cultural organisations and more importantly given them the confidence to apply for NPO status. A workshop was held on 11 February 2022 and attended by approximately 35 people. Jonothan Neelands, Warwick Business School, Mark Scott, Coventry City of Culture Trust and Si Chun Lam and Tim Healey, Coventry City Council, provided details of how to apply and supplied relevant Coventry related data to support organisations' applications. Following the award of NPO status for 2023-2026, nine Coventry organisations are now recognised as NPOs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Data-related Lightning Talks to Coventry City Council staff |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Coventry's year as the UK City of Culture 2021 generated an unprecedented amount of data relating to cultural participation and engagement across the city's neighbourhoods and communities. This has made Coventry into a rich place for cultural data. Working with Coventry City Council's Insights team, several data-related projects were commissioned and managed by the Council, to analyse Coventry residents' participation in Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 events. The results of these projects were presented as a series of Lightning Talks to 34 Coventry City Council staff on 5 September 2022 to raise awareness of the types of data available that could be used to inform decision making. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/city-of-culture-data-webinars/ |
| Description | Seminar: Volunteering, Wellbeing And Civic Pride (Coventry UK City of Culture 2021) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Ahead of Coventry's year as UK City of Culture, a number of outcomes were identified, some of which were addressed through commissioned focus studies undertaken by research teams at Coventry University and the University of Warwick. The AHRC project provided editorial resource to support the writing of each focus study report and subsequently asked each team to hold an event to present their results. The Volunteering, Wellbeing And Civic Pride focus study worked with people who volunteered to become City Hosts to support the City of Culture programme. It considered how their involvement might have affected their wellbeing and levels of civic pride. Oyinlola Oyebode, formerly Warwick Medical School (now Queen Mary University of London) and Maxine Whelan, Coventry University, presented the results of the study to an audience of 41 people at the Coventry Telegraph Hotel on 2 November 2022. The audience included representatives from DCMS, funding bodies (including from the What Works Centre for Wellbeing) and academics, as well as City Hosts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/workshop-volunteering-wellbeing-and-civic-pride/ |
| Description | Taiwanese Government briefing on the promotion of culture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Taiwanese Government conducted a Virtual Leadership Development Programme for a delegation of Director-General or equivalent civil servants from Taiwan. The objectives of the programme were to learn best practices in the UK public administration and broaden their horizon to the international level. They were also meeting UK civil servants and experts covering a range of policy areas from higher education, community development, culture, healthcare, fintech to environment. The group was interested in learning more about promotion of culture and, on the basis of having led the monitoring and evaluation of Coventry UK City of Culture since 2019, an invitation was made to share research finding with the delegation. Nick Henry delivered the presentation to 18 people on 7 October 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Walking Through Coventry Data |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On 13 December 2022, Coventry data, together with images of Coventry through the years, from Coventry Digital, were displayed on the digital gallery walls at The Reel Store. Coventry's year as the UK City of Culture 2021 generated an unprecedented amount of data relating to cultural participation, perceptions and engagement. Walking Through Coventry Data was an immersive event that celebrated the city and its cultural heritage. It was also designed to highlight the types of data and images available to members of the public and interested city stakeholders. The event successfully brought together 74 people, including representatives of the two Coventry based universities, Coventry City Council staff and Councillors, leaders of local organisations, creatives, students and interested members of the public that were all interested in Coventry. It generated a number of data-related enquiries from participants that the Coventry City Council Insights team was able to answer, to help inform future planning. The event was organised by Coventry University and Coventry City Council, with support from Warwick Business School and The Reel Store. The exhibition gave all Coventrians attending a great sense of civic pride. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/walking-through-coventry-data/ |
| Description | Webinar: Civic, Cultural And Business Partnerships (Coventry UK City of Culture 2021) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Ahead of Coventry's year as UK City of Culture, a number of outcomes were identified, some of which were addressed through commissioned focus studies undertaken by research teams at Coventry University and the University of Warwick. The AHRC project provided editorial resource to support the writing of each focus study report and subsequently asked each team to hold an event to present their results. The Civic, Cultural and Business Partnerships focus study worked with three Coventry communities to understand the impact of the UK City of Culture 2021 title on their operations, networks and partnerships. Vishalakshi Roy, Johnathan Vickery, David Wright and Heidi Ashton, all University of Warwick, presented the results of their study to an online audience of 36 people on 25 January 2023. This was followed by a 30-minute question and answer session that explored the topic further, with requests made for further details. In the short space of time that the video has been available on the website, a further 10 people have viewed the event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/webinar-civic-cultural-and-business-partnerships/ |
| Description | Webinar: Integrating The Environment (in Coventry UK City Of Culture 2021) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Ahead of Coventry's year as UK City of Culture, a number of outcomes were identified, some of which were addressed through commissioned focus studies undertaken by research teams at Coventry University and the University of Warwick. The AHRC project provided editorial resource to support the writing of each focus study report and subsequently asked each team to hold an event to present their results. The focus study examined how appreciation for the natural environment was integrated into UK City of Culture 2021 and how people's attitudes and behaviours towards the environment have changed as a result. David Bek and Geraldine Brown, Coventry University, presented the results of their study to an online audience of 32 people on 8 December 2022. This was followed by a 30-minute question and answer session that explored the topic further (with Nick Henry joining the panel), with requests made for further details by several audience members. A video of this event was added to the website at the beginning of March 2023, which will enable others to learn about the study in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/webinar-integrating-the-environment-city-of-culture/ |
| Description | Webinar: Policing, Culture And Community (Coventry UK City of Culture 2021) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Ahead of Coventry's year as UK City of Culture, a number of outcomes were identified, some of which were addressed through commissioned focus studies undertaken by research teams at Coventry University and the University of Warwick. The research team was asked to hold an event to present its results. This Policing, Culture and Community focus study sought to understand, through Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, the potential for police partnerships around arts and culture to have an impact on police-community relationships. Jackie Hodgson and Rachel Lewis, University of Warwick presented the results of their study to an online audience of 40 people on 14 March 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/webinar-policing-culture-and-community/ |
| Description | Website: Evaluating Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | To support assessment of and learning from Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, an independent monitoring and evaluation team developed a Performance Measurement and Evaluation Strategy and supported a range of research and evaluation activities. The website features the ongoing outputs and results of these activities, supporting insight and lessons learned that can be shared with future cultural mega-events, as well as more local Coventry place-based knowledge exchange and partnership development. By February 2023, the website had over 50 pages that cover Strategy and Progress, Research and Evaluation, Cultural Data and Events, as well as a section for blog posts. It will continue to grow during the next few months, as the City of Culture evaluation process continues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://coventry21evaluation.info/ |
| Description | Winning Moves Midlands Regional Evaluation Network |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Midlands Regional Evaluation Network hosted a showcase on 2nd February 2022 to celebrate evaluations and evaluators in the Midlands. The sessions covered: evaluating social, economic and other benefits of initiatives in the Midlands region and evaluating national and international policies and programmes from the `Midlands. Nick Henry spoke, together with Mark Scott from the Coventry City of Culture Trust, about the monitoring and evaluation process that had been put in place for Coventry UK City of Culture 2021. The video of the meeting is available on YouTube: the presentation began at 7:30 and questions ended at 28:45. Midlands Evaluation Showcase - February 2022 - YouTube |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://winningmoves.com/latest-news-and-views/midlands-evaluation-showcase-event |