The spatial politics of art organisations' public programmes: can they act as bridges to cultural citizenship?

The research evaluates the spatial impact of art organisations through their public programmes by investigating their approach and the radius of their reach and by mapping patterns of cultural engagement. It will examine public programmes as points of entry for cultural citizenship beyond the site of the gallery, thus deepening the understanding of the urban networks and forms of cultural participation activated by art organisations. Cultural citizenship is broadly defined as the practice of cultural rights and cultural participation. The project's interdisciplinary framework is underpinned by theories and methodologies within museum studies, cultural studies and human geography. It sits within wider discourse around the politics of cultural participation, responding to the need for a multidisciplinary approach to tackle the multidimensional question of the impact of cultural organisations. While fostering engagement is a key aspect of cultural policy and public programming, the question of what is meant by cultural participation is still not fully understood. The question of how exactly to encourage cultural participation and measure its impact remains unresolved and little attention has been given to its spatial dimension.

The doctoral project aims to deepen research on the current role of UK art organisations in cultural engagement. Approaching the issue of impact from an urban perspective, the study focuses on the multicultural city of Birmingham, to consider the potential of art institutions as keystones to cultural citizenship through their public programming.
My study aims to investigate the social reach of art organisations, by using public programmes within Birmingham as a lens and questioning impact in terms of cultural citizenship and spatial agency. It will contribute to a deeper understanding of the spatiality of art institutions' agency, and the networks engendered by art organisations across the city, enquiring in particular different institutions in size, scope and organisational structure.
The study responds to recent scholars emphasizing the importance of place and the need for new strategies to study the spatialisation of museums and galleries, also proposing a unique and novel methodology to research social impact and cultural participation.

The research seeks to:
- define 'cultural citizenship' within debates around the social impact of the arts.
- evaluate the strategies of public programmes as routes to cultural citizenship by seeking a link
between the modalities used and visitors' experience, by 1) conducting interviews with professionals in different types of art organisations. And 2) by establishing their impact by using focus groups with engaged publics. This will enable the research to establish the role (or otherwise) of art organisations in contributing to a sense of cultural citizenship.
- situate impact in the wider urban context and map the 'spillover' effects of participation in art
institutions into other parts of the city and other forms of cultural participation, through participatory diagramming/mapping with participants in public programmes.
The study will inform art organisations in developing more effective strategies to empower their publics, within and beyond the gallery walls. More broadly, it will contribute to the understanding of cultural participation and its barriers/opportunities, and thus hold potential policy impact.