CULTURAL TRENDS=20
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE=20
London (venue to be confirmed) November 2010
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A "GOLDEN AGE"?=20
REFLECTIONS ON NEW LABOUR'S CULTURAL POLICY AND ITS POST-RECESSION
LEGACY
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Britain was the last major economy officially to come out of the
recession although commentators predict that it will take years for the
economy to recover its strength. Public sector funding and support for
the cultural sector from businesses and foundations will be tight.
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Former Prime Minster, Tony Blair, claimed that his New Labour government
presided over a Golden Age in the arts in the UK. Cultural Trends, the
journal that champions the need for better evidence-based analyses of
the cultural sector, is delighted to provide a major opportunity for
researchers to consider whether that Golden Age actually existed; if it
is now over; what it achieved; what the effects of the recession on the
cultural sector might be in terms of changes in audiences and audience
profiles, the economics of the sector and its financial impacts, and how
government policy, and the sector itself - albeit in the UK, Europe and
elsewhere - might assess its legacy and learn the lessons that should
inform a post-recession economy. All of this will be discussed at the
Cultural Trends' third one-day international conference, A "Golden
Age"? planned for November 2010.
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A "Golden Age"? provides the occasion for cultural commentators, policy
analysts and historians to brigade the evidence for cultural
achievements since 1997 and consider the relationship between culture
and recessions since the 1970s. While this might appear retrospective,
we are also keen to look forward and bring together ideas for the longer
term impacts of what we observe and to develop hypotheses about cultural
policy and activity in the future. Papers will be welcomed from British,
European and other perspectives.
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Cultural Trends is inviting abstracts (max 400 words) for papers on=20
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* What New Labour's cultural policy has achieved
* The impact of the recession on the cultural and creative sectors
* The preparedness of the cultural and creative industries
workforce to operate effectively in a post-recession economy
* How cultural policy and the creative and cultural sectors
responded during previous recessions.
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These can deal with any area of the cultural and creative sectors
including built heritage, museums and galleries, the visual and
performing arts, film, television, print and digital media. Submissions
should be consistent with the aims of Cultural Trends, having a
relevance to policy development and being based on original, assembled
evidence.=20
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The deadline for the submission of abstracts is Sunday 21 March 2010 for
selection by the Cultural Trends Advisory Board. To submit your abstract
please send an email headed 'Cultural Trends Conference' to the
journal's editor, Sara Selwood at (sara /at/ saraselwood.co.uk).=20
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All presentations given at the conference will be considered for
publication in a special issue of Cultural Trends.
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Cultural Trends is based on the proposition that cultural policy should
be informed by evidence-based analyses. It aims to:
* stimulate analysis and understanding of the arts and wider
cultural sector based on relevant and reliable evidence;=20=20=20
* identify clear trends in cultural provision, funding;=20=20=20
* consider participation, including the differences between
different social groups and the impact of culture on individuals and
society, as well as how such assessments are made and used;=20=20=20
* provide a critique of those data upon which arts and wider
cultural policy may be based, implemented, evaluated and developed and
encourage improvements in the coverage, timeliness and accessibility of
statistical information on the arts and wider cultural sector; and=20=20=
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* examine the soundness of measures of the performance of
government and public sector bodies in the arts and wider cultural
sector.
More details about Cultural Trends can be found on the website
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ccut
<http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ccut>=20
