[ecrea] Call for Abstracts - situating the local in global cultural policy

DEADLINE APPROACHING

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
SPECIAL EDITION OF CULTURAL TRENDS SITUATING THE LOCAL IN GLOBAL 
CULTURAL POLICY Due for publication in September 2019

Editors: Victoria Durrer, Abigail Gilmore, Leila Jancovich & David Stevenson

Corresponding Editor: Dr David Stevenson Queen Margaret University, 
Edinburgh
(dstevenson /at/ qmu.ac.uk)
> From the growth of city regions to the calls for more localism, engaging with ‘the local’ has become an increasingly important part of cultural policy rhetoric in many countries. Yet despite apparent recognition that the practices of culture are always situated (and hence local), contemporary cultural policy research tends to privilege the national or international as the primary site at which cultural policy is enacted and thus, can be reformed. For all of its increasing use ‘the local’ remains abstract, seemingly deployed to legitimate activity that is of debatable benefit to the places and practices imagined by its invocation.   

In opposition to this arguably token localism, a body of work calls for 
greater recognition of the “situated cultural practices [and] internal 
logics, histories and structures” of particular places in the study of 
cultural policy (Gilmore, 2013, p. 86; see also Durrer, 2017). It draws 
on work that considers the ways in which local relationships and 
practices of policymaking, convergence, and transference negotiate and 
manage national and international policies (e.g. Stevenson et al, 2010; 
Wilson & Boyle, 2004; Johanson et al 2014). This work has been 
accompanied by growing rhetoric and advocacy for co-production and 
citizen-led as well as participatory governance structures (Jancovich, 
2015). Attempts to build “adaptive capacity” or resilience among 
citizens (Pike, Dawley, & Tomaney, 2010) have adopted approaches from 
social learning (Collins & Ison, 2006) and public participation (Brodie, 
Cowling, & Nissen, 2009). Many welcome these potentially more democratic 
approaches and the possibility of a commons of cultural assets, 
infrastructure, resources and knowledge (Ostrom, 1990; Gonzales, 2014; 
Murphy & Stewart, 2017)
But questions equally abound about the application and implications of 
such approaches. Some caution the weakening of local power and decision 
making by replacing governmental policy (either at a local or national 
scale) with a neo-liberal governance model, which actively reduces state 
responsibilities. It is argued that this approach might perpetuate 
uneven distribution of resources and instead places responsibility for 
development on already under resourced communities (Davodi & Madanipour, 
2015; Mohan & Stokke, 2000). For example, within the UK contradictions 
and tensions are demonstrated through an evidenced reduction in the 
investment in local culture, despite a professed growing interest in and 
recognition of the local (CMS, 2016).
It appears evident that a better understanding of cultural policy at a 
local level is imperative to the development of the field. As such, this 
special edition of Cultural Trends will focus on better understanding 
how local cultural policy is practised and understood across a variety 
of locations. We are therefore interested in papers that attempt to 
re-situate and position the theories and practices of cultural policy 
making in local contexts (as opposed to the pre-dominant focus on 
national and international contexts). Proposal for papers may include 
empirical research, case studies, and theoretical work in this area, 
relating to:

•	cultural economies
•	the political economy of local cultural practice •	place-based 
initiatives •	local governance structures
•	collaborative and cooperative models for ownership and shared 
resources for cultural provision
•	community-led, citizen-engaged and / or participatory cultural policy 
making alternative models for decision-making processes including 
deliberative and participatory processes
•	financial distribution of cultural investment • 
interpretations/definitions of culture in, by, and for policy •	the 
relationship between the local, the national, and the international • 
the  relationship  between  the  informal  and  the  institutional  • 
the  relationship  between  government  and  governance.

We are keen to receive proposals from as wide a range of locations as 
possible   and are interested in approaches to cultural practice that 
are broad based including, but not limited to: parks, libraries, 
heritage, fine visual and performing arts, food, craft, voluntary and / 
or amateur arts, film, animation, digital culture, cultural assets: 
tangible and intangible (e.g. venues, networks).

Timeline:

•	Initial abstracts of between 300 – 500 words should be submitted to 
the corresponding editor ((dstevenson /at/ qmu.ac.uk)) by October 1st 2018 - 
accompanied with an 80 -100 word author(s) bio
•	By the 1st of November, the editors will shortlist a number of the 
abstracts and request that their authors write up the full paper
•	Full papers (of between 5000 & 6000 words including all references) 
should subsequently be submitted for peer review by March 18th 2019
•	On the basis of peer review six papers will be selected for inclusion 
in the special edition

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