Cultural intermediation: connecting communities in the creative urban economy

文化中介是一个将不同类型的社区连接到创意经济和更广泛的社会中的过程。它在提升抱负、提高技能和建立信心方面发挥着关键作用，所有这些都对让人们参与并从当代英国经济中最具活力的部门之一中受益至关重要。艺术家个人、专业网络、活动、节日、委托机构、创意企业、大大小小的艺术和文化组织都可以发挥中介作用。这一领域一些最令人兴奋的研究机会出现在城市地区。这在一定程度上是因为这些地区的规模和文化资源的多样性，但也因为这些地区集中了大量遭受多重剥夺的社区，他们被后工业创意经济抛在了后面。作为发展这一研究项目的一部分所进行的调查显示，从事文化中介的个人和组织正面临着巨大的压力。公共部门资金削减和地方主义的新议程正在改变中介机构与政府的关系，需要对其活动进行重新评估。“大社会”议程强调社区主导的活动，与此同时，通过文化中介对这些社区能力建设的机构支持正在受到挤压。创意部门本身是高度分散的，不同部门、不同社区和政策流程之间的联系很弱。所谓“难以接触”的社区仍然与外界隔绝，遭受多重剥夺、社会剥夺和排斥。认识到文化中介的重要性，本研究提出了这些过程在多大程度上满足了21世纪城市社区的需求，以及它们如何才能更有效地运作。这项研究的目的是发现如何捕捉文化中介的价值，以及如何加强这种活动，以便在社区和创意经济之间建立更有效的联系。本研究的目标是：创造新的价值测量方法；分析文化中介的历史发展，为当前的实践提供信息；检查中介如何适应现有的政策环境和不同参与者之间关系的治理；从社区角度探讨中介活动的有效性；通过一系列基于实践的干预措施设计新的中介形式；并反思跨学科和部门之间的工作过程，以加强实践。这项研究有许多关键的应用和更广泛的好处。在提供一种获取中介价值的手段时，政策制定者和从业人员将能够促进更好的做法。鉴于治理和筹资格局的变化，特别是公共部门内部的变化，这一点尤为重要。历史材料，将提供一个关键的证据基础，定位调解的理解，提供经验教训，目前的从业者。那些直接参与干预的创造性中介将接受研究方法方面的培训，以便分析和改进他们自己的做法。随后的“如何”研究指南将更广泛地传播这些经验教训。在学术上，该研究将对以下辩论作出重大贡献：创造力和价值；创意经济的历史演变；治理和地方主义；基于实践方法;跨学科和知识共同体；以及文化在连接社区中的作用。

Cultural intermediation is a process which connects different kinds of communities into the creative economy and wider society. It plays a critical role in raising aspirations, upskilling and building confidence, all of which are vital to allow people to engage with and benefit from one of the most dynamic sectors of the contemporary UK economy.Individual artists, professional networks, events, festivals, commissioning bodies, creative businesses, arts and cultural organisations both large and small can all play intermediary roles. Some of the most exciting opportunities for research in this area are occurring in the city regions. In part this is because of their size and multiplicity of cultural resources, but also because these areas have large concentrations of communities suffering multiple deprivation who are being left behind by the post-industrial creative economy.Investigations undertaken as part of developing this research project revealed that those individuals and organisations undertaking cultural intermediation are coming under significant pressure. Public sector funding cuts and a new agenda of localism are changing the relationship that intermediaries have with the state, requiring a reappraisal of their activities. The 'Big Society' agenda places an emphasis on community-led activities at the same time that the institutional support for capacity building in those communities through cultural intermediation is being squeezed. The creative sector is itself highly fragmented with weak connections between different sectors, different communities and policy processes. So-called 'hard-to-reach' communities remain disconnected, suffering multiple deprivation, social disenfranchisement and exclusion.Acknowledging the importance of cultural intermediation, the research asks to what extent these processes meet the needs of urban communities in the 21st century and how they might operate more effectively. The aim of the research is to discover how the value of cultural intermediation can be captured and how this activity can be enhanced to create more effective connection between communities and the creative economy. The objectives of the research are to: create new ways of measuring value; analyse the historic development of cultural intermediation to inform current practice; examine how intermediation fits within the existing policy landscape and the governance of relations between the different actors; explore the effectiveness of intermediation activity from a community perspective; design new forms of intermediation through a series of practice-based interventions; and reflect on the process of working across and between disciplines and sectors in order to enhance practice.The research has a number of key applications and wider benefits. In providing a means to capture the value of intermediation, policy makers and practitioners will be able to foster better practice. This is of particular importance given the shifts in the governance and funding landscape, particularly within the public sector. The historical material, will provide a crucial evidence base situating understandings of intermediation, providing lessons to current practitioners. Those creative intermediaries directly involved in the interventions will receive training in research methods in order to analyse and improve their own practice. A subsequent 'how-to' research guide will disseminate these lessons more widely. Academically the research will make a major contribution to debates on: creativity and valuation; the historical evolution of the creative economy; governance and localism; practice-based methods; interdisciplinarity and epistemic communities; and the role of culture in connecting communities.