Cultural and Media Policy Studies News and Events

Edited by David Looseley, an Associate Fellow of the Centre, a special issue of the International Journal of Cultural Policy has now been published on the subject of cultural policy and popular culture. The aim of the issue is to investigate relationships between policy and the popular in a variety of settings. Some of these settings are geographic, involving government policies for the arts as a whole in Britain and France. Others involve less recognised modes of cultural action: live music in the UK; education in France; and canonisation strategies in the Catholic Church. In addition to David's article, which compares how policy discourses have conceptualised popular culture in Britain and France, two other contributions have been made by members of the Centre: Jeremy Ahearne examines the culture-shaping activities pursued through French educational policies; Oliver Bennett explores the strategic promotion of saints by the Catholic Church - and some of the messages conveyed - during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II.

In June 2011 Dr Chris Bilton (Centre for Cultural Policy Studies), Professor Greg Crawford (Economics Department) and Dr Eric Jensen (Sociology Department) took part in a 'Researcher to Researcher' event discussing changes in the ways we consume and create media in the 21st century. You can now download a podcast of their discussion and read a report on the Knowledge Centre blog.

Dr Eleonora Belfiore is the author of a book chapter entitled "The ‘Transformative Power’ of the Arts: History of an Idea" part of the multidisciplinary edited collection of essays entited The Routledge International Handbook of Creative Learning, edited by Julian Sefton-Green, Pat Thomson, Ken Jones and Liora Bresler and published in July 2011.