There is currently keen interest in the social inequalities in the creative economy. Publicly funded arts organisations are seeking new ways of engaging with communities to ensure art can be for the many and not the few. While the UK City of Culture programme, similar cultural mega-events rooted within place, and priority area funding programmes from Arts Council England have reduced spatial inequalities, they do not seek to reduce social inequalities as a priority. However, social and spatial inequalities are intrinsically linked, something that. Coventry UK CoC 2021 was unique in recognising when it put hyper-local co-creation front and centre. By focusing on hyper-local offerings, the programme offered local proximity, (important to people who do not often engage with culture or who are in lower economic groups,) and the potential for a sense of ownership by the kinds of people who are most often missing from cultural spaces.

Please view the full paper on 'Addressing Cultural and Other Inequalities at Scale'.

Authors

Dr Orian Brook is the Chancellor’s Fellow in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh and AHRC Creative and Digital Economy Innovation Leadership Fellow 2019-2021.

Mark Scott is a Research Fellow at Warwick Business School, part of the University of Warwick. Before joining Warwick Business School, Mark was the Monitoring and Data Manager for the Coventry City of Culture Trust.