A think-tank report said that, despite the importance of culture in people s everyday lives, there were many signs that - at local level - the services that helped to make culture available to everybody were facing a serious crisis.
Source: John Holden, Local Authorities: A Change in the Cultural Climate?, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Date: 2006-Dec
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its autumn performance report, detailing progress being made towards its public service agreement targets.
Source: DCMS Autumn Performance Report, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (020 7211 6200)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Dec
The government published its response to a report (published in July 2006) on participation by children and young people in creative activities. It said that it would be setting up a new Creative and Cultural Education Advisory Board, charged with 'building a more coherent creative and cultural offer' for all young people.
Source: Government Response to Paul Roberts Report on Nurturing Creativity in Young People, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (020 7211 6200)
Links: Response | Report | DCMS press release
Date: 2006-Nov
A report evaluated the 'Creative Partnerships' initiative (based in deprived areas of England) designed to establish partnerships between schools and creative and cultural professionals and organizations. The observed benefits were small and not educationally significant.
Source: Anna Eames, Tom Benton, Caroline Sharp and Lesley Kendall, National Evaluation of Creative Partnerships, National Foundation for Educational Research (01753 747281)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Nov
An article examined socio-demographic aspects of cultural participation and taste. An older, educated middle class shared `legitimate', established cultural preferences. Less well-educated, working-class groups were often characterized by lack of cultural participation, but also, especially among the young, by an aversion to `legitimate' culture.
Source: Modesto Gayo-Cal, Mike Savage and Alan Warde, 'A cultural map of the United Kingdom, 2003', Cultural Trends, Volume 15 Numbers 2-3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Sep
The education inspectorate examined the 'Creative Partnerships' scheme running in 2,500 schools in England. Pupils who had worked with creative people such as writers and fashion designers were found to be more punctual, better behaved, and work better. (The programme was designed to give school children aged 5-18 and their teachers the opportunity to explore their creativity, by working on sustained projects with creative organizations and individuals.)
Source: Creative Partnerships: Initiative and Impact, HMI 2517, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833)
Links: Report | DCMS press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Sep
The education inspectorate in Scotland sought to identify and analyze emerging good practice in promoting creativity; and to provide advice on a range of issues related to creativity, including learning and teaching, assessment, and current practice in evaluating success in promoting creativity. A linked paper examined trends in the United Kingdom as a whole.
Source: Emerging Good Practice in Promoting Creativity, HM Inspectorate of Education in Scotland (01506 600200) | Promoting Creativity in Education: Overview of key national policy developments across the UK, HM Inspectorate of Education in Scotland
Date: 2006-Sep
An independent report examined what the government could do to nurture young people's creativity, including the role of partnerships between schools and the creative and cultural sector.
Source: Paul Roberts, Nurturing Creativity in Young People, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (020 7211 6200) and Department for Education and Skills
Links: Report | DCMS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jul
A think-tank report examined the tasks facing policy-makers charged with balancing the public benefits that could arise from the widespread circulation of a copyright work with the need to provide protection, incentives, and rewards to copyright owners. It identified three areas that needed to be addressed: the volume of the transactions that the copyright system needed to deal with; the relationship of digital rights management to concepts of fair dealing; and the relationship between copyright and the market place.
Source: Anthony Lilley, Inside the Creative Industries: Copyright on the ground, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Central Books (0845 458 9911)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
Leading cultural organizations published a statement emphasizing the contribution that the cultural sector had made to life in the previous 10 years, and laying out a new agenda designed to place culture at the centre of government policy-making. There was still a great deal more to be done to realize true potential of the cultural sector s contribution to public life.
Source: Values and Vision: The Contribution of Culture, Arts Council England (020 7973 6458) and others
Links: Statement | Arts Council press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its annual report for 2005-06.
Source: Departmental Annual Report 2006, Cm 6828, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
A think-tank report said that countries with higher levels of cultural engagement also had higher levels of social and institutional trust. People who participated in cultural activities were more likely than the average citizen to believe that other people were fair, helpful and can be trusted, and to have trust in the police, legal system, politicians and Parliament.
Source: Emily Keaney, From Access to Participation: Cultural policy and civil renewal, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Mar
A think-tank report said that politicians and policy-makers appeared to care most about the economic and social outcomes of state-funded culture, while the public and most professionals had a completely different set of concerns. Because of this, the dysfunctional cultural system had become a closed and ill-tempered conversation between the various groups. It called for a more broadly based democratic consensus about the role of culture in society.
Source: John Holden, Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy: Why culture needs a democratic mandate, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report | Summary | Speech
Date: 2006-Mar
An annual factbook from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for the first time included a chapter on quality of life. The United Kingdom spent more per household on recreation and culture than any other developed country.
Source: OECD Factbook 2006, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (+33 1 4524 8200)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
A report examined the development of the creative industries in Wales. It suggested ways to maximize opportunities to improve the quality of creative industries and raise the profile of Wales across the world.
Source: Phil Cooke, Creative Industries in Wales: Potential and pitfalls, Institute of Welsh Affairs (029 2057 5511)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Mar
A report examined how sports and creative activities could benefit young people by increasing social inclusion.
Source: From the Wings: An inquiry into the role of sports and creative activities in tackling social exclusion, Whitbread PLC (01582 424200)
Links: Report | Young People Now report
Date: 2006-Feb
Researchers in Scotland sought to define 'quality of life' in the context of culture, arts, and sport; and to explore ways in which to measure the impact on quality of life and sense of well-being of participation in cultural or sporting activities, both in social and economic terms.
Source: Susan Galloway, David Bell, Christine Hamilton and Adrienne Scullion, Quality of Life and Well-being: Measuring the Benefits of Culture and Sport - Literature review and thinkpiece, Scottish Executive (web publication only)
Date: 2006-Jan
An article examined the government's policy on social exclusion and the "confusing challenge" it posed to local cultural projects. The government demanded hard evidence to measure the impact of cultural projects on performance indicators such as education, employment, crime and health: but community-based workers were hard pressed to collect valid and reliable data that evaluated projects against clear criteria for social inclusion.
Source: Jonathan Long and Peter Bramham, 'Joining up policy discourses and fragmented practices: the precarious contribution of cultural projects to social inclusion?', Policy & Politics, Volume 34 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan