This was a survey undertaken by the research group of Waking the Feminists NI, which investigated the gender breakdown within eight theatre companies in receipt of Annual Funding Programme, administered by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The eight “core funded” theatres were: Aisling Ghear, Big Telly, Cahoots, Kabosh, The Lyric, Prime Cut, Replay and Tinderbox. Data was gathered on productions taking place during the five-year period between 2014 – 2019.

The Headcount survey employed a methodology similar to the original Waking the Feminists Gender Counts report, which surveyed ten publicly funded theatre companies and festivals within the Republic of Ireland. In addition to gathering data on the seven key creative roles of Author, Director, Lighting, Set, Sound & Costume Designers and Cast, we also added data on one production role: Stage Management. It is hoped that this will the first step towards wider research into gender and other inequalities within Northern Ireland’s Performing Arts industries. We also hope that it will encourage further research and increased dialogue between academics, individual theatre practitioners and institutions, funding and advocacy bodies.  

Read the report here.

Cultural Policy Observatory Ireland announces a special issue on cultural policymaking and research on the island of Ireland for the peer-reviewed academic journal Cultural Trends.

Since 1989, Cultural Trends has been an important space that brings together and showcases empirically grounded research on cultural policy with a particular focus on arts, culture, heritage and media.
The critical consideration and investigation of cultural policy on the island of Ireland has long been missing from international debates and discussion.

This Special Issue has presented an opportunity to review how researchers across different disciplines approach and understand culture as a distinct area of public policy in Ireland.

Brexit Discussions Day

The Belfast Visual Arts Forum (BVAF), in partnership with Theatre NI, Thrive, Creative Europe Desk UK – Northern Ireland, AICA (L’Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art) with the support of the Cultural Policy Observatory Ireland hosted a Brexit discussions day on Thursday 1 November 2018.

A BREXIT Statement was prepared as a result of our discussion.

The level of cultural participation in publicly funded arts and culture has been an ongoing cause for concern for policy makers and state agencies in the Republic of Ireland and the UK. This has resulted in efforts to tackle economic, social, psychological, and spatial barriers to broaden access – to cultural production and participation – as key policy goals. Our understanding of these barriers has prompted a number of development initiatives designed to increase levels of cultural participation. Yet research shows these initiatives have largely failed to diversify audiences and broaden the profile of cultural producers and makers.

Cultural Policy Observatory Ireland and Queen’s University Belfast were delighted to host Abigail Gilmore (University of Manchester), Leila Jancovich (University of Leeds) and David Stevenson (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh) to lead us in a discussion exploring the assumptions, problems and capacity issues underlying how we define and value cultural participation in both policy and practice. The event took place at Brian Friel Theatre / Queen’s Film Theatre, Queen’s University Belfast on 23 October 2017.

Presentations are available here.

The cultural participant versus the cultural non-participant: defining desirable models of agency
Dr. David Stevenson

The Participation Myth
Dr. Leila Jancovich

Due to technical difficulties we were unable to record Leila Jancovich’s presentation.

Understanding cultural value in the everyday localities: museums and parks as the commons
Dr. Abigail Gilmore

The Cultural Policy Observatory Ireland and Queen’s University Belfast hosted a conference entitled ‘Spaces To Belong To’ on Friday 15th September 2017 at the Brian Friel Theatre, Queen’s University Belfast, N. Ireland. This event, curated by Molly Goyer Gorman, explored young people’s perspectives on culture, identity and cultural participation on the island of Ireland to-day. Cultural participation is defined here as the involvement of young people (ages 12-25) in artistic, sporting, social and other leisure activities. This encompasses both state-funded and non-state funded youth activities. The event was covered by Northern Visions TV. The full video is available here. 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The conference included shout-outs from young people aged 16+ and presentations from researchers, policymakers, and community, youth and arts and cultural workers who engage with young people (ages 12 – 25) from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The keynote address was delivered by Colin Bradie, Time to Shine Programme Manager at Creative Scotland, and young leaders from the Scottish National Youth Arts Advisory Group (formerly Youth Arts Voice Scotland). The day ended with a discussion about how topics and insights from the conference might be translated into further action. Biographies of all presenters are available here.

Northern Visions TV was there on the day and captured some fantastic interviews from event participants.

Conference Welcome and Theme: 

Academic Papers: 

Victoria Durrer (Lecturer in Arts Management, Queen’s University Belfast) ‘What Counts as Culture? Understanding Young People’s Views’

Michael Barron (PhD Applied Social Studies, University of Maynooth), ‘LGBTI Youth Coming in from the Policy Margins?’

Dan O’ Sullivan (PhD Education, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick) ‘Positive Youth Development and Resilience in Early School Leavers; Challenging the Cartesian Daemon’

Molly Goyer Gorman (PhD Drama, Queen’s University Belfast) ‘Once a Young Farmer, always a Young Farmer: Culture and Identity in Glarryford Young Farmers’ Club’

Keynote presentation: Spaces to Belong to
Colin Bradie (Creative Scotland), Grace Green & Daniel Mc Cormick (National Youth Arts Advisory Group, Scotland):‘Where We Want to Be’. It is a principle of Scotland’s national youth arts strategy to place young people at the centre of its aims and ambitions. Through the strategy’s delivery, key initiatives have been supported to develop the breadth, depth and quality of youth engagement. This keynote will offer a background to the application of this principle with two young people from the National Youth Arts Advisory Group sharing their experiences, and their aspirations for the future of the arts for them in Scotland.

Brexit Discussions Day

The Belfast Visual Arts Forum (BVAF), in partnership with Theatre NI, Thrive, Creative Europe Desk UK – Northern Ireland, AICA (L’Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art) with the support of the Cultural Policy Observatory Ireland hosted a Brexit discussions day on Thursday 1 November 2018.

A BREXIT Statement was prepared as a result of our discussion.

CALL FOR PAPERS: PhD students and Early Career Researchers

Young people’s perspectives on culture, identity and cultural participation on the island of Ireland today

Deadline 5 July 2017

The Cultural Policy Observatory Ireland and Queen’s University Belfast are seeking papers from PhD students and Early Career Researchers engaging in research regarding young people’s perspectives on culture, identity and cultural participation. Work will be presented as part of a conference entitled ‘Spaces to Belong to’, which takes place on Friday 15^th September at the Brian Friel Theatre, Queen’s University Belfast. This event will bring together young people aged 16+, researchers, policymakers, and community, youth and arts and cultural workers who engage with young people (ages 12 – 25) from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The event aims to:

• Share new insights about the relationship between young people’s cultural participation and their sense of cultural identity on the island of Ireland

• Provide a space for young people’s perspectives on cultural identity and cultural participation to be heard by professionals whose work affects them
• Create cross-sectoral, cross-border connections and open up fruitful conversations about young people, culture and cultural participation with a view to facilitating further exchange

• Engage young leaders in conversations with youth practitioners and relevant policy-makers

• Provide a platform for the work of PhD and Early Career Researchers in this field

We understand ‘cultural participation’ to mean the involvement of young people (ages 12-25) in artistic, social, sporting and other leisure activities. This encompasses both state-funded and non-state funded activities.

Papers might address, but are not limited to, the following questions in relation to the island of Ireland (or a particular area in Ireland or Northern Ireland):

• How do young people interpret culture? Do they see it as something which they inherit, or which they make for themselves?
• How do young people participate in culture? Where, with whom, and in what formats? What is the motivation for this engagement?
• At a transitional time of their lives, and in an increasingly unpredictable political climate, what is the role of cultural participation in making spaces for young people ‘to belong to’?
• What is the relationship between young people’s cultural participation (particularly in the fields of artistic, social, sporting, digital technologies, and other leisure activities) and their sense of identity?
• Is young people’s cultural participation challenging or reinforcing dominant social and political narratives – such as, for example, the ‘orange vs green’ politics in Northern Ireland?
• How do the ideological objectives of state-funded cultural activities compare with young people’s lived experiences of these activities?

SUBMISSION DETAILS:

Please submit a bio (50 words maximum) and an abstract of approx. 350 words. Please consider:

• Abstracts should describe the paper’s overall argument
• Abstracts should indicate how the presentation will be accessible to our diverse audience
• Papers need to be a maximum of 10 minutes in length
• Work that has directly engaged with the voice of young people will be prioritised
• Case studies of the work of particular organisations or programmes are welcome

Deadline for Submissions: 5 July 2017

Send to: Victoria Durrer, Lecturer in Arts Management and Cultural Policy at v.durrer@qub.ac.uk

Conference made possible by the Centre for Evidence and Social Innovation, Queen’s University Belfast.

www.culturalpolicyireland.org