Project title:
‘Cultural Infrastructure and Cultural Ecology’
Researchers:
John Scanlan & Natasha Dawson, School of Art and Media
In the early phases of our work, research was concerned with the concept of ‘place’ and with what made West Cumbria such a singular place: its tangible and intangible cultural heritage, its unique history and topography, its peripheral location. Addressing issues related to an initial focus on ‘place development and promotion’, we found that the challenge of making the region more visible to outsiders depended to some extent on discovering or developing a unique sense of place – an image of place, or place identity – that might convey something of the cultural distinctiveness and unity of a sub-region that is, at the same time, comprised of many smaller places with their own distinctive identities and senses of place.
John’s role included a substantial practical element, through which he developed a range of collaborations and partnerships with local cultural actors (organisations, institutions and individuals). Building on what has been learned from the initial phases of research and the collaborative and partnership networks that we have developed, our sustained focus on ‘cultural infrastructures’ and ‘cultural ecology’ will underpin the broad approach to examining issues around questions of place and culture for the duration of this plan. This necessitates new research to investigate the interrelationship of the various cultural, economic, social spheres of life in the region, not only as an aspect of understanding how they shape present knowledge, policy and practice, but in terms of how the coming together of interests – for purposes that are often temporary or contingent in nature – illustrates new forms of partnership working.
One aspect of the research in this regard is to understand the ways in which cultural policy in the region is often defined not through forms of governance that would situate local authorities as a key player, but through the emergent practices of make-do initiatives, and / or the efforts of unofficial and non-funded cultural actors in the region. This phenomenon, prevalent in the arts and cultural sphere, is linked to the well-known lack of economic diversity in the region, which also, in turn, restricts the development of cultural infrastructure.
Our involvement in the Arts Council Creative People and Places programme, from its initial bidding phase (in 2020-21) to the present, when it operates as Everyone Here (with University of Lancashire as the key Learning Partner), illustrates one facet of our attempt to instigate processes and engage with initiatives that might change the nature of the local cultural ecology and hopefully – in the longer term – improve the cultural infrastructure of West Cumbria.
In practical terms, and as a project that involves developing collaborations and partnership, we work with councils and arts organisations to support funding bids that are are public benefit, take up membership of steering committees or sit on boards, and make our specialist knowledge available for those working in the policy sphere.
Beyond that there is a broader aim of developing a body of conceptual and descriptive work on the nature of cultural infrastructure and cultural ecology in order to be able to more effectively communicate the nature and realities of place to those within fields of policy and practice who, in seeking to be more responsive to public needs, can benefit from our specialist knowledge and understanding and whose roles restrict them from being able to undertake the kind of work that we, as academics, routinely do.
Project Duration:
4 years (2025-29)
Funder:
Westlakes Research Ltd