ArtWorks Evaluation Final Report

This summary provides an overview of the Final Evaluation Report for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation's (PHF) Special Initiative, ArtWorks. The Evaluation has been undertaken by DHA and the Institute for Cultural Practices, University of Manchester

Anxiety in Experience: H.R. Ginger\u27s Swiss Bars

H.R. Giger, an artist frequently recognized for his design presence in the Alien movies,created numerous bars that seek to rebel against current trends of relaxing escapism. They encourage anxiety rather than comfort, and force patrons to be accountable for their actions. An examination of architectural therapy, bar trends, anxiety, and spatial construction yield a consistent support of the artist’s history and intent. By analyzing the artist’s life and influences, as well as his body of work, this paper submits the Giger bars are the culmination of his spatial design efforts, which began with two-dimensional images and moved into three-dimensional furniture and set design, incorporating the uncanny and the sublime with his hyper-realistic horror aesthetic

Accounting for quality: arts evaluation, public value and the case of “culture counts”

Arts policy has a longstanding relationship with the concept of “quality” and the ways in which organisations measure, evaluate and account for it. Culture Counts, an evaluation system and digital platform, compiles data from standardised evaluation surveys of different stakeholder groups – organisations, audiences, critics, funders and peers – and provides the means to compare and triangulate data in an accessible format. As a result, it claims to provide a more effective, democratic tool for quality measurement of art, which demonstrates the public value of funding [Department of Culture and the Arts, & Knell, J. (2014). Public value measurement framework: Measuring the quality of the arts. Perth: Department of Culture and the Arts.]. Through qualitative research with two consortia of organisations involved in Culture Counts pilot projects in Manchester, England and Victoria, Australia, we explore these claims, comparing the reception and promotion of the system in both countries and considering its potential incorporation into policy assessment frameworks and adoption within arts organisations’ existing evaluation capacities

Arts councils, policy-making and "the local"

David Stevenson - ORCID 0000-0002-8977-1818 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8977-1818In the British Isles, national policies for the arts are primarily viewed as the responsibility of arts councils with statutory duties to distribute state funding that meet the requirements of both ’arms-length’ principles and national strategic frameworks. This paper explores the tensions between policy making for the nation-state and for ‘the local’ through comparative research on the arts councils (and equivalent bodies) in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Drawing on policy analysis and in-depth qualitative interviews with senior representatives from these organisations, it explores their notions of, responsibilities to and affiliations with ‘the local’, particularly in relation to institutional partnerships and their perceived relevance to local strategies for the arts. Findings suggest that despite their different models and relationships to the nation-state, and the disparities in the scale of investment, these national policy bodies commonly rely on networked governance to facilitate their relationship to ‘the local’ thus reproducing national interests, limiting the localised agency of place-based approaches and contributing to a culture of competition within cultural policy (Mould, 2018).https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2019.164479528pubpub

Reflecting on Place and the Local

David Stevenson - ORCID: 0000-0002-8977-1818 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8977-1818Engaging with both place and ‘the local’ has become an important part of cultural policy rhetoric in many countries, from the resurgence of city-regional governance models to calls for new forms of ‘localism’ involving participatory governance approaches intended to engender more active citizenship and to help people feel more empowered regarding the decisions that affect them. Depending on their approach, national interventions can exacerbate existing socio-economic inequities between places and risk investing in infrastructure without due consideration to sustainability within locations or the movement of cultural workers and audiences across locations. This introduction makes the case that views of the ‘local’ have been limited in the fields of cultural policymaking and study. It summarises some of the ways both place and ‘the local’ have been conceptualised. It argues how conceptions of ‘the local’ in policy can vary significantly requiring an examination of the process of situating ‘the local’ as it occurs in policymaking as well as what happens in ‘the local’ as a result or even despite that positioning.aheadofprintaheadofprin

The impact of COVID-19 on digital data practices in museums and art galleries in the UK and the US

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2021-05-17, accepted 2021-09-23, registration 2021-10-05, online 2021-10-15, pub-electronic 2021-10-15, collection 2021-12Publication status: PublishedAbstract: The first quarter of 2020 heralded the beginning of an uncertain future for museums and galleries as the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the only means to stay ‘open’ was to turn towards the digital. In this paper, we investigate how the physical closure of museum buildings due to lockdown restrictions caused shockwaves within their digital strategies and changed their data practices potentially for good. We review the impact of COVID-19 on the museum sector, based on literature and desk research, with a focus on the implications for three museums and art galleries in the United Kingdom and the United States, and their mission, objectives, and digital data practices. We then present an analysis of ten qualitative interviews with expert witnesses working in the sector, representing different roles and types of institutions, undertaken between April and October 2020. Our research finds that digital engagement with museum content and practices around data in institutions have changed and that digital methods for organising and accessing collections for both staff and the general public have become more important. We present evidence that strategic preparedness influenced how well institutions were able to transition during closure and that metrics data became pivotal in understanding this novel situation. Increased engagement online changed traditional audience profiles, challenging museums to find ways of accommodating new forms of engagement in order to survive and thrive in the post-pandemic environment

Interventions for Improving Occupational Performance Post-Concussion in Children and Adolescents: A Scoping Review

Objectives of Presentation: ● Recognize the significant impact of concussion on immediate and long-term mental and physical well being in the pediatric population. ● Identify the need for novel and effective interventions that address the impact of pediatric concussions. ● Describe current concussion interventions and management practices and the gap that exists in the literature. ● Discuss interventions within the scope of OT practice to address occupational performance in children and adolescents post-concussion. Clinical Question: What interventions within the scope of occupational therapy practice are indicated in the current literature to improve occupational performance in children and adolescents who have experienced a concussion? Presentation: 55 minute