(2002-2003) Evaluation of Cultureshock, North West Cultural Programme for the 2002 Commonwealth Games

Research commissioned by the main partners of Cultureshock, including the Arts Council of England and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. The project was undertaken within the Centre for Cultural Policy Research, University of Glasgow, with contributions from Christine Hamilton (CCPR Director) and Carmen Bota (CCPR researcher).

The final report and summary reports are kept at the Arts Council England North West. [View Summary Report]

Research aims

The project involved an evaluation of Cultureshock, the Commonwealth Games North West Cultural Programme and the assessment of the eleven individual projects making up the cultural strand of the Spirit of Friendship Festival (SoF). This work was separated in two main strands:

Strand 1: Study of Cultureshock and SoF structures of management and design rationale:

Assessment of the suitability of the programmes’ working agendas (mission statements, programme design and contents) and an assessment of the effectiveness of the structures established to manage and implement them (team work, funding abilities, relationships).

Project objectives:

1. To assess the suitability of the programmes’ design format (ie. ‘strengths and weaknesses of the programme itself’ – mission statements and main contents)

2. To assess the effectiveness of the programmes’ management and promotional structures (ie. ‘strengths and weaknesses of Cultureshock/SoF as a delivery mechanisms for an arts programme’)

3. To assess the effectiveness of the programme’s community relations structure in relation to social inclusion (ie. ‘ Cultureshock/SoF’s ability to work with the arts as a tool for social inclusion’)

Strand 2: Study of Cultureshock and SoF immediate impacts and potential legacies:

This involved a measurement of how the programmes have affected their environment: from individual audiences to existing partners, the arts community and respective host locations in a broader sense. Here, it is of particular interest to consider the context in which Cultureshock and the Spirit of Friendship festival are located, that is, the celebration of a major international sporting event.

Project objectives:

4. To determine the impact of presenting a major arts programme alongside an international sporting event

- on event audiences: impacts on experience, perceptions, values

- on key investors and local hosts: economic impacts

- on arts groups and institutions: impacts on art form development

5. To determine whether Cultureshock has changed people’s perceptions of the Commonwealth

6. To determine the value and sustainability of the programmes’ International Partnerships

7. To identify other potential legacies in the short, medium and/or long term

Outcomes

The main purpose of the project was to inform partners about:

- appropriate mechanisms for future investment in International Arts and Cultural Programming

- benefits/pitfalls of hosting a cultural programme across a region/city

- the value of investment into research and development

- future templates/models for the other major arts and sports events in this region or elsewhere in the UK

The main outcomes of the research emerged around these dimensions. They also respond to a combination of the main research objectives indicated in section 2: ‘Purpose of study and operational objectives’. In particular,

1. this project allowed identification of ‘appropriate mechanisms for future investment in International Arts and Cultural Programming’ by assessing the effectiveness of the programme’s management and promotion structures, the strengths and weaknesses of the programme as a delivery mechanisms for the arts.

2. the benefits/pitfalls of hosting a cultural programme across a region/city emerged from the study of the opportunities and constraints presented to the programme and the measurement of resulting impacts on audiences, investors, the arts community and the host city and region in general. Relevant information also emerged from studying the ability of the programme to utilise the arts as a tool for social inclusion.

3. evidence of the value of investment in research and development was provided throughout the process to undertake this project. The final report specifies the key benefits and challenges of the study and suggests alternative ways of undertaking research to gather information about aspects that have not been explored in this study

4. finally, information and suggestions about future templates/models for the other major arts and sports events in this region or elsewhere in the UK were provided by a combination of all findings associated with the programme rationale, management and promotion structures and potential legacies

(2007) Approaches to the Newspaper Archive: Content Analysis and Press Coverage of Glasgow’s Year of Culture

Reason, M. and Garcia, B. ‘Approaches to the Newspaper Archive: Content Analysis and Press Coverage of Glasgow’s Year of Culture’,
in: Media, Culture and Society (2007)

Glasgow’s year as European City of Culture in 1990 is perceived as an event marking a renaissance in perceptions of the city. This paper examines how the contemporary press coverage can be used as a resource to trace the narratives and mythologies surrounding the event. To facilitate this research, a pre-existing archive of press cuttings, totalling over 5,000 clippings, was employed. This paper describes how the interests of the project, and the nature of the large press archive being examined, lead to the utilisation of a distinct methodology of media analysis. The paper describes the attempt to unite both quantitative, statistical analysis with qualitative, pre-informed examination. By tracing aspects of the practical examination of the Glasgow 1990 press coverage, the paper explores the successes and failures of the approach taken and assesses its potential for development and employment in other contexts.

Key words: City Marketing; Urban Regeneration; Media Analysis; SPSS; Cultural Policy

(2007) Can policy be artist-led? Perspectives from a policy analyst / researcher

Garcia, B. (2007) ‘Can policy be artist-led? Perspectives from a policy analyst / researcher’.in: Know your Place seminar series, Midwest, Birmingham (7 March 2007) [paper] [presentation]

In January 2007, I was invited by MidWest to contribute to a series of discussions on the role of artists in policy-making under the common title ‘Know Your Place’. My involvement started with a conversation with a group of artists from the West Midlands. In this meeting, it became clear that some of the main issues concerning the artists involved in this consultation were their feeling of being excluded from the policy-making process, lacking confidence to overcome existing barriers, the perception that decision-makers did not pay sufficient attention to artist-led initiatives and, particularly, the feeling that there was not a shared language through which to resolve the existing tensions between arts and policy needs.

In this paper, I offer an overview of the key issues presented in response to these realisations. These are organised around three main topics:

What is cultural policy?
Can artists influence cultural policy?
Can the language of research and evaluation offer a bridge between arts and policy needs?

(2007) Building on the European Culture Capital as impulse for cultural and creative development

Garcia, B. (2007) ‘Building on the European Culture Capital as impulse for cultural and creative development’,
in: Change through the Cultural Economy. Perspectives of a Sunrise Industry, The State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia, Essen, Germany (17 Sep 2007) [presentation]
Seventeen years on, Glasgow is still remembered for its achievements as 1990 European City of Culture. The city has been praised for its pioneering approach to culture-led regeneration but also criticised by what some see as an inherently unfair, elitist and instrumental approach to managing culture. References to Glasgow 1990 have resurfaced in the UK due to the nomination of Liverpool as 2008 European Capital of Culture.

In Liverpool, as well as other cities aspiring to or already nominated to the title, the emphasis is on economic regeneration but linked to the expectation that, with it, will come wider social and cultural regeneration. On this basis, this paper revisits what was achieved by Glasgow’s approach to community engagement in 1990 and assesses whether the experience of involving local creative groups has led to any sustainable legacy within the city’s creative economy.

The paper’s main claim is that localities must work towards diverse and inclusive social environments to secure high levels of local creativity and thus maximise distinctiveness, competitiveness and long-term sustainability for cultural initiatives.

(2007) Symbolic maps of the city: Visualising conflicting narratives to capture the meaning(s) of place

Garcia, B. (2007) ‘Symbolic maps of the city: Visualising conflicting narratives to capture the meaning(s) of place’

in: Mapping the City Seminar, Impacts 08, CAVA, City in Film and Institute for Popular Music, Liverpool (7 Nov)

 

In the context of culture-led regeneration initiatives, the representation of a city becomes a strongly contested issue. Local authorities compete with event organisers and key regeneration and cultural stakeholders as well as the local community to determine a narrative for the city. Opinion-leaders are pressed to provide a coherent and ‘sellable’ story of the city at the same time as gaining consensus to ensure it is meaningful and owned by the wider community. Further, criticisms against city marketing and branding exercises as over simplistic and elite-oriented, emerge in parallel to demands for a raise in local expectations and pride, and the belief that using culture as a catalyst for regeneration can help bridge the gap between external image and local identity needs. This paper considers approaches to understanding conflicting city representations from a methodological point of view. The paper places an emphasis on mapping exercises as a technique that can help capture key cultural relationships and their positioning in the city at a geographical as well as an ideographical or symbolic level. Such exercise can help portray relevant (and contradictory) narratives of the city as well as visualise the sources for such narratives. The focus of this exercise is Liverpool in the wake of its title as European Capital of Culture in 2008. The exploration of a symbolic cultural map of Liverpool is embedded within a wider research programme on the impact of hosting the 2008 title, which combines academic interrogation with the ambition to inform and influence the city’s cultural policy framework. The paper concludes with a brief reflection about the role of academics as contributors to the city’s narrative and, more specifically, their position within the symbolic map of present day Liverpool.

(2005-2010) Impacts 08 - The Liverpool Model. European Capital of Culture Research Programme

Additional information and links: Impacts 08 website | Programme summary

Impacts 08 – The Liverpool Model, is a joint research initiative of the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University, which evaluates the impact of Liverpool’s hosting the European Capital of Culture title in 2008. The research, commissioned by Liverpool City Council, is the first of its kind to assess simultaneously the full range of major-event impact, that is, its economic, environmental, social as well as cultural aspects. The main aim of Impacts 08 is to develop a research model for evaluating the multiple impacts of culture-led regeneration that can be applied to events across the UK, such as the London 2012 Olympics, and beyond.

The scope of the research programme is unprecedented and offers an innovative approach to impact measurement. This is achieved by combining the assessment of quantitative indicators, such as job creation, inward investment and tourism growth, with a qualitative investigation of the lived experiences of the people of Liverpool and the evolution of perceptions throughout the UK and internationally. The programme also takes a longitudinal approach exploring change in outcomes, experiences, perceptions and understanding over time – from the pre-bid period (2000), through the bidding and nomination (2002-3), preparations towards the event (2004-7), the main event-year (2008), and beyond. Throughout the programme, the research team is working closely with Liverpool 08’s stakeholders (including Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Culture Company and Culture Northwest) to report back areas of success and suggestions for improvement. Key findings are being reported on the Impacts 08 website (www.impacts08.net).

(2007) The creative legacy of the Olympic Games. The symbolic dimension of the Games as a basis for cultural sustainability

Garcia, B. (2007) ‘The creative legacy of the Olympic Games. The symbolic dimension of the Games as a basis for cultural sustainability ‘,

in: Cultural and Creative Impact of the 2012 Games, Creative Clusters, Session hosted by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, London (9 Nov 2007) [presentation]

 

The modern Olympic Games were founded at the end of the 19th century as a vehicle to inspire youth and promote internationalism. Since then, they have evolved into a global media phenomenon and a platform to establish or project a world class city. In this journey, the role of universally recognised symbolic components such as the Olympic rings, torch relay and, crucially, the mass appeal of opening and closing ceremonies has been increasingly pivotal to the ‘Olympic experience’.

Other equally relevant components of the Olympic hosting process include urban planning and graphic design - from new Olympic venue infrastructures to ubiquitous signage and branding, the so-called ‘Look of the Games’; and street animation to manage the crowds as well as create a festive atmosphere - the now termed ‘LiveSites’. These elements are evidence of the role of cultural and creative entrepreneurs in shaping the Olympic experience. Crucially, it is often these dimensions that create the most sustainable and meaningful legacies for local communities and Olympic visitors alike.

The paper explores the current definitions and regulations for presenting an official Olympic cultural programme and contrasts their narrow focus with the wide range of areas that have been explored and established creative legacies in previous Olympic cities, from Barcelona 1992 to Vancouver 2010.

(2007) Living the multicultural Olympic city. Cultural policy and planning in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Summer Games

Garcia, B. ‘Living the multicultural Olympic city. Cultural policy and planning in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Summer Games’,

in: Gold, J.R. & Gold, M.M. (Eds) Olympic Cities: Urban planning, city agendas and the World’s Games, 1896 to the present, London: Routledge, pp. 237-264 (2007)

 

This chapter studies Sydney’s experience as an Olympic city from the perspective of cultural policy and planning. In previous work I have argued that culture and the arts play a critical role in defining the Games symbolic dimensions and are a determining factor in the sustainability of event legacies (see García 2002, 2003, 2004; Moragas 1992). In this context, interpreting Sydney’s cultural discourse is fundamental to understand how the city was experienced during the Olympic fortnight and the kinds of images it projected to the rest of the world in its lead-up and aftermath.

Sydney’s cultural discourse offers a good example of the internal contradictions that underpin many examples of city-based events that try to be everything for everyone: locally meaningful, nationally engaging and globally impacting. The problem of such a multi-layered approach is that it tends to lead to overly simplistic and tokenistic cultural representations, an issue best reflected in the often confused narratives of Olympic opening and closing ceremonies (see Tomlinson 1996). Despite claims to the contrary (Cashman 2005), Sydney was no exception as its ceremonies failed to depart from established narratives about Australia dominated by a white and Western sense of aesthetics where indigenous and multicultural cultures are an exotic addition rather than a core component (García and Miah 2000). However, Sydney promised a comprehensive programme of cultural activity over four-years and presented an unprecedented street programme of activity during the Olympic fortnight, which provided additional opportunities to explore and demonstrate the worth of its cultural discourse. This chapter offers a detailed analysis of how Sydney’s cultural discourse came about and the effect on its profile as an Olympic city.

I build on the current debate about event-led cultural regeneration in urban environments (Burbank et al. 2002, Chalkey and Essex 2005, Gold and Gold 2005, Monclus 2004, Richards and Wilson 2004) to critique existing definitions and guidelines for cultural engagement within the Olympic Movement. My main argument is that the positioning of the Olympic Games as a city-based, nationally-framed and globally embracing cultural event presents important challenges for cultural-policy makers and has rarely resulted in sustainable cultural legacies. Sydney had an opportunity to question established practices and overcome the trend towards using cultural activity as a platform for global media-spectacle at the expense of meaningful local representation. However, existing Olympic structures, particularly media and sponsorship agreements, prevented this ambition from fully coming to fruition.

(2007) New Beijing, Great Journalism? Media Freedom During the Beijing Olympic Games period

Garcia, B. and Miah, A. (2007) ‘New Beijing, Great Journalism? Media Freedom During the Beijing Olympic Games period’

in session: Asian Olympic Games and/as Media, Ubiquitous Media: Asian Transformations, Theory, Culture and Society 25th Anniversary Conference, Tokyo (13-16 July 2007) [presentation]

The issue of defining who is a journalist, what rights they have, how they are served and managed is an important aspect of determining control of the platform. Over the last four Olympic Games, the phenomenon of alternative or non-accredited journalists has asserted itself (partly because of the Internet) and institutional arrangements, often quite elaborate, have developed for the management of this group.

As the Beijing 2008 Olympics approaches, the future of the non-accredited journalist is in the balance, though the city plans to accommodate over 11,000 non-accredited journalists during Games time. We outline the political context of their presence at the Olympics and suggest that they can present an ideological challenge for the Beijing government generally and for the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) specifically. However, we also suggest that non-accredited journalists - rather than the accredited - could also be crucial at repositioning Western media within China.

(2006) Non-Accredited Media, Olympic Games and the Host City

Miah. A. and Garcia, B. (2006) Invited Plenary Speaker: ‘Non-Accredited Media, Olympic Games and the Host City’

in Communication Forum 2006: Global Olympiad, Chinese Media, National Center for Radio and Television Studies, Communication University of China and Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania (Beijing, July 2006)
Since their inauguration in 1896, the Modern Olympic Games have been researched through various academic traditions. With the formalisation of cognate research areas such as media, cultural studies, and sport and leisure studies in the 1970s, social research into the Olympics has developed steadily. Anthropologists and sociologists have considered the Games to be a rich source from which to study the playing out of national identities and cultural politics. Often referred to as the biggest event in the world, the Olympic Games has become a site for historic political expressions, such as the time in Mexico (196 when athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos protested the treatment of African Americans in the USA by raising black-gloved hands on their medal podium.

In recent years, research has focused on social and economic impacts and the role of the media in transforming the Games into a globally shared experience. This research demonstrates that media coverage of the Games plays a vital role in projecting an image of the local host, but that the current structures of Games organisers and media providers undermine the representation of culturally diverse voices. By focusing on reporting the sporting competitions and official ceremonies, the media fails to reflect the particularities of each Olympic festival. As such, the cultural context of the Games, including street activity and other cultural programming, is often lost or misrepresented.

Today, this trend is in the process of transformation with the emergence of alternative and new media, a phenomenon that has evolved since the creation of the first official ‘non-accredited media centre’ (NAMC) at the Sydney 2000 Games. The NAMC is distinct from the accredited media centres (comprising the Main Press Centre and the International Broadcasting Centre), which are reserved only for the official media right-holders under exclusive national arrangements. The main function of accredited centres is to provide facilities and information for the reporting of sporting competitions. In contrast, the NAMCs are open to any media representative (including freelance journalists) and offer a significant amount of material on human-interest stories, local activity groups, and the Olympic cultural programme.

In this context, our paper builds on research from the four most recent Olympic Games where the NAMCs have developed to inquire into how such journalists might transform reporting about the Olympic Games. We consider what stories of the Olympics “non-accredited” journalists tell and what role they play in terms of defining and affecting the meaning of the Games? The issue of defining who is a journalist, what rights they have, how they are served and managed is an important aspect of determining control of the platform. It is also of particular importance to organising committees whose work relies on managing the media. Indeed, the development of new media and a range of ‘Web 2.0’ platforms raises new questions about how the notion of control should be approached in the era of Internet journalism where, potentially, every spectator might be counted as a journalist of the Games.

As the Beijing 2008 Olympics approaches, the future of the non-accredited journalist is in the balance. The non-accredited journalists (along with the unaccredited or ‘citizen journalist’) could present an ideological challenge for the Beijing government generally and for the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) specifically. However, non-accredited journalists – rather than the accredited – could also be crucial at re-positioning Western media within China.