Centre for Culture, Sport and Events

Place focused culture-led regeneration, including: cultural participation and engagement; arts and health, cultural policy and regeneration; socially embedded arts practice. One of the principal activities of the CCSE is to undertake research and knowledge exchange activities focused on the importance of arts, culture and events to the development of place (s). Under the theme of culture-led regeneration, the CCSE’s focus from 2018-2021 will be to undertake research enquiries to assess the extent to which investment in arts, culture and events by towns and cities produces intended outcomes. Early focus will be on Paisley, whose political and cultural leadership has set out a planned approach to the use of arts, culture and events to achieve a series of economic, social and cultural outcomes.

Arts, cultural diplomacy, and soft power, including: major and mega events as vehicles of cultural diplomacy. The Centre will build on its members’ expertise in arts and cultural diplomacy to conduct research into the role of arts and culture in advancing diplomatic solutions. Two members of our staff, Profs McPherson and Kosmala, are members of the European Cultural Parliament. We also have 6 PhD students working in Cultural Diplomacy and sport, arts and post-conflict. Our work to date in this area has included commissioned work for the British Council examining whether and how the arts contribute to the aims, aspirations and delivery of soft power and what the arts value and contribution is to this agenda.

Sport and cultural events and festivals, including: studies of leverage and legacy; mega sport events and human rights; event bidding; events and urban development. The Centre will undertake research and knowledge exchange activities that build on members’ extensive expertise in sporting and cultural events and festivals. Our work ranges from policy and practice to the impact and evaluation of mega, major and local events. The Centre will continue to bid for tendered commissions and research grants in these areas, working with a range of international partners. Presently, we are working with colleagues in Canada, USA, Australia, Germany and Poland. One of our staff is acting as an expert advisor to the OECD draft recommendation on Global Events and Local Development and is a member of the European Cultural Parliament.

Media, communication and digital cultures, including: praxis of curation, digital and social media research, creative digital citizenship, digital inclusion and disruptive digital platforms. The Centre has staff with extensive experience and expertise in (participatory) digital media, curatorial practice, events and communications. We have previous research commissions from Renfrewshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council and the Big Lottery in this area. This area of work will utilise the expertise of our staff in examining affordances of digital and social media in enabling (and constraining) participation in civic life, including research into digital storytelling, digital citizenship and tackling digital poverty.

Commissioned by the British Council, this work examined the use of arts and culture in the achievement of soft power objectives. The research team sought to build on the evidence generated during the recent AHRC Cultural Value Project, other international examples and the British Council’s own bank of arts based evaluation alongside other relevant research to address the following a trio of research questions. We looked at whether the arts contribute to the aims, aspirations and delivery of soft power, the mechanisms though which this was achieved and what “value” can be ascribed to the arts contribution to this agenda. The research also examined what conditions for change the arts can create within a soft power agenda and, how we can develop a creditable evidence base or evidence framework and “theory of change” to measure the impact of the arts in the delivery of soft power outcomes.

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Commissioned by the British Council, this work comprised an appraisal of relevant academic and grey literature, followed by 3 country case studies exploring arts and culture focused post-conflict, resolution and peace-building interventions in Colombia, Syria and Rwanda. The case study research was augmented by interviews with stakeholders in the case-study countries, British Council and Whitehall. The review suggested areas of potential further study and recommendations for the British Council. A mapping framework was also included; listing arts and culture based projects with aims and objectives that coincide with those, which contribute to security and stability agendas in the case study countries and beyond.The final report has been included in the British Council’s 2018 tailored review submission and, has been positively received in Whitehall.

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EventRights is a EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange funded project which seeks to explore, and share knowledge, on the extent to which the landscape of major sport events (MSEs) can be improved to ensure a progressive, rights-focused agenda is pursued by awarding organisations, host governments and implemented in the formal institutions tasked with organising these events. The project will produce recommendations as to how MSE organising committees, awarding bodies, and the local/national state can be mandated to ensure that opportunities to address inequality, enhance diversity and facilitate greater dialogue are enshrined in the planning, delivery, and legacy plans for the events themselves. Staff mobilities form the main component of the project, to partners in the US, Canada, Japan and Brazil.

Leveraging Parasport Events for Community Participation is a Social Science and Humanities Research Council (Canada) funded research project that explores the leveraging strategies of different major sport events for persons with disabilities. This study found that policy initiatives are important but need to be informed by all stakeholders, including persons with disabilities (Misener et al., 2015a); improvements in attitudes towards disability are measurable directly post-event but the relationship to societal behaviours and the lived experiences is poorly understood (Misener et al., 2015b); urban accessibility improvements are often temporary and highly contextual (McGillivray, Misener, & McPherson, 2017); and; structural and societal change will not necessarily happen during the lifecycle of a Games but strategies implemented for the Games may improve sport participation opportunities in the long term, if they continue to be resourced (McPherson et al., 2017). SSHRC has funded a follow up study focused on the post-event effects on persons with a disability in the host location.

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