Understanding everyday participation articulating cultural values

Dr Lisanne GibsonSchool of Museum Studies, University of Leicester

Understanding Everyday Participation: What is it?

• AHRC ‘Connected Communities in the Creative Economy’ Large Grant, 2012 to 2017

• £1.5 million total funding from AHRC• Team of academics x 7, 2 ‘sector facing’ consultants, 2 full-time

Research Associates, 3 PhD projects, numerous casual researchers

• Further funding:

• Creative Scotland• AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award with Glasgow Life

What are we trying to do?

• discover what is the focus of individuals everyday culture and leisure activities and what this participation means to them

• understand how communities are formed and connected through participation

• explore the relationship between different participation contexts – institutional, voluntary, informal

In order to:

• develop new articulations and measures of cultural value

• reconnect policy and practice with everyday participation

Our approach

• not defining ‘culture’ in advance – painting a picture from the bottom-up through qualitative research

• viewing participation as a social process, not just individual behaviour

• participation practices are situated – they shape and are shaped by place

• mixed methods combining historical, quantitative and qualitative work

• collaboration with communities, voluntary organisations, cultural professionals and policymakers

Five work packages

1. Histories of participation and value; cultural policy and place

2. Reanalysis of survey data – how does participation vary by place and throughout people’s lives?

3. Ecosystems – local histories, mapping, in-depth interviews, ethnography and social network analysis in six contrasting locations

4. Application projects – working with communities and partners to develop projects in response to findings

5. Research-policy-practice nexus – reflecting on the partnership and developing new models of collaboration

WP3 Case Study locations

Western Isles

Aberdeen

Gateshead

Manchester/Salford

Peterborough

Dartmoor

Active People & Taking Part Surveys

Taking Part is “The National Survey of Culture, Leisure and Sport”

Active People is “the largest survey of sport and activity ever carried out in Europe”

Broadly: Taking Part Survey has more detailed questions; Active People Survey surveys more people (500 per LA)

It can be used for a number of things. For example:

Arts attendance

Percentages represent fractions of respondents in each local authority responding “yes” to “Have you attended any creative, artistic, theatrical or musical events in the last 12 months?

Source: Active People Survey 4, data collected 2009-2010

Library visits

Percentages represent fractions of respondents in each local authority responding “yes” to “During the last 12 months, have you used a public library service at least once?”

Source: Active People Survey 4, data collected 2009-2010

Taking Part and segmentation

much Taking Part analysis is sector-based: exploring participation in sports/arts/heritage

some may be familiar: Sport England’s market segmentation reveals sporting

“types” within the adult population Arts Audiences: Insight (ACE) breaks the population

into groups based on participation in, and attitudes to, the arts

but can we organise people into meaningful groups based on participation across the board: formal culture, sport, and also other free time activities?

Taking Part segmentation: why?

How significant are “formal” culture and sport activities to the wider context of participation?

How far are people “omnivorous” across sectors? Are there groups of people who opt out of “formal

culture” but have busy everyday lives? What are the characteristics of different groups, including

those with low levels of participation across the board?

Some initial reflections

• there is evidence of ‘omnivorousness’ – 8% of people who are ‘Highly Active’ have high levels of participation in a range of activities, from informal leisure to cultural events; a group with privilege and power

• ‘Fitness Fans’ (4%), ‘Sociable Sporty’ (9%) and ‘Intellectual Pursuits’ (7%) are active too but have more specialised interests

• over half the population (54%) have fairly low levels of engagement with ‘formal’ culture but are busy with everyday activities – cinema, pubs, internet, shopping, football, darts, pool, fishing, gardening, knitting

• the least educated, least affluent people’s participation consists mainly of TV watching (17%), this group seem detached from even the most mainstream pastimes and social events

The cultural signature of participation and value

Gateshead Methods:

Understanding Participation in Gateshead:• History of socially informed cultural practice• Socio-demographic analysis• Culture and leisure policy and programmes survey• Walkabout, driving tours, local stakeholder engagement• Cultural and community asset mapping • Participation data survey (using local and national data)• Household Interviews- 2 waves of 30; probing for participation

‘life story’, narratives, life stage, gender/age/class/ethnicity, relationships, situated

Local focus- ‘facilitated participation’:• Young people and young people in care• Community participant engagement activities, focus groups,

meetings, ethnography, social network analysis

The cultural ecosystem

3 axes to reveal the geography: of social demography of cultural/ community assets of participation data

Questions: What is the nature of the ‘situatedness’ of people’s

different types of participation? How do socio-demographic factors interact with the

geography of assets to frame participation? Is there a ‘cultural signature’ to cultural values and

participation within particular ‘ecosystems’?

The geography of cultural and community assets

“cultural” is a broad term: museums, galleries, concert halls, theatres pubs, bars, working men’s clubs libraries, archives, community/leisure centres places of worship, scout huts, conservation areas

The distributions of cultural and community assets helps us to understand the kinds of facilities available to people in different places

The geography of socio-demographics

Some information at Local Authority level, some at Super Output Area level, some at Output Area level

Contextualizes participation and assets age distribution indices of deprivation educational indicators ethnic and religious diversity

Gateshead Jewish Residents

The Jewish population is very precisely bounded in a small area in and around Bensham, with the exception of a handful of areas with small Jewish populations (<6%) dotted around Gateshead.

The geography of participation

Participation in different activities Civic, cultural, charitable, commercial, digital, private

Captured by:

- membership, ticketing, registration, enrollment, audience/ marketing/ residents survey, etc

Supplemented by qualitative data from walking/driving tours, community interviews/ interactions, household interviews, and, ethnography.

A ‘cultural signature’ of local cultural participation and value?

Location and place are an important coordinate for understanding everyday participation in cultural and leisure practices

What can the combination of this data- assets, socio-demography, broadly defined participation- its combination and representation in space allow us to understand about the specificity of participation and value in place?

Policy applications: e.g. how much of this specificity is reliant on public investment?

Arts council funding / adult learning

Sources: Arts Council England,

Skills Funding Agency (part of BIS)

Less than £20£20-£70£71-120£121-240More than £240

<4.6%4.7%-6.0%6.1%-7.9%8.0-8.9%9%+

Funded cultural participation

Source: Sage Gateshead

Less than 0.190.20-0.650.66-1.291.30-2.232.24 or more

What Next?

Working towards the creation of a dynamic model:

Layer 1- socio-demographic informationLayer 2- cultural and community assetsLayer 3- cultural and leisure participation- ‘formal’Layer 4- cultural and leisure participation- voluntary/

amateur/ associational

Gateshead Household Interviews:Themes from Wave One

Wave 1 & 2 Household Interviews

Wave one: 26; Wave two: 20 (male and female) = 46

Age: 28–74

Where people live: Saltwell, Bensham, Low Fell, Chowdene

Ethnicity: English, British, mixed race, white British, white, African, Eastern European, “Geordie and Northumbrian”, “not Mackem”, Jew

Socioeconomic group: “Working class management”, working class, middle class

Religion: Orthodox Jewish, Atheist, Christian, Methodist, “spiritual”

Participation

Some activities mentioned over and over againAt Home

watching TV and DVDs

playing video games

cooking and baking/cake decorating, exercise and sport (gym, cycling, running, playing basketball, golf, walking, playing football)

gardening (home or allotment), housework

barbecue

reading (alone and in groups)

listening to music

DIY in the house

sitting and chatting with wife/husband

pottering around the house…

Out and about

going to the pub (pub quiz every Wednesday)

cinema

eating out

shopping

walking (with and without the dog)

attending church (in Gateshead and Newcastle)

volunteering

knitting

going for a coffee…

Special/ Occasional Activitieskayaking

comedy club in Newcastle

visiting relatives in the Midlands

yoga

antenatal classes

Great North Nun

Race for Life

Blaydon race

playing bass guitar at church

camping

relatives from Canada visiting so shopping trips to the Metrocentre,

21st birthday celebrations

“wetting the head” of a friend’s new baby

sailing

beer Festival

Late Shows

dinner parties

Kylie Minogue concert

Joan Rivers live

Cumberland Show

Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate

Chelsea Flower Show

Glastonbury…

‘Everyday’ Places of Participation

MetrocentreNewcastleSaltwell ParkStirling House pubthe house/at homeFriend’s houseCoatsworth roadTescoallotmentleisure centreCentral Librarysocial clubIKEALow FellGreggs…

“Nice Indian up in Low Fell which we go to

all the time” (P17 Male 32, Bensham).

Places for special Occasions

HexhamNewburnDiscovery MuseumBeamish MuseumHancock MuseumBlackpoolNational Trust venuesEnglish Heritage propertiesTheatre RoyalLake DistrictHadrian's WallDurhamGlastonburyWarwick CastleOuseburnLittle Theatre…

“we’ve also been to live concerts at The Sage, that might be two or three times a year” (P22 Male 63, Low Fell).

Value of Participation

1. Physical and Mental Wellbeing“Mentally and physically just feel great” (P15 Female 38 Saltwell)

2. Stress“I know this sounds old and boring, but if you’re outside gardening it just takes your mind off all the stresses of

work and everything that’s going on in your head. It just clears your mind because you’re just outside and you’re just busy” (P12 Male 32 Saltwell).

3. Fun and sociability“Basketball is my main--, I do like my sport, and it’s not necessarily that I play--, It’s more the social side of it.

[…] I was more of a social--, it’s got to be fun” (P18 Male 42 Bensham).

“I’d say the music really ‘cause it’s such a social activity, you know, there’s nothing quite like that, you know, when people are together and working together towards a common goal, and it produces something aesthetically pleasing” (P28 Male 31 Bensham).

“And when I’m out I’ll go into a coffee shop ‘cause for me that’s a nice thing to do, a relaxing thing to do, it breaks up the day and I get a chance to just think about things that are working okay for me” (P30 Male 56 Bensham).

Barriers to participation

1. Illness or injury “I used to be part of a running club, I’m not now. […] I went into the army and knackered my knee, and

started smoking, so I can’t do it any more. ” (P27 Male 28 Bensham).

2. Time“I work a lot of hours, you know, so you don’t really find much time” (P23 Male 50 Saltwell).

3. Social Networks “no friends and she doesn’t want to do it” (P17 Male 32 Bensham) .

4. Lack of local facilities “I can’t find any group I can join or anything like that […] there isn’t anywhere like a community centre

where we can all come together or that I’ve found anyway [laughs]” (P13 Female 30 Saltwell).

5. Distance and transport“I don’t really do any activities, I used to dance like ballet and stuff but I haven’t done that for a few years now, but I did enjoy it, it was just the distance and getting there was--, I had to get a bus and for a 45 minute class it’s not really worth the hassle” (P19 female 28 Low Fell).

6. Money “The more money I make the more extravagant my choices are” (P17 Male 32 Bensham).

Communications

• Website: www.everydayparticipation.org

• Twitter: @UEParticipation; #UEPcare; #UEPHistories; #everydayparticipation

Project Team

Principal InvestigatorDr Andrew Miles, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester

Co Investigators Dr Eleonora Belfiore, Centre for Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick Dr Lisanne Gibson, School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester Dr Abigail Gilmore, Institute for Cultural Practices, University of Manchester Dr Felicity James, School of English, University of Leicester Dr Jane Milling, Department of Drama, University of Exeter Dr Kerrie Schaefer, Department of Drama, University of Exeter Policy and Sector Researchers Catherine Bunting, Arts Council England Sarah Stannage, Clore Fellow, MLA Living Places

Full-Time Postdoctoral ResearchersDr Delyth Edwards, School of Museum Studies, University of LeicesterAdrian Lagunas, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester

PhD StudentsSarah Hughes, School of Museum Studies, University of LeicesterRuth Webber, School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester and Glasgow LifeSusan Oman, CRESC, University of Manchester

Project Funders and Partners (National)

Funded Through the AHRC’s Connected Community ProgrammeAnd Creative Scotland