Pandemic Culture

Based on the findings of a 15-month study led by the Centre for Cultural Value, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the impacts of Covid-19 on the UK’s cultural sector. Based on a mixed-methods analysis, it highlights implications for the sector’s future direction and for research in the fields of arts management and cultural policy. Based on the findings of a 15-month research project led by the Centre for Cultural Value, this significant new book offers a comprehensive overview of the impacts of COVID-19 on the UK’s cultural sector and highlights implications for its future direction. Pandemic culture provides a detailed summary of local, regional and national policy responses to the crisis. It offers a rigorous statistical analysis of the impacts of these policy responses, and of the pandemic itself, on the cultural workforce across the UK, as well as a mixed-methods analysis of audiences’ responses to the pandemic. These nuanced insights are illuminated by detailed case studies of key sub-sectors of the arts and culture sector – theatre, museums and galleries, screen industries, libraries and festivals – and through an ecosystem analysis of the Greater Manchester city-region. The book identifies and critically reflects on the core, recurrent themes that emerge, highlighting the implications for cultural practitioners, organisations, funders and policymakers as we move into the endemic stage of COVID-19. It advocates for a more equitable and regenerative cultural sector, where precarious and marginalised cultural workers and audiences are valued and included, and for a more engaged and collaborative approach to cultural sector research which will enable the sector to know itself better and adapt to rapid change. Pandemic culture: The impacts of Covid-19 on the UK cultural sector and implications for the future provides a summary of the local, regional and national policy responses to the Covid-19 crisis within the cultural sector, based on the findings of a 15-month research project led by the Centre for Cultural Value. It offers a rigorous statistical analysis of the impacts of these policy responses and of the pandemic itself on the cultural workforce across the UK and a mixed-methods analysis of audiences’ responses to the pandemic. The book identifies and critically reflects on the core, recurrent themes that have emerged from the research whilst highlighting implications for the sector’s future direction and for research in the fields of arts management and cultural policy.An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.