COVID-19: Impacts on the cultural industries and implications for policy

This project brings together the Centre for Cultural Value, the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre and a national consortium of researchers and partners to analyse existing datasets and conduct targeted empirical research on the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on cultural organisations, practitioners and audiences. It will provide a clear national picture and identify immediate and longer-term implications for policy and practice. We will map and track the sector longitudinally over 18 months using a mixed-methods design to assess the extent of organisational exit and sectoral adjustment, as well as evolving cultural engagement behaviours amongst the public. We will use a workstreams approach to provide a holistic and nuanced analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 on the cultural industries. Workstream 1 will produce a meta-analysis of cultural sector surveys relating to COVID-19, bringing together the fragmented datasets observed to date, and developing a range of illustrative, representative case studies from the core sub-sectors of the cultural industries. Workstream 2 will examine cultural supply and demand in the digital space, incorporating a longitudinal tracking survey, social media analysis and analysis of content uploaded to an online community-based storytelling platform. Workstream 3 will analyse the impacts of UK policy responses and compare international policy responses. It will include a case study of a regional cultural ecology; examine impacts of intervention packages made available by the UK governments and funders; and convene a reference group of c.20 cultural industry membership organisations, trade associations, advocacy bodies, funders and policymakers.