Cov’s City of Culture events bring almost 50,000 people into cultural participation
NEW FIGURES REVEALED AS PART OF UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK’S RESEARCH
ALMOST 50,000 people from underrepresented groups around Coventry have been brought into cultural participation by Coventry City of Culture last year, new research from the University of Warwick has revealed.
The total includes around 10,000 from the most underrepresented areas.
Visits to publicly funded arts, theatre, music or dance events in Coventry rose significantly in areas such as Canley and Little Heath thanks to a new local and inclusive approach, the university says.
The analysis shows that across the city there was an increase of over 48,000 people experiencing publicly funded culture.
That included almost 10,000 in Little Heath and Canley, which previously had some of the lowest cultural participation rates. University bosses say the research suggests this higher level of inclusion proves that many different groups are just as interested in culture - if events are in close proximity and involve underrepresented communities.
Professor Jonathon Neelands, at the University of Warwick, said: “By focusing on hyper-local offerings, the programme offered local proximity, which is important to people who do not often engage with culture or who are in lower economic groups. Offering the potential for a sense of ownership by the kinds of people who are most often missing from cultural spaces also helped boost inclusion across last year’s City of Culture events.”
The report shows that almost half of tickets issued to Coventry postcodes were to lower economic groups, with more than three quarters of the programme co-created with local communities. The report also has a series of recommendations on how to maintain this increased cultural inclusion, in particular the importance of keeping events local and reasonably priced.
By focusing on hyperlocal offerings, the programme offered local proximity, which is important to people who do not often engage with culture