Concern over legacy plans from City of Culture
Events struggled to engage diverse groups, says report
LEGACY PLANS to follow on from Hull City of Culture were not given a “sufficiently high” priority, a new report suggests.
A key aspect of the plan, widely reported in the media towards the end of the celebrations in 2017, was for an “innovative” programme called Generation Hull aiming to engage 16,000 young children in culture as they grow up.
However “very limited” resources were initially attached to Generation Hull and it has been “difficult” for a Local Cultural Education Partnership to establish itself. A report by the University of Hull’s Culture, Place and Policy Institute, out today, states: “Legacy can’t be an afterthought and should permeate the whole City of Culture project.”
It said arguably Hull 2017’s main focus was on fundraising and delivering events, and there was a little time and resources for legacy planning.
The plan bequeathed to arts organisation Absolutely Cultured “was at one level visionary and ambitious”, but also “rather vague” in terms of resources and responsibilities.
Institute director Prof Franco Bianchini said: “Generation Hull is beginning to be established now but it is difficult due to the relatively marginal role of arts in school curriculums.”
Stephen Munn, of Absolutely Cultured, said they expected Generation Hull to “become more and more integral to what we do as we put learning and community engagement work at the forefront of what we do”. A pilot project has begun to capture children’s hopes and aspirations.
YOUNG PEOPLE aged 16 to 34, Black, Asian and ethnic minorities were under-represented in City of Culture audiences in 2017, a report reveals.
Researchers at the University of Hull said it was “essential” to identify what culture actually means to different groups.
Engaging 16 to 34-year-olds proved “unexpectedly hard”, with one consultee reporting that despite efforts to engage with students and young people, for some events “the audience just didn’t arrive”.
Attendance was “notably higher” from people in their 50s and 60s.
The long-awaited evaluation report also says the cultural programme “did not link enough” with the city’s ethnic and cultural diversity and the Kurdish community was neglected.
The city still only has around half the number of “highly engaged” followers of the arts as the national average, according to arts organisation Cultural Collisions.
Professor Glenn Burgess, Strategic Lead for the University’s City of Culture Partnership, said it would be important for future Cities of Culture to think about how to get through to “hard to reach” groups.
He said: “It’s about what counts
Positive stories have driven out the more negative ones by and large.
Professor Glenn Burgess, on Hull’s media profile after the City of Culture events.
as culture and what appeals to particular groups.”
Parts of the 2017 programme which mixed culture with heritage were “excellent” but perhaps more could have been done to mix arts and sports – after all a key part of the city’s cultural heritage.
Radio One’s Big Weekend at Burton Constable Hall was a big hit with younger people, but was “not necessarily a cultural event that the Arts Council would regard as an orthodox element of the City of Culture programme,” said Prof Burgess.
In terms of national perceptions, researchers did not have the resources to commission a follow-up to a UK-wide study which showed that despite the City of Culture year, just 51 per cent of non-visitors thought Hull an appealing place to visit.
However, the media narrative has changed and the negative image which has dogged the city in recent years has now “virtually disappeared”.
Prof Burgess said: “More positive stories have driven out the more negative ones by and large.”