Culture Commons
We bring together the creative and cultural sectors, the research community and policymakers to co-design new policy and influence decision makers at the local, regional and national levels.
We work on individual programmes shaped around the needs of our clients and partners, as well as run large-scale open policy development programmes that take on the biggest policy challenges for our sectors.
We work with governments, sector representative organisations, workforce representative bodies, grant giving institutions and the research community.
Our team is made up of policy professionals, former political advisors and civil servants who have worked in local, national and international governments and parliaments, as well as in the creative and cultural sectors.
We’ve been having tangible impacts across a range of policy areas for our clients and partners, including:
- Securing uplifts in central government funding for flagship cultural institutions
- Building new policy infrastructures for strategic bodies and sector support organisations
- Informing policy by bringing cutting edge research to the attention of UK, devolved and local government decision makers
- Building coalitions on national open policy development programmes examining the most pressing policy questions of our times
- Advising elected people and their teams on the design and delivery of cultural policy in their areas
- Leading impactful campaigns for change for grassroots organisations and the creative workforce
- Providing analysis on legislation and parliamentary business related to the creative, cultural and heritage sectors
We are delighted to be supported with grant funding by the Arts Council England, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch).
You can find out more about us at www.culturecommons.uk
Culture Commons team
Trevor MacFarlane FRSA
Founding Director
Alanna Reid
Policy & Programme Manager
Dr Lucrezia Gigante
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Feb 2024 – Nov 2024)
Morwenna Fuge
Communications & Events Manager (Mar 2024 – Nov 2024)
Dr Claire Burnill-Maier
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Feb 2024 – Jun 2024)
Helen Haslam
Executive Assistant
Steering Panel
The open policy development programme was given strategic direction by a team made up of representatives from each of the programme partners. (Alphabetical by organisation)
Jane Richardson
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
Bernard Donoghue OBE
Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA)
Rachael Browning
Art Fund
Paul Bristow
Arts Council England
Lesley-Anne O’Donnell
Belfast City Council
Jules Ient
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority
Ruth Cayford
Cardiff Council
Professor Ben Walmsley
Centre for Cultural Value
Lorainne Cox
Creative Estuary
Fran Hegyi OBE
Creative Industries Council
Bernard Hay
Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre
Trevor MacFarlane FRSA
Culture Commons
Lori Anderson & Laura Dyer
Culture Counts (Scotland)
Alison Clark
Durham Council and North East Combined Authority
Marie-Claire Daly
Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Luis Jeronimo
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Rory Davies
Harlow Playhouse
Robert Llyod Sweet
Historic England
Isobel Hunter MBE
Libraries Connected
Lauren Lucas & Ian Leete
Local Government Association
Holly Donagh
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Evy-Cauldwell French
RSA
Diana Buckley
Sheffield City Council
Surriya Falconer & Martin McKervey
Sheffield Culture Collective
Andy Gates
South Yorkshire Combined Authority
Professor Anita Taylor
University of Dundee
Alison McKenzie Folan
Wigan Council
Research Team
The programme engaged researchers from higher education institutes to produce research and support the overall policymaking process. (Alphabetical by organisation)
Dr John Wright
Centre for Cultural Val
Dr Paul Gault
University of Dundee
Dr Susan Mains
University of Dundee
Emma Preston
University of Dundee
Dr Anna Robb
University of Dundee
Professor Anita Taylor
University of Dundee
Professor Leila Janchovich
University of Leeds
Professor Ben Walmsley
University of Leeds
Dr John Wright
University of Leeds
Professor Catherine Durose
University of Liverpool
Dr James Hickson
University of Liverpool
Susan Jarvis
University of Liverpool
Anthony Noun
University of Liverpool
Professor Catherine Richardson
University of Kent
Dr Vishalakshi Roy
University of Kent
Chloe Street-Tarbatt
University of Kent
Dr Heidi Ashton
University of Warwick
Dr Bethany Rex
University of Warwick
Dr Jonathan Vickery
University of Warwick
Dr David Wright
University of Warwick
Acknowledgements
As a programme built on a partnership model and with the intention of engaging as widely as possible across the creative, cultural and heritage ecosystem, we have an extensive number of individuals and organisations from all four UK nations and beyond to thank.
We’re particularly grateful to all those who engaged with us in variety of ways during the Research and Insight Gathering phases of the programme. It is the time, lived experiences and expertise that they so generously shared with us that has made it possible to design the policy in this report.
Copyright
As an open policy development programme, Culture Commons and our partners are taking a radically transparent approach to sharing our findings and outcomes as we go. To this end, we have published a series of Research Papers, Insight Papers and other materials on a dedicated digital hub which can be accessed freely by anyone.
This digital report and all the outputs that appear on the dedicated digital hub mentioned above are published under a Creative Commons ‘Attribution-NoneCommericila-ShareAlike 4.0 International’ licence. This means that anyone can share and adapt the content as long as:
- appropriate credit is given to the author(s)
- a link to the material is included in the citation
- all changes to the original material are indicated
In addition, the original content may not be used for commercial purposes – this in-keeping with the not-for-profit nature of the open policy development programme.
Lastly any remix, transformation or materials built on the original material that is developed must be distributed under the same license as the original.
You can read the full license terms and conditions in more detail here.
To cite this material, please use:
The Future of Cultural Devolution in the UK, Culture Commons, 2024 [insert link]
If you have any questions or thoughts about this paper, we’d be delighted to hear from you; please email contact@culturecommons.uk and a member of the Culture Commons team will be back in touch with you.