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About

Researchers from the Centre for Cultural Policy present to an audience in stage@leeds

What is cultural policy studies?

Since its emergence in the 1990s in Australia and the United Kingdom and its eventual diffusion in Europe, the academic field of cultural policy studies has expanded globally as the arts and popular culture have been re-positioned by city, regional, and national governments, and international bodies, from the margins to the centre of social and economic development in both rhetoric and practice.

Cultural policy studies incorporates topics such as the history and analysis of arts policies, cultural and creative industries policies, urban regeneration and urban cultural policies, regional cultural policies, the politics of cultural and creative labour, and cultural heritage and tourism policies, which are among the topics and themes investigated at the University of Leeds.

What we do

The University of Leeds' research in cultural policy studies is diverse and internationally-recognized. As a research hub for the interdisciplinary field of cultural policy studies, the Centre for Cultural Policy is a new centre dedicated to exploring and expanding the breadth of multi- and inter-disciplinary research in the field of cultural policy, regionally, nationally and internationally. The Centre was founded by the late Dr Anna Upchurch, who worked at University of Leeds for seven years until her death in 2016. Anna also founded and co-edited (alongside Professor Ele Belfiore) the Palgrave Macmillan book series, New Directions in Cultural Policy Research.

The Centre for Cultural Policy supports and provides a showcase for rigorous, critical and cutting-edge academic research and knowledge exchange across the arts and cultural sector and the wider creative industries. Its simple purpose is to bring people together who share an intellectual and professional interest in everything connected to cultural policy and how cultural policies impact on society. Its activities bring together academics from Schools across the University of Leeds, including:

The Centre stimulates cultural policy research by:

  • promoting formal and informal conversations about cultural policy via seminars, lectures, panels and workshops
  • seeding new partnerships and collaborations
  • providing regular networking opportunities for scholars, practitioners, artists and policymakers

To find out more please email Leila Jancovich or join our mailing list.