Arts-led regeneration in the UK: The rhetoric and the evidence on urban social inclusion

Abstract

This paper reviews the rhetoric of arts-led regeneration in the UK and reflects on its evidence base. We show how the notion of arts-led regeneration as a tool to combat social exclusion in our inner cities developed momentum for policy makers under a New Labour government, culminating in its status as a quasi-social fact. We critique this quasi-social fact and underline its limited and problematic evidence base. We offer suggestions for constructing a new and more robust evidence base.

A qualitative exploration of arts‐based neighbourhood revitalization: The case of ‘The Space at 2106 Main’ in West Tampa, Florida

“…While this paper focused on key players involved in the creation of The Space, much more research is needed to better understand how The Space is impacting the greater West Tampa community and what sort of gentrification is starting to emerge in the surrounding neighbourhood. Acquiring such an understanding would require more longitudinal study, fine‐grained ethnographic research and extensive interviews with other key stakeholders in the community, including “ethnographic observations of the artists as they work in community regeneration and ethnographic observations by the artists themselves (auto‐ethnography)” (Lees & Melhuish, , p. 256), as well as extensive discussions with and observations of other business and property owners, community advocates, government officials, as well as religious leaders. It is only on the basis of such an extended approach that we will be able to determine whether arts and culture venues like The Space facilitate neighbourhood revitalization, or whether they serve as artful fig leafs for gentrification that disproportionately benefit the interests and desires of young professionals and the nouveau riche who are flocking to Sunbelt riverfront cities like Tampa.…”

“…I could have easily ended up a completely different person, but theater saved me” (cited in Patterson, ). At the same time, numerous scholars have warned that while arts‐based regeneration projects often do wonders for “individuals' potential and self‐confidence (by appealing to individuals' interests), promoting of community identity and collective effort” (Lees & Melhuish, , p. 250), they more often than not turn artists “if they are not careful [into] pawns in a game neither of their making nor choosing, and designed to benefit abstract policy rather than real people” (Leeson, cited in Lees & Melhuish, , p. 252: also see Miles, , ). Others like Ley (), Smith (), Deutsche (), and Zukin () have pointed out that in their zeal to secure cheap studio space and fame, long neglected artists have unwittingly “become complicit in, rather than critical of, exclusive uneven development” (Hall & Robertson, , p. 20).…”

Not here, right now/right here, not now: unfolding the context in Alana Jelinek'sThis Is Not Art

“…Also see 'Staying Put: An Anti-gentrification Booklet for Council Estates in London', cited earlier. Loretta Lees has also co-authored with Claire Melhuish of UCL 'Urban Lab', one of the most authoritative and comprehensive papers on arts-led regeneration in the UK (Lees and Melhuish 2013). 14.…”

Artistic Practices and the Redistribution of the Sensible in Largo do Chiado: Attention, Corporeal Isles, Visceral Politics

“…A few recent geographical and sociological studies have been concerned with the relation between specific artistic practices and the state of affairs of places. The main concerns of such studies have been how artistic forms and practices emerge in dialogue with their places (McCormack ; Hawkins ; Brandellero & Pfeffer ); the dialogic relations between bodies, materials, technologies and spaces during artistic creation and exhibition (Simpson ; DeSilvey ; Henriques ; Edensor & Bowdler ; Hawkins ); and how artistic practices alter places' rhythms, atmospheres, economics, and culture (Butler & Miller ; Markusen & Gadwa ; Lees & Meluish ; van Klyton ). Despite this growing body of knowledge that highlights how specific art forms and practices change the state of affairs of places, there is still more to know about how different artistic practices can alter the distribution of the sensible of urban places, and thereby everyday urban politics.…”