Reflecting on Place and the Local

Abstract

Engaging with both place and ‘the local’ has become an important part of cultural policy rhetoric in many countries, from the resurgence of city-regional governance models to calls for new forms of ‘localism’ involving participatory governance approaches intended to engender more active citizenship and to help people feel more empowered regarding the decisions that affect them. Depending on their approach, national interventions can exacerbate existing socio-economic inequities between places and risk investing in infrastructure without due consideration to sustainability within locations or the movement of cultural workers and audiences across locations. This introduction makes the case that views of the ‘local’ have been limited in the fields of cultural policymaking and study. It summarises some of the ways both place and ‘the local’ have been conceptualised. It argues how conceptions of ‘the local’ in policy can vary significantly requiring an examination of the process of situating ‘the local’ as it occurs in policymaking as well as what happens in ‘the local’ as a result or even despite that positioning.

The Power of Convening: Towards an Understanding of Artist-Led Collective Practice as a Convener of Place

“…In a recent publication on cultural policy and 'the local' Victoria Durrer, Abigail Gilmore, Leila Jancovich, and David Stevenson draw together research on the complexities and processes at play within different conceptions of 'the local'. The authors state that 'our particular proposition is the urgent need for greater understanding on the role of place within these processes and for critical reflection on the contingent nature of policy with locality' (Durrer et al 2023). The authors' publication is a call to action for researchers and practitioners in this space(s).…”