The Art of Devolution: Culture and the North conference

The implications of devolution for the arts and cultural ecologies of the north.

The University recently held the ‘Art of Devolution: Culture and the North’, a conference on cultural place-making that looked at the implications of devolution, rebalancing and the Northern Powerhouse for the arts and cultural ecologies of the North.

Taking place at the Old Granada Studios on the site of what will be The Factory, Manchester’s culture hub and home to Manchester International Festival, the sold-out conference was attended by a range of stakeholders from across the North, including academics, policy influencers, and those working in the cultural sector, who all contributed to a lively conversation, which can be followed on Storify.

Abigail Gilmore, Senior Lecturer in Arts Management & Cultural Policy in our School of Arts, Languages and Cultures and lead organiser of the conference, concluded at the end that there is a continuing need for “a generous, open and critical space for discussing devolution and the Northern Powerhouse” and this is therefore the beginning of the conversation.

Abi is developing a public policy and research exchange network as part of the Devo Manc Hub and follow-up conversations will take place around the importance of arts and culture to health, social care and wellbeing, social justice, community participation, cultural democracy and economic development.

To take part in these ongoing conversations on Twitter, use the hashtags #DevoCulture and #OnDevo, or sign up to the mailing list by contacting Claire Lloyd, Social Responsibility Manager for the Faculty of Humanities.