How do issues of class, ethnicity and taste impact on the participation and engagement debate?

Following a successful first seminar in September, the second in the Knowledge Exchange Network seminar series will take place on the 21st January at Contact Theatre, Manchester. The Knowledge Exchange Network provides opportunity for cultural researchers, policy makers, managers and practitioners, to explore key issues around participation and engagement in the arts.

The focus of this second seminar will be on class, ethnicity and taste and consider how they impact on the participation and engagement debate.

There will be presentations from Mike Savage, Professor of Sociology at the University of York and co-author of Culture, Class, Distinction (Routledge 2009) and Baba Israel, Artistic Director of Contact Theatre, Manchester. We will also be joined by Dr Andrew Miles, Senior Research Fellow at the ESRC Centre for Research on Socio- Cultural Change (CRESC) and Dr Abigail Gilmore, Director of the Centre for Arts Management and Cultural Policy at the University of Manchester, who will both be giving us a brief introduction to Manchester and to the University.

The Network has been developed by Professor Franco Bianchini (Cultural Planning and Policy Unit) and Leila Jancovich (UK Centre for Events Management) at Leeds Metropolitan University and is commissioned by Arts Council England. We are very grateful to Contact Theatre and to the University of Manchester who have kindly offered to co- host this second seminar.

For more information and a full agenda please email Isla Brown on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Full information on the Network and materials from the last meeting can be found at http://www.eventsandfestivalsresearch.com/Knowledge-Exchange-Network/