The second seminar of the Knowledge Exchange Network on participation and engagement in the arts took place on Friday 21st January at Contact Theatre in Manchester, with Contact and the University of Manchester as UKCEM's partner hosts.
The focus of the day was how issues of class, ethnicity and taste impact on the participation and engagement debate. Presentations were given by Baba Israel, Artistic Director of Contact Theatre, who discussed creating a collaborative and open platform for programming and producing and from Professor Mike Savage from the University of York who presented the findings of his research into the relationships between class and cultural taste.
The Network continues to provoke lively group discussion and, again, attracted over 50 university academics, cultural policy makers from the Arts Council and local authorities and practitioners; from individual artists to representatives from some of the North's largest institutions.
Arts Council England have commissioned Leila Jancovich, Senior Lecturer from the UK Centre for Events Management and Professor Franco Bianchini from the School of Cultural Studies to develop the Knowledge Exchange Network.
Full information on the Network and access to seminar resources can be found here.
