Dr Emma Wood and Professor Rhodri Thomas recently worked with The Shoreditch Trust on a social impact evaluation of the Shoreditch Festival. The Trust is a regeneration partnership that has used the festival to try to achieve the following:
- Providing accessible opportunities for fun and enjoyment for all Shoreditch residents;
- Tackling physical, economic and psychological barriers to arts attendance and in so doing develop audiences;
- Stimulating social inclusion through arts and cultural led regeneration, thereby generating secondary social benefits such as civic pride, community cohesion, enhanced community participation and capacity development through the provision of volunteering opportunities;
- Providing an opportunity for promoting Shoreditch Trust and its work to both Shoreditch residents, the wider Greater London community and beyond;
- Brokering stronger relations between institutions, service providers and the local community;
- Recent festival programmes have also attempted to use the festival as a vehicle for spreading awareness of environmental issues as well as promoting the festivals approach to environmental sustainability.
