Cultural intermediation is a process which connects different kinds of communities into the creative economy and wider society. It plays a critical role in raising aspirations, upskilling and building confidence, all of which are vital to allow people to engage with and benefit from one of the most dynamic sectors of the contemporary UK economy. Individual artists, professional networks, events, festivals, commissioning bodies, creative businesses, arts and cultural organisations both large and small can all play intermediary roles. Some of the most exciting opportunities for research in this area are occurring in the city regions. In part this is because of their size and multiplicity of cultural resources, but also because these areas have large concentrations of communities suffering multiple deprivation who are being left behind by the post-industrial creative economy. Investigations undertaken as part of developing this research project revealed that those individuals and organisations undertaking cultural intermediation are coming under significant pressure. Public sector funding cuts and a new agenda of localism are changing the relationship that intermediaries have with the state, requiring a reappraisal of their activities. The 'Big Society' agenda places an emphasis on community-led activities at the same time that the institutional support for capacity building in those communities through cultural intermediation is being squeezed. The creative sector is itself highly fragmented with weak connections between different sectors, different communities and policy processes. So-called 'hard-to-reach' communities remain disconnected, suffering multiple deprivation, social disenfranchisement and exclusion. Acknowledging the importance of cultural intermediation, the research asks to what extent these processes meet the needs of urban communities in the 21st century and how they might operate more effectively. The aim of the research is to discover how the value of cultural intermediation can be captured and how this activity can be enhanced to create more effective connection between communities and the creative economy. The objectives of the research are to: create new ways of measuring value; analyse the historic development of cultural intermediation to inform current practice; examine how intermediation fits within the existing policy landscape and the governance of relations between the different actors; explore the effectiveness of intermediation activity from a community perspective; design new forms of intermediation through a series of practice-based interventions; and reflect on the process of working across and between disciplines and sectors in order to enhance practice. The research has a number of key applications and wider benefits. In providing a means to capture the value of intermediation, policy makers and practitioners will be able to foster better practice. This is of particular importance given the shifts in the governance and funding landscape, particularly within the public sector. The historical material, will provide a crucial evidence base situating understandings of intermediation, providing lessons to current practitioners. Those creative intermediaries directly involved in the interventions will receive training in research methods in order to analyse and improve their own practice. A subsequent 'how-to' research guide will disseminate these lessons more widely. Academically the research will make a major contribution to debates on: creativity and valuation; the historical evolution of the creative economy; governance and localism; practice-based methods; interdisciplinarity and epistemic communities; and the role of culture in connecting communities.

The Connected Communities (CC) programme involved artists in many ways, as facilitators, as mechanisms for community engagement, as poets, film makers, painters, to deliver workshops and crafts sessions and also as researchers. However, their contribution to the co-production of knowledge with community partners is insufficiently understood. This project will consider the impact of artists on the Connected Communities projects in order to create a deeper understanding of the ways that artists stimulate particular kinds of change within these projects. This will involve a review of all 250 projects, together with a literature review on arts practice and co-production, and then a more detailed focus on six projects that have used artists in innovative ways. Three case studies have been selected building on existing and new relationships developed at the Edinburgh Summit in July 2013. The team have developed further actions to explore in more depth the way artists have worked with communities. The focus of the project is to consider the ways in which artists have changed and will change the way CC projects are conceptualised, developed and delivered and the extent to which arts practice supports co-production methodologies. This will then be delivered as an investment into long term AHRC CC strategy which can illuminate future research involving artists in projects that are co-produced with communities. The form of the enquiry will be through the studio as process. The studio is a conceptual space where groups form and grow things which emerges from something we recognise as working already. It involves a group of people who operate beyond the structures of the university and recognises different types of expertise - all participants can emerge as 'experts'. It is adaptable and responsive to particular situations and is a space of action, process, and practice. It is not a physical space, a digital environment, or a structured set of meetings. It is at root an approach and not an institution. We will draw on the studio to co-produce an enquiry into the role of artists. We aim to illuminate the ways in which artists work in community contexts with a specific inquiry into how they contribute to change within communities and within the projects already funded. Although we are focusing on artists, we see this focus as a way in to exploring the legacy of CC projects and their co-production methodologies more generally. The project team will develop this enquiry in conversation with national policy makers in the field of cultural policy-making. The project team includes artists, A-N The Artists Information Company, Castlefield Gallery, community partners, artist researchers and academics from a variety of disciplines. The study will explore through reflection, action and a collaborative studio space the process of artists working with communities, which will result in a series of actions, papers and a report to go to AHRC Connected Communities programme. In the process of doing this, the team will also look more closely at the ethical framework surrounding artists' work in communities, drawing on the work of community partners. The project will also be disseminated and discussed with national body Arts Council England, who have offered support, and A-N Artists Information Company. The aim is to set up a space where the role of artists within CC becomes more fully understood, with a team that includes those already involved in CC projects, as well as new academics, artists and community partners. Our outputs will include a shared blog, a joint article, an exhibition, a report to the Connected Communities programme plus four discussion papers and a book on studio spaces focusing on the legacy of Connected Communities as a programme.