Co-creation of cultural projects boosts socio-economic inclusion, DCMS study finds

Co-creation and participatory practices are one of the most effective ways to engage audiences from lower socio-economic backgrounds with culture, research commissioned by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) has found.

The report by Alma Economics examined research into equality of access for lower socio-economic groups, with researchers also conducting case studies and interviewing experts to understand how best to increase engagement.

It concludes that implementing co-creation practices “is one of the factors of success that was identified most often” across all the interventions examined.

These approaches involve “collaborating with communities to develop the cultural offer”, moving from professionally-developed “supply-driven models” to a “demand-driven model” shaped by communities and non-experts.

Effective ways of working include involving community groups in curating programmes, commissioning work, and managing institutions, as well as inviting audiences to “actively participate in professionally-curated cultural activities”, the report says.

It says that funders should make sure successful applications “include explicit plans on how they intend to achieve co-creation”.

Other approaches urged by the authors include providing “stable and long-term funding” to support long-term solutions, and facilitating collaborations between local and established cultural organisations to boost engagement. 

‘Open door’ approach

The review of evidence found that subsidising attendance costs, training and diversifying the cultural workforce, producing culture in familiar community settings, and providing early arts activity through schools, after school-programmes and education hubs, can all also boost engagement.

An analysis of case studies found several similar “success factors” – including co-creation practices.

Projects that effectively implemented co-creation included Coventry’s 2021 UK City of Culture programme, which had high attendance by lower socio-economic groups from areas with low levels of cultural participation.

Arts Council England’s (ACE) Creative People and Places scheme – where 53% of participants came from low engagement groups in 2020/21 – and Derby Museums’ Museum of Making also widened socio-economic engagement through co-creation approaches, the report says.

The Museum of Making’s “open door” approach asked people “not what they expect from a museum but what needs, wants, and values they have in their wider lives, what challenges they are facing, and what they want from the future”.

“This allows the museum to be most relevant and useful to the community rather than simply providing what people think a museum should be,” the authors say.

“Ensuring the cultural offer reflects and represents the local community can be done by asking not what they expect of a cultural offer, but instead what needs, wants, and values they have in their broader lives, what challenges they are facing, and what they want from the future,” the report says.

The authors recommend using a combination of strategies to increase engagement, warning that “implementing interventions in isolation might not be enough”.

The report says future policy interventions “should consider which combinations of strategies are likely to work well together to produce the most positive outcomes”.