Impact case study database

An AHRC Follow-On Funding award [G2] facilitated a programme of engagement to challenge the public view of Irishness in Britain and change creative practice by transforming the research insights into a stage play, entitled My English Tongue, My Irish Heart [A.i]. The play, which was the output of Harte’s collaboration with dramatist Martin Lynch and theatre company Green Shoot Productions, toured to nine UK and Irish venues between 1 May and 31 May 2015. It attracted 2,073 attendees (ticketed, paid) at 16 performances [A.ii]. The proceeds from the play’s month-long tour (approximately GBP4,000) were donated to two emigrant welfare charities – the Aisling Return to Ireland Project in London and the Safe Home Programme in Co. Mayo – both of which provide support and advice to vulnerable and isolated migrants. The tour purposefully visited the communities that were the subject of Harte’s underpinning research, playing in venues along Ireland’s western seaboard that have been emigrant nurseries for centuries, as well as in Manchester and London, two major loci of Irish settlement in England.

My English Tongue, My Irish Heart attracted notable press attention, including an article authored by Harte in the Irish Times that outlined the influence of the research on the creative process [B]. The play received positive reviews [B], with the Irish News describing it as a “ fascinating” production featuring a “ *faultless company and precision cast.*” Praise emphasised the play’s focus on a new narrative around Irish migration, with the Belfast Times stating: “ This is a remarkable look at Irish men and women emigrating to England and the heartbreak such journeys have caused through the generations. […] [I]n many ways this is a history lesson but you’ve never had a history lesson presented like this before” [B]. The London Irish Centre tweeted: ‘ “Absolutely loved it.” “Stunning.” “Fantastic.” “Captivating.” “Top class.”’[B]

The tour was accompanied by an outreach programme comprising three creative writing workshop series in Manchester, Belfast and Castlebar, which took place between April and May 2015 [C.i, C.ii]. A total of 43 writers took part. The workshops were facilitated by poets John McAuliffe (Manchester workshops; University of Manchester) and Moyra Donaldson (Belfast) and novelist Mike McCormack (Castlebar). The workshops’ central purpose was to engage new and experienced creative writers on the play’s core themes of migration, belonging and identity. All workshop participants were provided with a copy of [4], which was used as a creative stimulus and educative tool. The impact of this creative approach for participants is evidenced by the publication of an anthology of workshop outputs [6] in 2017. A review of the collection praised it as “ a celebration of the urge to communicate above all” and commended the inclusion of authors at different stages of their writing careers. It emphasised that it was “ nuanced and marshalled…This book deserves attention” [D].

Additional competitive funding was secured [G3] that enabled Harte to widen community engagement with his research, working with a cohort of young people from BAME and disadvantaged backgrounds. This was achieved by running Show Us Your Manc, a series of six two-hour workshops for 20 young people (aged 15 to 25) at Z-arts Centre and Rathbone Training in Manchester between June and July 2015. These venues were chosen because they supported the project’s aim to work with BAME and disadvantaged young people. Z-arts focuses on the use of creativity to help young people reach their full potential, while Rathbone Training helps NEET young people into education and training [E.i]. These participatory workshops, co-led by the creative writers from the play workshops and two researcher film-makers from Belle Vue Productions, explored Manchester’s histories of immigration and drew on the outputs of [G1], including the play itself. The core aim was to develop the participants’ imaginative understanding of how the lives of migrants from Ireland and elsewhere matched or differed from their own. The project was evaluated through a participant questionnaire. All ten respondents said they enjoyed taking part in the workshops and eight said they learned from the experience. All rated the overall quality of the workshops as “ Excellent” or “ Good” [E.ii]. A film about the series [E.i] was shown at the final community event at Z-arts, alongside a screening of My English Tongue, My Irish Heart, introduced by Lynch.

These interlinked activities produced three main forms of impact, as follows:

1. Increased public knowledge and changed public understanding of migration and its effects: The play tour powerfully demonstrated how research-based drama is an effective medium for increasing public knowledge and understanding, precipitating attitudinal change and enhancing community cohesion and cultural belonging. Of the 2,073 attendees, 744 people completed a questionnaire, 44% of whom were first-time or infrequent theatre-goers [A.iii]. 94% rated the quality of the production as “ Excellent” or “ Good”; 67% said they learned more than they already knew about Irish emigration and its effects; and 49% said the play altered their views about migration at a local and/or global level [A.iii]. The creative loop achieved by the tour’s design, whereby narratives originating in marginalised communities were routed back into those communities via dramatic performance, successfully amplified the multidirectional aspects of migration, just as the play itself exploited the capacity of personal accounts of actual journeys to initiate reflective inward journeys in those who came to see it.

Attendees’ stated motivations for coming to see the play reveal that it not only reached its target audience on both sides of the Irish Sea, but that it also provided a way of understanding identity and emigrant experience for those from non-Irish backgrounds, as evidenced by the following comments: “ It made me see many similarities between the Irish and South Asian experiences of migration and belonging”; “ I liked the variety of stories, and although I wasn't intending to feel part of this history (I'm English and Indian) I was interested to find out that many rich Irish sent their illegitimate children to England, because this was the story of my great, great grandfather” [A.iii]. The most marked change in the evaluations was the play’s success in increasing people’s knowledge and understanding of migration and its effects, as shown by these remarks: “ I learned so much. I had no idea Irish emigration went so far back”; “ Particularised the gaps in learned emigration story. Widened my knowledge of the experience of others” [A.iii]. Many forged a strong affective connection with the play, finding in it echoes of their personal experiences of migration: “ This play, more than any other (or any book), gets to the essence of what it feels like to be an Irish emigrant”; “ *As someone who was born in England, both parents immigrants, and going back to Ireland aged 10, later returning to England – you really have touched me!*”; “ It has made me appreciate better the complexities of the migratory experience and reflect on my own family's experience of this” [A.iii].

2. Enhanced emigrants’ sense of community and cultural belonging: Another prominent benefit was the enhanced sense of community and cultural belonging the play engendered, as these comments attest: “ *It has enriched me – I belong now to a CONSTITUENCY of individuals who are a beautiful amalgam of identities and it’s OKAY!*”; “ The play affirmed my feelings and told me that I am confident and comfortable with my identity: London Irish” [A.iii]. Some said the play helped to reconcile contradictory elements of Irish migrant identity, particularly in relation to religion and sectarianism, as this remark shows: “ I'm raised here, both parents from Belfast. One Protestant, one Catholic and grew up confused about my Irish identity. This made me feel like I was one of many, like I wasn't alone” [A.iii]. Many similar responses were voiced during the post-show discussions in Manchester and London, particularly by those with “ feet in two countries”, who praised the play for affirming their sense of cultural distinctiveness and helping them make better sense of what one described as “ my strange feeling of nationality” [A.iii]. The play also raised Irish-born people’s awareness of the negotiated identities of those born of Irish heritage abroad, as exemplified by these remarks: “ I have relatives in mainland GB and never really thought about how my cousins born in Manchester and Birmingham felt about their Irish heritage” ; “ Now I understand why my dad described his grandmother as Irish when she was born in London” [A.iii]. The play also encouraged fresh comparative perspectives on the moral panic surrounding immigrants and refugees in the Europe of 2015, as evidenced by these responses: “ Made me think about the current situation in the Med and that the initial response to bomb the boats before they set off proved our politicians lack all imagination or sense of history – maybe they should come and see the play”; “ We are Maltese and know all about this. You could even say that we are the Irish of the Mediterranean” [A.iii]. Such evidence reflects the beneficial impact of Harte’s research on the Irish in Britain on transnational understandings of migration.

3. Changed the creative practice and enhanced the self-development of writers: The outreach component of the tour had a demonstrable impact on the skill set of the 43 writers who took part in the three creative writing workshop series, all of whom were recruited via the networks of each workshop venue. In data collected at the time of the tour, approximately 80% of writers responding to a participant questionnaire rated the sessions as “ Excellent” because they enabled them to develop new skills and enhance existing skills [C.ii]. Interviews recorded after the workshops yielded further evidence of skills development [C.i]. One writer stated that the workshops gave him “ an introduction to a different way of writing” and raised his subsequent work “ to a different level”; another said she acquired sophisticated skills of character development that will inform her next book; and another reported that she learned to “ think in a more disciplined fashion” and discovered “ ideas I didn’t know I had” [C.i]. The interviews also illuminated the workshops’ role in facilitating reflections on identity, home and belonging. One writer spoke of how the series helped him to see how “ things that have been your life stories suddenly take on an Irishness which you didn’t consider”; another, of how “ the workshops made me think of my sense of being in a place. It doesn’t have to be back there, it’s about how we are in this place” [C.i].

In-depth interviews were undertaken with nine writers (three from each workshop) four years later (March 2019) in order to evolve critical understanding of the longitudinal impact of the series [F]. The interviews assessed the series’ practical benefits and the significance the writers attached to it. All nine writers testified to the workshops’ value and particularly highlighted three areas of impact, thus illustrating the multifaceted and ongoing nature of the impact of this research:

1. They reported an improvement in their skills as creative writers: “ it did take my writing to – probably – a different level”; “ *There were far more ideas, rockets going off, fireworks as a result of doing the workshop than I could cope with at the time.*” Some testified that the experience led to greater achievements, with one stating that they had limited success before the workshops. The series led directly to this participant switching genres, with tangible benefits: “ *I’ve been writing a lot of poetry, and compared to my previous writing life it’s massively successful. I have been published in quite a few poetry magazines, I’ve been commended in a few quite big poetry competitions.*”

2. Participants also stated that the workshops increased their self-confidence as writers: “ it was a confidence booster”; “ I do more submissions now… I will say yes to everything, if anyone offers me an opportunity that has a creative edge to it, I will say yes,” and, “ I have really got confidence and I felt very valued.” One recalled that the workshops helped the participants to feel that they belonged to writerly communities: “ it galvanised us a little bit to say ‘Actually we have got a bit of credibility here’”; *“all our voices and all our stories… you could feel yourself being part of some continuum that was improving.*” Others noted that the experience empowered them to forge new partnerships: “ Creatively it was hugely influential… made me think about collaboration differently”; “ *I think there was a high bar set and people responded to it. But I also think it affected, long term, the way in which we functioned as a writers group.*”

3. Many participants had experience of migration either personally or through their family members and reported that the workshops legitimised their own migrant experience: “ I really liked being identified again as an immigrant or someone with immigrant experience – that was really empowering.” Others noted the workshops changed their understanding of contemporary issues of migration: “ made me realise that I have an awful lot of confused but quite energised thoughts about migration in both directions”; “ it brings an understanding to the humanity of others in distress because for me coming across the Irish sea was planned… I can really empathise with people who have to get into a boat or a container, that is airless, to travel just to try and make for a better life.” By implication, this new understanding shaped their creative outputs: “ that slightly outsider perspective is to me, now, just part of the voice that I have”; “ If I hadn’t gone to the workshop I wouldn’t have done the poetry...”.

CSSC’s research has achieved significant reach and impact through arts activism via two complementary channels: (1) the Sexuality Summer School (SSS), an annual five-day forum for new scholarly and postgraduate research in sexuality studies, alongside a curated programme of queer public arts events, including film screenings, talks and live performances ( https://sexualitysummerschool.wordpress.com/); and (2) CSSC researchers’ extensive contributions to queer public arts as curators, organisers and advisors. Both channels have involved the development of working relationships with queer arts practitioners and cultural organisations in Manchester and nationally. Collaborations and partnerships include Tate Britain, Manchester Pride, Greater Manchester LGBTQ Arts and Culture Network, Cornerhouse/HOME, and SICK! Festival. Cumulatively and qualitatively, CSSC’s approach to the arts as activism expresses a sustained commitment to the active mobilisation of queer research to achieve a transformative impact on the queer cultural life of Manchester and beyond.

Between 2014 and 2019, the SSS programme attracted approximately 40 postgraduate students per year, as well as larger audiences for SSS public arts events. For example, the programme for the 2019 SSS, Queer Dialogues, included a sold-out performance by Split Britches (78 people) and a talk by So Mayer of Club des Femmes on Queering the Film Canon (69 people). In 2020, in the context of COVID-19, Stacey curated an online resource on the SSS theme of Queering the Archive [ A.i], featuring UK and international visual artists, writers and performers, many of whom were facing significant losses of income due to the widespread cancellation of live cultural event programming. By 14 July 2020, the website had been viewed 6,570 times by visitors from 68 different countries. Ongoing publicity on social media in June 2020 achieved almost 50,000 impressions across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. In addition to the SSS programme, Doan, Pearl and Stacey have co-organised and contributed to 140 public arts events during the assessment period, reaching a total audience of 4,474. These include 35 on film; 33 on visual arts and performance; 25 on literature; 11 on activist debates; 17 on health and illness; and 19 on LGBTQ history (further examples are cited in sections i-iii below).

These activities and relationships have facilitated impact in three overlapping and mutually reinforcing areas: (i) informing curatorial practice and programming by public broadcasters; (ii) increasing LGBTQ visibility in the arts; and (iii) promoting LGBTQ health and well-being through the arts. An explicit challenge to homophobia and transphobia, exposing prejudice and discrimination that leads to invisibility, runs across all three areas.

i. Transforming public debates about queer sexuality by changing curatorial practice and shaping the work of broadcasters:

Doan was a consultant on new ways of conceptualising sexuality for a major international exhibition on queer art. Doan's research on sexual categories [ 1] directly influenced the curation of Queer British Art, 1861-1967 at Tate Britain (5 April-1 October 2017; 110,000 visitors [ B]). As the exhibition’s curator Clare Barlow testifies, Doan’s work transformed Queer British Art from “an old-fashioned attempt to identify LGBTQ people in the past”, into “a nuanced exploration of the multifaceted nature of queerness in its historical context” [ B]. The exhibition catalogue, which includes Doan’s essay “Portrait of an X” (2017), sold 7,000 copies in its first year and by 2018 was in its third edition [ B]. Barlow states that Doan’s research has “gone on to have a profound impact on the sector as a whole” [ B]. Barlow has given lectures in Germany, the Netherlands and Australia on the curatorial approach inspired by Doan’s research, noting that “in a great part due to Doan's contribution, the exhibition has become an influential global landmark for the sector of how to approach the queer past” [ B] and was cited in Maura Reilly’s Curatorial Activism (2018).

This consultancy raised the profile of Doan’s research [including 2] among public broadcasters. Her research on portraiture and the acquisition of a ‘modern’ knowledge of sex influenced the structuring and content of the 2017 BBC4 documentary *Gluck: Who Did She Think He Was?*’ in which Doan features as an expert; this programme was ranked ‘5’ on IMDb, which lists 44 arts documentaries produced by BBC Arts Production, and is available on YouTube with 2,063 views as of 10/9/17 [ A.ii] . Doan was a consultant for the Radio 4 ‘Queer Art in Britain’ series (2017) and was interviewed by Simon Callow about her research on the history of ‘public indecency’ [ A.iii]. She also spoke at the British Academy’s ‘History Hit Live’ event (2019) with journalist Dan Snow, followed by an interview that became a podcast on ‘History Hit’ with over 1,000,000 listeners ( Forbes magazine states that ‘roughly 20%’ of the audience for ‘History Hit’ comes from the USA) [ A.iv].

ii. Increasing LGBTQ visibility in the arts by shaping programming, supporting queer practitioners and growing audiences for their work:

CSSC’s combination of research with arts activism has promoted the making and exhibition of work by queer practitioners and influenced curatorial and organisational decisions in programming to include more queer work and build LGBTQ audiences.

Pearl’s collaboration with Manchester-based queer performance artist, Qasim Riza Shaheen, promoted his work through her co-edited collection [ 4], which was launched at ‘Asia Triennial Manchester 2018’, HOME, 5-21 October, alongside Shaheen’s new exhibition The day after the day before I sinned (260 attendees). Pearl and Shaheen were ‘in conversation’ with artistic director of HOME, Sarah Perks, and led a public debate at ‘Number 70’ in Manchester, 6/10/18 (30 attendees), and at the Live Arts Development Agency in London, 21/11/18 (40 attendees). Shaheen testifies that this research collaboration with Pearl, which emerged out of his participation in the SSS (2012), “has directly impacted the progression in my thinking as well as my practice.” [ C]

Stacey has supported queer creative work through the LGBTQ Arts and Culture Network, which is now embedded within the LGBT Foundation. Part of the original working group that established the need for such a network, Stacey has been an active participant in its activities, alongside representatives from 11 partner organisations: charities, advocacy groups and community leaders. The Network offers Arts Council England (ACE) ‘funding clinics’ to creative practitioners and organisations, and, at its 2020 Conference, artists pitched their work to programmers, curators and funders, including ACE [ A.v].

Stacey’s research on queer cinema, including [ 5], led to the establishment of partnerships with Rachel Hayward ( Cornerhouse/HOME) and Manchester Pride in 2012 to grow and develop LGBTQ audiences. Hayward writes (2019) that “Our on-going work has increased the engagement activity for LGBTQ+ films which is a crucial part of HOME audience development strategy. The SSS partnership has provided access to guests and speakers who ordinarily would not have come to Manchester for a public event, and the HOME team values this fruitful relationship, which has helped increase audience numbers for queer films” [ D]. Ticket sales have grown substantially: Vito on 19/8/13 (27); Carol 22/5/16 (159); and The Miseducation of Cameron Post on 7/9/18 (220). Stacey and Pearl also collaborated on the queer film mini-season POUT/fest (2015-present) at HOME [ A.vi], and as part of an ongoing relationship, have “provided valuable curatorial expertise for one-off events, and advis[ed] on major seasons such as the 2019 programme Celebrating Women in Global Cinema … Both Jackie and Monica have provided stimulating and informed discussion during Q&As and events, and are popular speakers with our audiences” [ D] . Via public engagement, ticket sales have increased, an LGBTQ audience has been established and queer film programming has expanded.

Stacey’s research [ 6, 7] led to the programming of Peggy Shaw’s performance RUFF about her queer life after a stroke, co-hosted by the SSS in 2014 at Contact theatre in Manchester (audience 320). Partnered by the Stroke Association (SA) and co-sponsored by The University of Manchester’s Science, Stroke, Art festival, the performance was followed by a public dialogue with Shaw and Consultant Stroke Physician Dr Khalil Kawafi, raising awareness about the intersections of LGBT identity and disability. Stacey and Chris Larkin, N.W. Director of the SA, also co-produced ‘Green Screening’, a workshop with Shaw and Lois Weaver (of Split Britches) at which stroke survivors reported seeing for the first time the links between taboos around illness and around sexuality [ A.vii]. Larkin writes: “Through Jackie’s introduction to Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw, we have gone on to deliver a series of 6 workshops across England ... benefitting over 40 stroke survivors. These Green Screening workshops would not have taken place had Jackie not identified the opportunity for us to work together in partnership on…RUFF at Contact” [ E].

Stacey’s research on sexuality and cancer survivorship [ 6] has shaped arts programming to give greater visibility to LGBT work. SICK! Festival co-director, Tim Harrison, notes (2018) that “Jackie has been a hugely valuable collaborator, advisor and contributor to SICK! Festival for several years” [ F] . Stacey’s work influenced the programming of 8 public debates at the 2015 festival on ‘Sex & Sexuality’ in Brighton and Manchester. Harrison writes: *“The insights that [ Stacey] brought to the development of the programme informed its shape and overall approach. Jackie became a trusted critical ally, whose wealth of knowledge and experience enabled us to approach challenging issues with depth and integrity in a way that would not have been possible without her involvement”* [ F]. The audience for events in 2015 in which Stacey was publicly involved was 518; and 5,000+ for the whole ‘Sex & Sexuality’ strand.

At the Belfast 2020 queer arts festival, Outburst, Pearl and Stacey used their research on queer culture [including 3] as the basis for a ‘Queer Theory for Queer Artists’ workshop for 45 participants, which was then repeated at Cultureplex in Manchester. Attendee Mark Croasdale (Manchester theatre maker) writes: “Practically, I have gained knowledge and new language both to use in my work but also to explain to funding bodies why this work is important [and] why my methods are valid. I feel I can now communicate more effectively” [ G].

iii. Promoting health and well-being in the LGBTQ community through the arts:

CSSC researchers have educated health practitioners and medical professionals about LGBTQ issues through arts events. Their work has helped support LGBTQ cancer patients/survivors and people living with HIV by including patients’ voices in the arts. This has increased wellbeing and access to health knowledge and resources in the LGBTQ community.

Pearl’s research [ 3] has underpinned an increased number of public debates about HIV/AIDS in Manchester, and built links with and between artistic practitioners. Via the SSS 2014, Pearl organised a screening of the ACT UP documentary, United in Anger (2012) at Cornerhouse, and staged a public discussion with the audience and director Jim Hubbard to share strategies for challenging homophobia towards HIV-positive people (75 attendees). Pearl and Stacey organised a public lecture by the film’s producer Schulman at the SSS 2015 on Queer Arts as Activism (80 attendees). Pearl also led a post-screening discussion on challenging HIV/AIDS homophobia with representatives from the City Council at the LGBT Foundation in 2017 [ A.viii] . Pearl’s own activism is the subject of an interview for the ACT UP Oral History Project in 2011: http://www.actuporalhistory.org/interviews/images/pearl.pdf.

In 2018, Pearl was consultant for a programme of events curated by Bren O’Callaghan (curator, HOME) with ACT UP activist Avram Finkelstein to launch his publication After Silence: A History of AIDS Through Its Images (2018) in the UK. Pearl also interviewed Finkelstein at Outburst Queer Arts Festival, Belfast, and at HOME, in Manchester (45 attended), in conjunction with a related exhibition by artist John Walter (2019). O’Callaghan writes: “Monica’s knowledge of the social and cultural impact of the AIDS crisis was invaluable in positioning John Walter’s extensive body of work… [She has the] ability to translate… the complex subject matter in a warm and informative manner, appropriate to all audiences of differing levels of knowledge” [ H].

Resulting directly from Stacey and Doan’s research [including 1], Why Be Normal? was the 2017 SSS theme. At Doan’s public lecture on the history of scientific ideas about ‘normal’ sexuality at the People’s History Museum (80 attendees), one member of the public reported how the lecture had brought about a realisation of the historical variability of sexual norms for them and asked how this could be used to generate a challenge to homophobia.

In the SSS 2017, Stacey’s research shaped the co-curation of a series of queer arts events with the LGBT Cancer Support Alliance (Lawrence Roberts and Benjamin Heyworth), co-funded by Macmillan, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and the LGBT Foundation. These included a performance lecture ‘Normal Bodies – What Are They Good For?’ by Brian Lobel and queer actor and disabled rights activist, Liz Carr (of BBC Silent Witness), at the Manchester Royal Infirmary (75 attendees). Roberts commented that this was “the highest attendance at a public event we have ever achieved, and the first public dialogue between LGBTQ cancer survivors and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust” [ I] . This partnership with the SSS “led to a further collaboration between Brian Lobel and The Christie on the 100 Voices project”, an art installation at The Christie featuring voices from 100 people affected by cancer in October 2019 [ A.ix].

Stacey’s research [ 6] has directly influenced the work of queer practitioners, including performance artist Lobel, who states that her research on “narrative, gender, and sexuality and cancer … [was] a major influence on…my arts practice” [ J]. Lobel invited Stacey to participate in ‘Sex, Cancer & Cocktails’ (2015), as part of Manchester’s SICK! Festival. Sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, 20 cancer survivors discussed the relationship between sex and cancer with a sexual health Consultant Physician and an Adolescent Clinical Nurse Specialist. Other performance events spurred by Lobel’s dialogues with Stacey’s research include: Fun With Cancer Patients (Contact Young Company) and the musical, A Pacifist’s Guide to Cancer, which toured the UK (2016) and Australia (2018). Stacey’s co-authored article with artist and academic Mary Bryson [ 6] on lesbians and cancer led to the UK premiere of Bryson and trans artist Chase Joynt’s video performance ‘Resisterectomy’ at the SSS 2014 [ A.x].

Stacey’s research on LGBT artistic responses to survivorship led to her curating and chairing a roundtable, ‘Why Be Normal?’ (2014; 100 attendees) supported by the Wellcome Trust as part of the national events linked to the Wellcome Library exhibition: ‘The Institute of Sexology’ 2014-2015. This was followed by Stacey’s consultative role in What Makes Me Me? a four-day ‘SICK! Lab’ event in March 2016, leading to the 2017 festival. Such events, attended by doctors and nurses, were used as opportunities for Stacey and Pearl to advocate the urgency of improving medical communication to include LGBTQ patients’ experiences of diagnosis and treatment.

This body of research has achieved both significance and reach by engaging geographically and socio-culturally diverse audiences in debates about how culture shapes economics, particularly in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis and the current pandemic. This involves questioning the notion that economics should be left solely to experts and examining the ideological assumptions of that discipline. The 2008 crash revealed not merely that the experts had failed to see it coming, but that – as Andy Haldane, Chief Economist of the Bank of England and contributor to the Show Me the Money volume, insisted – it is vital to “ look at economic systems through a cross-disciplinary lens.” The four beneficiary communities the impact focuses on are: diverse public audiences; artists and galleries; educators and students; and financial industry professionals:

1. Improving public understanding of money, economics and finance

Using their research into the history of the way that “the market” has been imagined in literary and visual culture, the team curated a touring exhibition, “Show Me the Money” (SMtM), that stimulated public debate about the nature of finance and its role in society. A large exhibition with 100 artefacts (including historical images and objects, and contemporary artworks and new commissions), it toured to 5 venues in the UK between 2014 and 2016: the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (Sunderland); Chawton House Library (Alton, CHL); the John Hansard Gallery (Southampton); the People’s History Museum (Manchester, PHM); and Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS). The exhibition had considerable reach, engaging with regional audiences in the UK in locations seemingly far from the world of high finance but nevertheless deeply affected by the financial crash (e.g. Sunderland). It was seen by an audience of 52,372 in its gallery locations, and it was accompanied by 7 major public events and 40 educational workshops (with 1,245 participants) [A.i-A.iii].

These activities reached socially diverse audiences and age groups [A.i-A.iv], often new to art galleries, including asylum and refugee seekers, adults and children with learning disabilities, young offenders, school and college pupils, University of the Third Age (U3A) and Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) classes. Feedback and engagement were gathered through a variety of modes, including questionnaires, comment walls, and participatory art projects. Typical comments were that it was a “Brilliant Show. I particularly liked the stuff by Crabapple, Jane Lawson and the Puck magazine. They show just how little has changed in 100 years!” [A.i, p.7] and that the exhibition had informed them “about other ideas and alternatives to the current financial system” [A.iii, p. 10]. At PHM, for example, 92% of the 82 participants in the WEA course linked to the exhibition stated that it had changed how they thought about finance [A.iii, p. 3; pp. 12-17] (e.g. “I now see how art can be relevant to a critique of the financial system” [A.iii, p. 16]); likewise 94% of the 57 attendees engaged in a workshop run by a textile artist exploring ideas provoked by the exhibition confirmed that it had improved their understanding of finance [A.iii, pp. 18-24] (e.g. finance is “more than just money, it’s also [about] trust and value” [A.iii, p. 20]). 100% of questionnaire respondents attending a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) event for finance professionals (23 participants) held in conjunction with the John Hansard Gallery show stated that it had changed their view of finance, coming to see it not simply as a technical discipline but as socially and culturally constructed.

The exhibition also generated digital engagement: its accompanying website had 16,952 unique visitors between 2014 and 2020 [B.i], and included an interactive competition; a film made by the AHRC has been viewed 3,115 times; the team created a capsule version of the exhibition for the BBC News website that featured on the front page of the business section [B.ii]; and a children’s app for smartphones and tablets designed by the project team was downloaded 481 times between 2014 and 2016 [B.iii]. SMtM was named the Best Exhibition around the UK in June 2014 by The Times, and was a finalist in Sunderland’s Culture Awards Best Event competition. The website was named one of the LSE Library’s “Social Sites of the Week” and the exhibition was also featured on the Radio 3 programme “Free Thinking” on the eve of its launch [C.i] (audience of approximately 60,000). The range of media responses to the exhibition provides evidence of its significance and reach across the social and political spectrum: from the Financial Times ( “what is most striking about this exhibition is its breadth and its inventiveness … entertaining and sometimes challenging” [C.ii] ), to The Morning Star (“an excellent new visual arts show graphically exposes the world of high finance” [C.iii]). The positive reviews garnered from highly regarded media demonstrates how the exhibition and the underpinning research helped change national news agendas around finance.

2. Influencing curatorial and artistic practice

SMtM led to changes in exhibiting practices for several of the host institutions. This was the first time that CHL, PHM and AMBS had engaged with contemporary art in this way. Each institution valued the way that the combination of historical and recent work stimulated debate and allowed them to attract new audiences. The director at CHL, for example, noted that SMtM was an “excellent way of showing the staff and Trustees of Chawton House that an externally curated exhibition, with external loan items, could be held in Chawton House . . . It came at a crucial time for the organisation, as we looked to opening the house to free-flow paying visitors for the first time” [D]. Funded by an Arts Council Grant [G3], SMtM also included four major new commissions. Along with public roundtable events involving artists, activists and financial professionals, these new commissions spurred practitioners to expand the possibilities of engaging the public in debates about financial citizenship through art. For example, a still from one of the original works commissioned for the exhibition, Cornford and Cross’s Black Narcissus (a video transformation of stock market data into a fantasy mountain landscape using computer gaming digitisation techniques) is now being used as a thought-provoking cover image for the Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation (2015) and will be seen by generations of future financial regulators. The editor of the volume described it as a “striking, highly innovative, and important representation of modern markets,” and praised “the inter-disciplinary quality of the image and what it said about the highly productive nature of collaboration between artists and academia” [E].

3. Promoting financial citizenship through education

A key component of these research projects has been to bring about a change in the way that financial literacy education is conceived and delivered (in schools now that it is a compulsory part of the National Curriculum, but also more widely). Typically, financial literacy is concerned with the immediate practical competencies of e.g. opening a bank account. In contrast, the team’s research and related impact activities have focused instead on a much broader notion of “financial citizenship” as the proper aim of financial literacy education, using the tools of the humanities (and case studies drawn from the team’s research) to understand the underlying ideological assumptions embedded in the often forbiddingly technical discourse of economics. The team ran an ESRC-funded teacher-scholar programme, and collaborated with the financial literacy education charity Young Money (part of Young Enterprise), to create a suite of new Key Stage 4 lesson plans (with 1,091 downloads by December 2020) [F.i]. The Resources Development Manager at Young Enterprise commented that the lesson plans “address the broader questions in financial citizenship – such as the conceptual nature of money and the distinction between public and private forms of debt – that are increasingly pressing. In this respect these lesson plans represent a unique and important intervention into the educational landscape.” [F.ii] The Quality Mark educational assessor for the government-backed Money Advisory Service described the suite of lessons as “ an innovative approach to financial learning which provide a range of unique tasks” [F.iii]. The team also created two new Brilliant Club courses (aimed at encouraging pupils from underrepresented backgrounds to progress to highly-selective universities) for sixth form students run by two of the project Research Associates/impact interns, based on specific case studies taken from the team’s research.

The roll-out of a programme of training for teachers in using arts and humanities research to broaden financial literacy education was delayed by the coronavirus crisis. However, the crisis also produced intense public questioning of fundamental economic concepts such as debt, value and the creation of money. As part of the History of Financial Advice (HoFA) project, the team developed a FutureLearn MOOC (“Making Sense of Money: The History of Finance, Speculation and the Stock Market”) that draws on case studies from the research of both SMtM and HoFA. Between December 2019 and November 2020, the course reached 8,512 learners across 115 countries during four iterations, with the third and fourth taking place during lockdown. The course engaged participants (ranging from A Level students to retired financial professionals) in rethinking some of the basic assumptions of economics and finance, and succeeded in changing their understanding: 78% of “joiners” became “learners” (the Futurelearn average is 62%), 97% of respondents indicated that the course had met or exceeded their expectations, and 93% had gained new knowledge of finance as a result of it. One participant, for example, noted that “courses like the one you have presented should be compulsory for school students,” while another stated that “at least now that I hear about a bubble, recession etc ... I will know what it is all about, I too will be able to actively participate in the discussions” [G].

4. Engaging financial industry professionals

The team has been concerned to engage the financial services industry and policy makers in their research, beginning with the inclusion of economists in the Culture of the Market network and the securing of a think-piece by Andy Haldane in the Show Me the Money book. Haldane’s article acknowledges the importance of industry professionals escaping “group think” by drawing on alternative perspectives including that offered by art. One important collaboration targeted at this community was with the Library of Mistakes in Edinburgh, a library established by the financial education charity Didasko to promote public education into the history of finance. The team helped the library to build an archive of works of financial advice from three centuries and produced a collection guide based on their research that has been used by librarians and financial professionals [H.i]. Launch events of the collection and guide in December 2018 were attended by over 100 people, made up financial services professionals, finance academics, and members of the general public. 87% of respondents to a questionnaire agreed that the showcased research advanced their understanding of finance, with a typical comment noting that “the event completely overturned my understanding of financial advice, which I previously thought to be very technical and scientific. I was fascinated to learn about overlaps between financial advice, the self-help genre, and even occult/magical thought” [H.ii].

The team’s research has also influenced national news agendas around finance. The cultural and historical research has promoted the idea of “taking the long view” to correct what is often a relentlessly present-oriented genre with, for example, full-page feature articles in the Financial Times (January 2019), MoneyWeek (January 2019) and The Telegraph (June 2019), and a feature on Radio 4’s personal finance programme “Money Box” (4 January 2020) [I]. In an article in the digital magazine, The Edge, titled “Why We Need to Change the Language of Investing,” the FT journalist Merryn Somerset Webb profiled the HoFA research project’s analysis of the gendered assumptions of the investment advice genre, concluding “this kind of thing matters. It matters because language matters” [I].

The team’s research was showcased at a CPD seminar in May 2019 for senior financial industry figures, co-organised with the Finance Foundation think tank, the Chartered Body Alliance (CBA), and the Personal Investment Management and Financial Advice Association. 100% of questionnaire respondents indicated that it had enhanced their understanding of the history of financial advice, especially the residual gender bias in the field; one participant, for example, explained that the research (and the approach of the Economic Humanities more generally) would be useful when “supporting advisers in their approach to financial planning” [J].

CNW has strategically supported its staff to produce and disseminate work that charts and changes cultural understandings of gender, race and inequalities. This research has, in turn, informed and complemented its work with young and underrepresented writers, as well as developing new audiences, and contributed to changes in arts policy which support writers in new ways (as in Ireland’s ‘Next Generation’ scheme). CNW’s iterative, practice-based research culture is consistently generated in dialogue with public engagement activities that aim to enrich communities in Manchester and beyond.

Enriching public debate about gender, race, identity and inequalities

By generating new ways of imagining the intersections of gender, race, and history, CNW research has made significant contributions to public conversations about gendered and racialised identities. Winterson’s historical understanding of progressive feminism underpins Frankissstein [1] and The Gap of Time (2016). It led to her invitation to deliver the prestigious Richard Dimbleby Lecture in 2018, which drew on her fiction’s sustained investigation of gendered histories to examine the contemporary and historical fight for women’s equality. The lecture was broadcast on BBC1 on 6 and 7 June 2018 and on BBC2 on 7 July 2018, with a short clip viewed over 80,000 times on The Guardian’s YouTube channel [A.i]. The lecture’s success in stimulating and changing understandings of gendered inequality within the public is illustrated by comments by viewers on popular online discussion forums such as Mumsnet: “ I want everyone I know to watch this … Can we get her lecture into the school curriculum? … that would make such a difference”; “ That was really enlightening … The rise in AI, especially in female form is something I hadn't considered previously; it's made me feel quite uncomfortable especially in the current climate.” [A.ii] Subsequently published as Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere (2018) [text removed for publication], the lecture contributed to Winterson’s impact in influencing public debates, evidenced by her inclusion as one of the BBC's 100 Women (2016); election as Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2016; and her CBE in 2018 for services to literature. Frankissstein [1] and Winterson’s accompanying solo performances have also made influential interventions in debates about concepts of humanity, AI and trans bodies, for example as reported in the Daily Mail on 30 May 2019 [A.iii] and in her leading position in more recent debates about trans controversies as reported in The Guardian and elsewhere in September 2020 [A.iv]. [text removed for publication]

Shamsie’s interest in questions of nationality and identity is evident in the Orwell Lecture, ‘Unbecoming British’ [3], which was delivered on 13 November 2018 with 350 attendees, viewed over 3,000 times on YouTube, and was subsequently published in The Guardian, where it received 385 comments [C.i]. It stimulated public discussion about race and power, subjects Shamsie positioned in relation to national debates. As one of the few contemporary female British-Pakistani public intellectuals given significant public air-time, her research has shaped urgent debates around citizenship and race by criticising and humanising the experiences of asylum seekers in Britain [C.iv]. Shamsie was invited to guest-edit BBC Radio 4’s Today programme (approximately 6,800,000 listeners per week in the last 3 months of 2018, C.ii) on 26 December 2018 and interview Sajid Javid MP. The interview reflected Shamsie’s concerns in her lecture and in her bestselling novel Home Fire (2017) as noted by Javid himself on social media: “Finally read this book last weekend. Superb. Very well deserved recognition for Kamila Shamsie. Not too happy about what happens to the Home Secretary” [C.iii]. Shamsie’s discussion with Javid in light of his comments regarding gang-based abuse and exploitation was widely covered in the UK media, including in The Independent and The Sun [C.v] .

Shamsie’s work has also shaped public understandings about the role of writers as activists, and was seen as a test case by international organisation Index on Censorship, which used her example to declare, “Increasingly we are seeing fiction writers being policed for their political opinions and books cancelled as a result.” [C.vi], provoking an open letter by 250 writers defending the right to protest and highlighting the contribution artists make to contemporary politics [C.vii]. A patron of Manchester Literature Festival (MLF), Shamsie’s research has influenced the Festival to produce a more diverse programme. As the MLF Co-Director testifies: “ *Shamsie’s commitment to the importance of bringing great writers to new audiences, and to art that can speak to contemporary injustices, is now part of our vision.*” [D]

Developing writers and audiences

CNW has developed and nurtured audiences for writing by pursuing an extensive programme of engagement activities and workshops in Manchester and through a strategic partnership with MLF. The CNW ‘Literature Live’ reading series has expanded from six events in 2005 to nearly 20 events per year between September 2013 and 2019. ‘Literature Live’ is notably international and has brought over 120 writers to Manchester since 2013. The partnership with MLF has generated multiple benefits. CNW staff have informed the Festival’s programming, developed event ideas, chaired events and interviewed visiting writers. As the Festival’s Co-Director writes, “ the research of [CNW] staff has crucially shaped our curatorial vision”; CNW’s understanding of literature as both feminist and activist has been “ a prompt to our own activity” and “ an important programming resource”; without CNW research and activities, “many of our events would either not happen or have a much reduced reach” [D]. CNW events in partnership with MLF drew 7,740 attendees between September 2013 and 2018 [D]. In 2019, CNW staff hosted 13 events across the 17-day MLF programme [D]. The MLF Co-Director summarises: “ I, and our audiences, value these writers’ careful, informed work as chairs, readers and interviewers… their events with us make an impact because of the excellence of their publications and deep knowledge of the literature landscape, and the accessible manner in which they bring that expertise to our audiences.” [D]

CNW researchers have pursued an outward-facing approach to developing new audiences. For example, the BBC adaptation of The North Water [5] completed filming in September 2020 (delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Director Andrew Haigh testified that “[t]he novel by Ian McGuire is a darkly brilliant piece of work, propelled by a vision of the world that is both beautiful and brutal. It feels bracingly modern and is piercingly perceptive about the nature of what drives us all.” [E] McAuliffe has also actively engaged public audiences for poetry by writing one of the UK and Ireland’s only regular poetry columns, with his writing appearing every four weeks in The Irish Times since 2013. His poetry’s response to Edmund Spenser (2015) [6] led to his co-convening and chairing sold-out symposia (Poetry Ireland 15 February 2018, 100 attendees). The book’s central sequence, ‘Home Againe’, funded by an award from the Broadcast Authority of Ireland, was broadcast on RTÉ LyricFM on 9 December 2018 to an audience of 20,000, with the same number again listening online. [text removed for publication] tweeted in response: “ That was brilliant” [F].

CNW has developed and supported new writerly communities beyond those registered for degree programmes. For example, it has developed innovative research-led schools initiatives. The Schools Poetry Competition, running each year between 2017 and 2020, targeted high schools in areas of high deprivation, such as East Manchester Academy (with free lunches at 63.5%) and Whalley Range (with more than half the student population supported by Pupil Premium). The programme used CNW practice-based research to provide pupils in Years 7 to 11 with access to mentoring and advice from professional writers to prepare a submission for competition, attracting participation from a total of 218 pupils between 2017 and 2020 [G.i]. One teacher noted that the project would “ help our pupils feel connected to Higher Education from an early age, and we hope that after participating in the project pupils will be encouraged to consider attending university in the future.” [G.ii] Another teacher highlighted the transformational impact on students’ self-expression: “ Teachers were stunned at the quality and quantity of student response. We had created a voice for young people to share their experiences and feelings in a way we hadn’t been able to before. The connection with the university and the seriousness with which their writing was discussed, gave the whole process, and the students themselves, such credibility.” [G.iii] The process empowered and skilled teachers with a “ noticeable impact on their practice when teaching creative writing and their confidence in helping young students improve their work.” [G.iii] Another schools writing project, led by Underdown in 2018 in collaboration with the National Trust’s Quarry Bank in Cheshire, led the participating school to comment, “ It was invaluable to get the experience of meeting and interacting with an author” and “ One of the students in particular generally does not engage in creative writing but had created a lengthy, insightful piece of work.” [G.iv]

In summer 2019, Gavin drew on ideas developed in their short fiction ‘Home Death’ [2] to direct a series of workshops (33 writers total) at the University which created a supportive environment for trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming writers to explore questions of creative expression and representation. Led by the poet and performance artist Travis Alabanza and poet Caspar Heinemann, the workshops benefitted contributors by creating a unique arena to discuss gender and its relationship to writing. As participant [text removed for publication] tweeted: “ Full of admiration [for] the creativity you helped spark in a space that felt safe and fun” [H].

Shaping arts policy

CNW practice-based research has created public profiles that have led to its members influencing new arts policies to support emerging writers. These have also helped to improve cultural investment strategies in the North West of England and in Ireland. In his role within the Irish Arts Council (Deputy Chair between 2013 and 2018), McAuliffe drew on his practice’s emphasis on engagement to co-write the Council’s new ten-year strategy, ‘Making Great Art Work’ (2015) [I.i], which rebalanced the Council’s emphasis on the place of the artist in strategic initiatives alongside its commitment to developing audiences. McAuliffe chaired the policy and strategy committee, leading the charge on the strategy document [I.i]. The former Arts Council Chair writes, “[McAuliffe’s] own Arts Council publication The Siren Alps had previously made the case for thinking about the artist in relation to excellence but also to sitedness, and to the ways in which artists are crucial to place-making […] the development of Making Great Art Work was grounded in John’s research and experience as a writer.” [I.ii] That strategy reframed the terms on which artists’ development was supported, leading to the development of ‘Next Generation’ schemes, which have offered EUR20,000 bursaries and mentorship to between 16 and 20 emerging artists each year since McAuliffe piloted the scheme in 2016; over 100 artists have now been supported [I.ii]. In 2017, the Irish Minister for Culture acknowledged the role of the Strategy in the motivation behind a EUR5,000,000 (or 8%) increase in funding for the arts [I.iii] of a total of EUR68,000,000 to the Arts Council in 2018, nearly half of the culture budget in that year. The Strategy also informed a public government commitment to double arts funding by 2025 [I.ii].

CNW is strategically committed to making its research and researchers available to the city through Manchester’s UNESCO City of Literature initiatives, and to ensuing debates around policy and cultural understanding, to enrich the cultural experience of Manchester’s public, as well as forging international connections with other Creative Cities . CNW researchers developed, and were central contributors to, the steering group that successfully led Manchester’s UNESCO bid (designated 2017), and researchers continue to act as advisors in the development of City of Literature initiatives, co-designing International Mother Language Day activities since 2018 and the Libraries Festival (to commence in 2021) as well as the establishment of city-wide networks for literary organisations and freelancers. As Manchester City of Literature’s Executive Director testifies, CNW’s “decision to strategically rethink how a university research centre could contribute to the city through partnerships has had a terrific impact on the way in which literature is perceived in the city.” [J] CNW is central to the networking of the city’s many literature events and its raising of funds to appoint three staff to the new City of Literature team. The Executive Director credits CNW’s commitment to public dissemination as central to the successful bid to UNESCO. The team also draws on CNW creative work in their projects and engagement with international networks, including in their presentation to the Quebec Book Festival and World Poetry Day 2020 [J].