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An exciting new vacancy has opened up within the Impacts 08 team to provide maternity cover from September 2008 for our Programme Manager. This fixed term appointment will be for a period of approximately nine months, and would suit a highly motivated research manager with experience of coordinating quantitative and qualitative research projects. The post-holder will manage a range of projects designed to measure the longitudinal impact of Liverpool’s hosting of the title of European Capital of Culture 2008, and will be involved at a major stage of the Impacts 08 Programme.
Further details will be available shortly, but expressions of interest are encouraged and should be sent to: impacts08@liverpool.ac.uk (the post will be advertised through the University of Liverpool).
This will be the first seminar of the Regional Studies Association Research Network on Creative Industries and the Regions: Relationship between places, local and regional policies and creative production, and will focus on the methodological approaches used and the issues encountered when investigating the creative industries and their regional dimension. Speakers will be asked to present papers on various methodologies used to the study of the creative and cultural industries. Quantitative, qualitative and ethnographic approaches should be considered. The range of papers should cover both theoretical perspectives and practical examples of the issues and challenges faced by researchers in trying to capture the economic, social and cultural dimensions of the creative economy.
The programme for the two days will be as follow:
24th of September afternoon (2pm – 5pm) – Ph.D. and Young Researchers Workshop. Papers will be presented by Ph.D. students and discussed in a friendly atmosphere in order to facilitate interaction between students and more experienced researchers. Ph.D. students should focus on their research perspectives and methodology for this session. The Ph.D. and Young Researchers workshop is supported by funding from the University of Southampton ‘Skills Enhancement Fund’ for Research Students and Early Career Researchers.
25th of September (10am – 5pm) – Research Seminar: Measuring and Understanding the Creative Economy in the Regions: Methodological Approaches and Issues.
PhD students, academics, researchers, practitioners and policy makers are invited to participate in the seminar on the 25th of September. They are also welcome to attend the PhD and Young Researchers Workshop on the 24th of September. Papers are welcome on relevant case studies and research experiences providing a critical overview of approaches and methodologies in the study of creative and cultural industries and their national, regional or local dimension.
For information, please email creative.regions@soton.ac.uk or visit:
www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk and
www.creative-regions.org.uk
Submitting an Abstract
All interested scholars, PhD students and practitioners are invited to submit, by email, a paper proposal (abstract) of around 1,000 words by no later than the 25th of June 2008 to the Research Network’s organisers at:
Abstracts must include full contact details. You should also specify if you are submitting to present at the PhD and Young Researchers Workshop or at the seminar. Applicants will be contacted by the 15th of July 2008 about their submission. Full papers are requested by the 1st of August 2008.
Participation costs
Participation to the main Research Network Seminar on the 25th of September is subject to a small fee of £25.00 to cover catering expenses, while attendance to the PhD and Young Researchers Workshop on the 24th of September is free of charge, but places need to be booked in advance.
Bursaries
Thanks to the support of the Regional Studies Association, a limited number of bursaries are available to assist with travel expenses. Financial support must be requested at the time of the abstract’s submission or anyhow before the 25th of June. The bursaries will be prioritised towards PhD students, post-docs and young researchers interested in the topic but needing support for travel to the seminar. The award of bursaries will be made on the basis of the expected benefits deriving from the participation to the seminar by the applicant. If you are interested in applying for a bursary please send a short biographical profile and a paragraph explaining how you think attending or presenting at the seminar would benefit you.
Dissemination
The organisers, with the support of the Regional Studies Association, aim to develop a journal special issue and/or a book from this seminar series which will provide an opportunity for participants to disseminate their research and papers. In addition, a special issue of Regions, the Regional Studies Newsletter, will be produced at the end of the seminar series in order to reach a wider audience. Presentations and relevant information will also be made available electronically at:
Regional Studies Association Research Network on Creative Industries and the Regions aims to address trends and issues around the development of the creative and cultural industries at the regional level in UK, fostering a multi-disciplinary debate among researchers, practitioners and policy makers in the field. You can find further information on the website:
The first seminar of the network, Measuring and Understanding the Creative Economy in the Regions: Methodological Approaches and Issues,will take place at the University of Southampton on the 24th-25th of September 2008.
Perception and wellbeing: a cross-disciplinary approach to experiencing art in the museum
Can the viewing of publically displayed art improve or even change lives? This project aims to combine approaches from neuroscience, aesthetics and anthropology to explore, contextualise and explain art perception and response, and short- and long-term impacts on well-being, in public display spaces. Combining data collected using an eye-tracker with ethnographic observations, the project will transgress existing disciplinary boundaries in studying the perception of art objects, and form a new framework for research in this area. The project will contribute to understanding of the impact of public art across a range of academic subjects and in museum and gallery practice.
We invite applications from outstanding graduates for a full-time, three-year PhD studentship, starting in October 2008. The project will be co-supervised by Dr Sandra Dudley & Prof Rodrigo Quian Quiroga at the University of Leicester, and David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity.
Further information on the project and details of how to apply can be found at:
http://www.le.ac.uk/museumstudies
To discuss the project informally, please contact Dr Sandra Dudley at:
This is one of six studentships awarded nationally under the AHRC’s Beyond Text programme. Candidates must meet the AHRC’s academic and other eligibility criteria (see ‘Guide for Applicants for Postgraduate Awards in the Arts and Humanities: The Doctoral Awards Scheme’ on www.ahrc.ac.uk). The studentship covers fees and the standard AHRC annual maintenance grant, plus an additional annual £1,500 maintenance payment provided by the AHRC and the Art Fund.
The deadline for Applications is Friday 4 July 2008. Candidates may be required to attend for interview on Monday 14 July 2008.
The aim of this conference is to bring together researchers who share interests in the role of tourist attractions and events in place making and shaping destinations. This research area is clearly relevant to professionals in the field including consultants, developers and local authorities.
The visitor economy is becoming increasingly competitive as destinations chase tourist spend. This is increasingly so in the context of ‘regional capitals’ which play a pivotal role in the regional economy, and ‘third cities’ whose visitor economy is often over-shadowed by the larger regional neighbours. Although tourism is seen as an integral part of regional development in these cities, they often compete for visitor expenditure in an environment of shrinking marketing investment and a volatile economic marketplace. Destinations have sought to differentiate their appeal on the basis of culture and heritage and/or events and festivals and seek to deliver ‘a total visitor experience’.
We welcome papers for this conference which explore:
- The role of regional capitals in driving the regional visitor economy
- Delivering the total visitor experience
- The potential for sustainable urban tourism through culture and heritage tourism
- Creative uses of visitor attractions as focal points for regeneration programmes
- Attractions and events and discourses of place shaping/making and the visitor economy
- Major events and community cultural festivals as animators of place and tourist attractions
- Planning dimensions of attractions and events development in urban and rural contexts
- Community participation in attractions and events
- Building sustainable partnerships and stakeholder relationships between tourism, culture and heritage in destinations
- Managing attractions and events in sensitive sites
- New and emerging technologies in attractions and events marketing and management
- The role of festivals and cultural events in policies and programmes to promote community cohesion, crime reduction and anti-racism
- Festivals, cultural events and the multi- (inter-) cultural city
- Issues in conceiving museums and artistic venues as visitor attractions
- Issues surrounding the 2012 London Olympics
The conference will form the academic stream of the European Union of Tourist Officers (EUTO) study visit and will provide the unique opportunity for researchers to network and share cutting edge ideas, innovation and critical thinking with the EUTO participants. The conference will include study visits as well as academic paper sessions. The study visits will focus on the role of culture in shaping destination image as Nottingham transforms into a cultural capital with ambitious projects such as Wollaton Hall, Centre for Contemporary Art Nottingham & The New Art Exchange as well as a visit to Nottingham Castle and Sherwood Forest to see how ‘Living Legends’ can be used to stimulate the visitor economy.
Paper Submission
Abstracts should be up to 250-300 words, 12 point, 1½-line spaced and be formatted for printing on A4 paper. The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday June 13th 2008 and successful authors will be notified by the end of June, 2008. A final paper of between 4 – 8,000 words is required by the end of August 2008 if authors wish to be included in the Conference Proceedings. All abstracts and papers should be submitted electronically to ttri@nottingham.ac.uk
European Union of Tourist Officers (EUTO) Study Visit
Whilst TTRI and CTCC will organise this academic part of the conference, delegates are welcome to join the EUTO tourism practitioners and we will be jointly organising social functions to allow both groups to network.
The EUTO study visit runs from 21-28 September 2008 and will be held in both Nottingham and London. It will comprise study visits, presentations and workshops. Themes to be explored include the role of attractions & events in destination development & the Olympics 2012. There will be an opportunity to visit the O2 Arena by boat and learn about riverside regeneration en route to Europe’s largest family entertainment centre and Olympic 2012 venue. Explore Bankside, the Pool of London and the South Bank by foot to see how iconic attractions such as London Eye, Shakespeare’s Globe, Tate Modern and Vinopolis have helped create this vibrant destination.
A draft programme is currently available via www.EUTO.org
Delegate rates for The University of Nottingham (TTRI/CTCC conference) 24th and 25th September 2008 are:
Earlybird fee £230 + £40/night accommodation
Standard fee £250 + £40/night accommodation
For further information and a booking form for the TTRI/CTCC conference please email Ann Lavin at:
ttri@nottingham.ac.uk
‘Music-City. Sports-City. Leisure-City.’ is the latest publication from the Europäisches Institut für Urbanistik at the Bauhaus University Weimar. It is a contemporary examination of the role that culture plays in the urban environment and in its development. The book’s genesis derives from two seminars held at the institute, led by PhD candidate Alexander Bergmann, dealing with the same topic and it consists of a collection of essays primarily assembled from MSc-students partaking in his seminars. It is broad in both its range and scope, first laying down a theoretical foundation exploring the historical and critical role of culture in the city, followed by a more current assessment of culture-led urban development around the world. The book concludes with the description of four proposed projects for Sheffield, where the students were assigned hypothetical scenarios for the city and asked to propose solutions.
The book’s strength draws from the diversity of its contributors, trained architects, planners and academics hailing from cities across the globe. Contemporary urban cultural issues, such as graffiti, hip-hop, skateboarding and the creative classes, are approached with fresh new perspectives. The cities of Sheffield, Chemnitz and Essen are put under the cultural spotlight as we learn about the growing hip-hop movement in the former GDR, industrial cultural beauty in the Rhine-Ruhr Region and a cultural industry quarter in the heart of England’s steel city. In the final section, we are taken on a fantastical tour of possible futures for the city of Sheffield.
- Will the city transform itself into a city of networked slides?
- Will the youth congregate around spontaneous i-pod car parties?
- How could a company like Apple help restore industrial heritage while building a clustered specialised high-tech community of its own?
- What role could companies like Nike and Adidas play in supporting a healthy active lifestyle for Sheffielders?
The book promises to be an exciting trek through this cultural cityscape. It is illustrated by one of Germany’s famous graffiti artists – Hamburg based CIDE.
