Research

The Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) has published a paper that provides an up-to-date picture of workforce demographics in the creative industries. The report, Getting in and getting on: Class, participation and job quality in the UK's Creative Industries, identifies and develops upon five key facts:

The Bridge England Network has published a summary of findings from the National School Survey it initiated in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. The aim of the survey was to establish how Bridges and the cultural sector could offer ongoing support to schools and their pupils as they enter the new school year.

Key findings include:

The Culture Health & Wellbeing Alliance has published a report and case studies that highlight the scope, breadth and reach of the work that cultural and creative organisations and individuals have been doing since lockdown to reach the most vulnerable.

The Jennifer Lauren Gallery is seeking participants in research being conducted into the opportunities available for disabled and/or deaf visual artists in the UK. The research has been funded by an individual’s emergency grant from Arts Council England.

Further information and details of how to take part in the research can be found here.

Jessica Kingsley Publishers is seeking 2,000-word chapter proposals for Art Psychotherapy: Innovative practice and new perspectives (working title). The book will capture the range of current activity in the vanguard of Art Psychotherapy practice and research. It will be co-edited by Helen Jury and Ali Coles, editors of Art Therapy in Museums and Galleries: Reframing Practice.

A study aimed at understanding the impact of Covid-19 on adult behaviours which contribute most to avoidable deaths in the UK has been launched by the UCL Department of Behavioural Science & Health and the UCL Centre for Behaviour Change. The survey, produced in collaboration with Action on Smoking and Health, Public Health England and Cancer Research UK, examines how the coronavirus pandemic has affected adult tobacco use, nicotine use (vaping), exercise, diet and alcohol use.

MARCH Network has launched a study into the psychological and social experiences of Covid-19 in the UK.

The study aims to understand the effects of social isolation on individuals. The results will be used to track trajectories of mental health and loneliness in the UK over the coming weeks, identify which groups are most at risk, and understand the effects of any potentially protective activities people could be engaging in.

Art Therapy in Museums and Galleries: Reframing Practice, the first book to explore and evaluate the potential of museum and gallery spaces and partnerships for art therapy, is to be published on 21 February.

Edited by Ali Coles and Helen Jury, the book contains clinical narratives and reflections on art therapy in museums and galleries internationally.  Case studies from around the globe encompass a broad range of client groups, and the collection reviews key literature and research, considering the wider perspectives on how these spaces inform therapeutic practice. 

A study into words for wellbeing has concluded that practitioners need new structures for training and supervision in order to work with vulnerable people. The two-year study, commissioned by Lapidus International, suggests that training opportunities are needed in the areas of safety, safeguarding and supervision.

Research by theatre company Spare Tyre has revealed that while there is growing awareness of the value of artistic activity for people living with dementia, this activity has not reached the UK’s South Asian communities in a significant way.  

The report Art and dementia in the UK South Asian Diaspora was written by Elizabeth Lynch MBE with Spare Tyre, and funded and published by the Baring Foundation.  

Key findings and recommendations from the research include: