Cultural Intermediaries Connecting Communities: Revisiting Approaches to Cultural Engagement

Description

Based on a four-year research project which highlights the important role of community organisations as intermediaries between community and culture, this book analyses the role played by cultural intermediaries who seek to mitigate the worst effects of social exclusion through engaging communities with different forms of cultural consumption and production. The authors challenge policymakers who see cultural intermediation as an inexpensive fix to social problems and explore the difficulty for intermediaries to rapidly adapt their activity to the changing public-sector landscape and offer alternative frameworks for future practice.

Phil Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Cultural Geography, University of Birmingham. Beth Perry is a Professional Fellow at the Urban Institute in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. Paul Long is a Professor of Media and Cultural History at the School of Media, Birmingham City University.

"This book looks behind the bland statement that 'culture is good for you' and explores the messy, contradictory and hopeful space that exists in the intersection between cultural work and community development. Drawing on practice and academic thought, this book will be challenging and helpful to readers working in this area." Dave Beck, University of Glasgow