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Sport England: Market Segments Research 
Sport England has developed nineteen sporting segments to help us understand the nation’s attitudes and motivations; why they play sport and why they don’t. This provides us with an insight into the sporting behaviours, barriers and motivations which in turn will help Sport England invest in areas that will result in the greatest impact. The research also provides information on media consumption, social capital, health indicators and wider cultural engagement. Here are some interesting findings from the work: • The most active segment group is the competitive Male Urbanite with 40% participating in 3x30 minutes of activity a week. To read about the background to the research, the pen portraits of all the segments, local authority profiles, case studies and more, visit the Sport England Research Page. 
Arts Council England have commissioned Audiences Central to lead on the evaluation of Open Doors, a national project with a commitment to increase young people's access to careers in theatre and arts venues The activity was an exciting series of nationwide events at 22 venues across the country throughout November 2007. Its aim was to make young people aged 15 plus aware of employment and participatory opportunities in theatre, particularly those relating to backstage, technical and front of house. The evaluation included interviews with young people, graffiti boards, participation and observational research, in-depth interviews with workshop leaders, project co-ordinators and venue staff. For more information on this evaluation click here. The Role of creative agents in Creative Partnerships Noel Dunne has for the past year been leading an investigation into how Creative Agents can work most effectively with school leaders to make positive changes through the Creative Partnerships scheme. Creative Partnerships is the government’s flagship creativity programme for schools and young people and aims to support long-term partnerships between educational establishments and creative practitioners. Creative Agents are independent advisors with experience in both creative and education sectors. The research is supported by Black Country Children Services Improvement Partnerships, The National College Of School Leadership and Creative Partnerships National Office and the resulting report will inform further work that aims to define more precisely what Creative Agents are and a pilot professional learning programme designed to support the development of Creative Agents across the country. For more information on this work contact Noel Dunne or visit the Creative Partnerships website . New Literature Research in the West Midlands: Call Out for Further Participants 
It is rare to find research in the area of spoken word and literature events. Audiences Central was asked to carry out research into attenders of literature events in the West Midlands by a consortium of organisations that plan or organise such events. The Literature Consortium includes mac, Warwick Arts Centre, Apples & Snakes, The Drum, Tindal Street Press, Lit-Net, Birmingham Rep and several others. Audiences Central is using a combination of self completion surveys at events, and online questionnaires to gather data on this niche audience. The Literature Consortium is interested in including more venues / organisers from rural areas that are hosting events between January – June . These events could be book readings, poetry slams, meet the author... basically literature or spoken word events in any form, or any venue. Are you such an organiser / venue, or do you know of any venues in a rural area that could take part in this research? Any other literature events taking place within the West Midlands during the time frame are welcome to take part in this study. To participate in the survey click here. If you have any queries regarding this research, please contact Kerry Hodgkiss or Tamar Whyte at Audiences Central. Applying Liverpool’s Lessons In Cultural Regeneration 
On Monday 28th January 2008 a seminar was held at DCMS in London to launch the Liverpool model for longitudinal research and impact assessment. It has been developed as part of Liverpool’s hosting of the European Capital of Culture and will prove useful to all researchers, students and policy-makers who want to move towards analysing more comprehensively the impacts of large-scale cultural events. Presentations and research papers related to the project are available from the North West Cultural Observatory’s website. Voluntary arts activity plays an invaluable part in the cultural and social life of England. However, unlike other parts of the arts, comprehensive research has never been undertaken to provide a detailed picture of its scale, scope and impact. The Department of Culture Media & Sport and Arts Council England have jointly commissioned this survey of voluntary arts groups. The aim is to provide an accurate picture of activity taking place in voluntary arts groups around England including gaining a better understanding of: • The number and range of voluntary arts groups
The survey will run from 1st-29th February 2008 and as a thank-you for completing the survey, groups will be entered into a free prize draw. Three respondents will be selected at random and receive £150 for their group. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact TBR (the consultants carrying out the work) on 0191 281 9955. Further information can also be found here.
National Heritage Training Group Project: Traditional Craft Skills 
English Heritage has teamed up with the Learning & Skills Council, ConstructionSkills and the National Heritage Training Group to develop an action plan to address the imbalance in traditional craft skills capacity and training provision which was identified by a national report in 2005. The group has commissioned additional regionally focussed research which will be available soon, suffice to say it highlights the sparse provision of traditional skills training in the West Midlands and the extent of the skills deficit amongst contractors. The group is hoping to appoint a full-time project coordinator to tajke the agenda forwards. Click here for more information about the work of the NHTG. Funding changes for Heritage Lottery Fund project grants 
The Heritage Lottery Fund will be launching a new strategic plan and new grant programmes. HLF continues to be the largest source for heritage funding available in the UK with more than £180 million available in awards each year. You can get funding for projects that are connected to heritage. Examples of such projects include investigations into local history or traditions, getting people involved in recording memories of members of the community or exhibitions, performances and the creation of material that encourages people to learn about heritage. There are some changes to the new HLF grants including a faster application and assessment; to find out more about the fund, visit the HLF website or call the West Midlands development team on 0121 616 6882 Culture West Midlands will soon be commissioning research into perceptions and attitudes to culture in the West Midlands and how this is likely to change in the future. If you would like to recieve a copy of the tender brief for this work once available, please email Arshad Isakjee. The CRAIN Newsletter: An Update We hope you have enjoyed reading the latest CRAIN newsletter. Remember that the Cultural Research and Intelligence Network and the newsletter belong to all members - it is what we make of it. The deadline for the submission of articles for the next newsletter is on Friday the 18th of April and we'd like to encourage you to submit details of any research being undertaken, events and oppurtunities that are related to cultural research. If you have any stories you'd like to submit, then email Arshad Isakjee with details or for further information. And last but certainly not least: Research Vacancies... As CRAIN members will already be aware, Culture West Midlands are recruiting a Cultural Research Analyst to be based at the West Midlands Regional Observatory (WMRO). The deadline for applications is at 12pm on Monday 25th February; more information can be found here. Details of three other research vacancies at the WMRO can be found here. |
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