Arts Research Digest provides a unique overview of recent and current research in the arts, media and cultural sectors around the world.

It offers a vital information resource for arts managers, arts practitioners, arts organisations, policy makers, academics, consultants, researchers and funders.

Each issue summarises a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research produced and published by academics, arts funding and development agencies, government departments, higher education institutions, local authorities and others. It is published three times a year - in spring, summer and autumn - and is available by subscription only. Our online archive now houses 14 years of the Digest and is an ever-expanding course of knowledge.

Our mission is to facilitate the exchange of information and the practice of research in the UK and abroad, within and about the cultural sector.

Board Trustees

Arts Research Digest depends on the wide ranging expertise and knowledge of its Board who volunteer their time and skills to support and develop the Digest.

Paul Allin (Chair)

Paul Allin heads one of the analysis and reporting divisions in the UK Office for National Statistics.  He is responsible for a range of statistics, including on the labour market, social wellbeing and Social Trends.  Paul was previously the Chief Statistician and Head of Statistics and Social Policy in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.  He retains a strong interest in statistics and research on the arts, the wider cultural scene and the cultural industries.  His research interests have covered the UK film industry, the economic contribution of the cultural industries, and the challenges of producing meaningful cross-country comparisons of cultural statistics.

Stephen Boyce

Stephen Boyce is Deputy Director of Operations at the Heritage Lottery 
Fund (HLF).  He studied French and Philosophy and worked as an actor 
and education worker before joining Southern Arts Board in 1981 where 
he held a number of posts including Theatre Officer and ultimately Deputy Chief Executive. He has extensive experience of managing National Lottery grant programmes and was the Community Fund’s Programme Manager of Awards for All before joining HLF. Stephen chairs the Board of the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and the advisory board of Creative Partnerships (Southampton, Portsmouth and Hampshire).  He is a former trustee of ArtSway.

Sarah Havens

Sarah has been active in the arts administration field since 1981, serving as Executive Director of the American Council for the Arts in New York before relocating to London in 1990.  After completing an MSc in Public Policy and Public Administration at the London School of Economics, Sarah joined the Board of Arts Research Limited and managed the charity for a number of years.  In 2005 Sarah became a Parliamentary Advisory to Alison Seabeck MP until she left to assist with the financial and administrative management of Cell Medica Ltd, a London-based cellular therapeutics company.

Sarah is on the Friends Committee of the Whitley Fund for Nature, assists IntoUniversity, a London-wide educational charity, with its annual fundraising events and is a member of the Norland Square Garden Committee.

Andy O'Hanlon

After arts school at Newcastle University Andy O'Hanlon worked as a maker and community artist with IOU Theatre, Welfare State International and then London, now Yorkshire-based, Action Space Mobile.  He founded
Puppetworks with Lorraine von Gehlen in Hackney, specialising in large-scale outdoor celebratory theatre, and made the move to
Cambridgeshire with the company (now Inspire - well being through arts).
He has been an Arts Development Officer for 10 years at Fenland and now South Cambridgeshire District Council, responsible for the full range of arts services including negotiating planning-gain agreements for arts and cultural facilities. On behalf of the Council he established a successful dual-use arts partnership with local secondary schools resulting in the employment of five local arts development managers.
His interest in arts research deepened during a masters degree in European Cultural Planning at De Montfort University from 2004-2006.  In addition to his work as an arts officer he is a programme manager of a small arts centre and working as a puppet-maker with carnival arts company Kinetika on the 2012 programme Imagination my Nation for the brand new villages of Cambourne and Orchard Park.

Sara Selwood

Sara Selwood is an independent cultural analyst and Professor of Cultural Policy and Management at City University, London.

She has written extensively on the relationship between the expectations of UK cultural policy, its implementation, funding and the publics' experience of cultural provision. Her books include The Benefits of Public Art: the polemics of permanent art in public places (London: Policy Studies Institute, 1995), the first critical analysis of public art in England, and The UK  Cultural Sector: profile and policy issues (2001).

She is currently undertaking a major review of Renaissance in the Regions, a £300m government investment in regional museums in England. She edits Cultural Trends, a journal which combines statistical evidence on the cultural sector with commentary and interpretation http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/09548963.asp

Sara is a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery and a member of the Mayor of
London's Cultural Strategy Group. She was formerly Head of the Department of Cultural Policy and Management at City University, Quentin Hogg Research Fellow, University of Westminster and Head of the Cultural Programme at the independent think-tank, the Policy Studies Institute. Before that, she was a curator of contemporary art.

Phyllida Shaw

Phyllida Shaw is a facilitator, writer and researcher with 20 years of freelance experience in the voluntary and public sectors, and specialising in the arts.

Working solo and in teams of associates with complementary skills, her reputation comes from her ability to listen, her skill in analysing and interpreting information and her direct but supportive personal style. She is a natural communicator and enjoys working with individuals and organisations of very different kinds.

Clients have included the five Arts Councils of the British Isles, government departments, local authorities, grant-making trusts, higher education institutions and a wide range of cultural and voluntary organisations. She is an adviser to grant-making trusts, an associate lecturer on the MA in Arts & Cultural Management at the University of Sussex and a research associate at the Cities Institute, London Metropolitan University. She is a member of the National Union of Journalists.

Denys Hodson

 

Staff

 Annie Livesey, Executive Director

Annie was traditionally trained by Butterworths Publishers and has spent 25 years working in and around the publishing industry both in a freelance capacity and as a managing editor. She has held marketing and business development roles, leading businesses through change management to digital delivery. She has worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from large government contracts scoping and managing website content, to mentoring small start ups.

As a business development specialist, Annie holds an MBA from Newcastle University and is an MCIM.

Annie is responsible for the overall business at ARD, reporting directly to the Board. She is responsible for business development (domestic and international), fundraising, marketing, and building relationships across and beyond the sector.

Carol Marshall, Administrator

Carol has 25 years business administration experience in the public, private and charity sectors. Her employment has covered HR, health and safety, and finance roles, specialising in policy development, recruitment and tribunal management.

She is an IIP facilitator and has a BA (Hons) in Business and HRM.

At ARD, Carol is responsible for all administrative tasks including, finance, subscriptions, HR, and general office management.

Nessa O'Mahony, Editorial Consultant

Nessa O'Mahony has been editor of Arts Research Digest for the past five years.
Previously she was Head of Public Affairs with the Arts Council of Ireland.
She received a doctorate in Creative and Critical Writing from Bangor
University in 2007 and is currently Artist in Residence at the John Hume
Institute for Global Irish Studies, University College Dublin.