An initiative to explore creative and digital strategies for community engagement
Faced with Brexit, pandemic, inflation and recession pressures, London has to reconsider its competitiveness in the context of global economic forces. The challenge is to create new opportunities in emerging industries or face decline and marginalization (Mayor of London, 2022). Along with the tourism sector, London’s cultural and creative sectors (CCS) are the hardest hit by the pandemic (OECD, 2020). According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Labour Force Survey, more than 27% of workers under the age of 25 left cultural and creative occupations after lockdown, compared with 14% of workers aged 25 and above (ONS, 2021). The rate of leaving since lockdown is much higher than the normal rate (around 15%). The dropped revenue performance puts financial sustainability at risk and has resulted in the downsizing of the CCS.
The heritage sector, as one of the cultural domains, calls for immediate and long-term support to mitigate the economic and social threats imposed on our national and local assets by the pandemic (Heritage Alliance, 2022a). Integrating heritage and creative industries as a driver for change has never been more important in the pandemic era. Recent research has shown that creative businesses are naturally drawn to the historical environment, as many clusters around listed buildings and conservation areas have been transformed to new heritage spaces and tourism sites (Heritage Alliance, 2022b).
However, evidence suggests that in terms of skills development, there are shortcomings in the cultural and creative sectors. For instance, the ‘digital leadership’ in museums, galleries, and smaller cultural organisations and institutions is omitted (Walmsley et al., 2022). Leaders in the cultural and creative sectors are even constantly struggling to explain and communicate the values of their roles (British Council, 2022). In light of a need to lead changes and aim to bring CCS back to former glory, a prominent challenge lies in the lack of creative strategies and tactics.
This project will improve community engagement with digital heritage. It responds directly to the UK government policy paper – “Boundless Creative Report” (2021) – examining the role of innovation in shaping the recovery, renewal and future growth of the UK’s cultural and creative sectors. It furthers the dialogue concerning the pandemic’s effects on the UK’s cultural and creative sectors, which was studied by the University of Leeds’ Centre for Cultural Value, the Audience Agency and the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Sargent, 2022). The knowledge exchange and impact activities are aligned with Arts Council’s (2020) 10-year strategy that moves from being great art for all to “Let’s Create”. The digital engagement activities build upon digital capabilities as part of the “Digital Skills for Heritage” initiative (National Lottery Heritage Fund, 2020). This project’s implications will indeed support the “Tourism Recovery Plan”, which was published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) in 2021.