Opportunities missed for arts and sport collaboration

The value of integrating arts and culture with major events is not widely recognised amongst sports events organisers, event producers and many national governing bodies and the UK could and should be doing more to learn from and develop the cultural legacy of London 2012. The report of a Cultural Enquiry examining the relationship between culture and major events concludes that immediate action is needed to ensure that valuable learning from London 2012 and other major events is not lost: more needs to be done to integrate culture into the planning and delivery of major events to enable long-term benefits to be realised beyond the events themselves in a range of policy areas.

‘Beyond Performance’, published by King’s College London’s Cultural Institute, provides evidence from more than 70 leaders across arts and culture, sport, national and local government, business and funding bodies, revealing universal agreement that arts and culture can and do add value to major events. This is supported by relevant research confirming the economic impact of cultural festivals and identifying benefits stretching across health and well-being, social inclusion and employment. Fran Hegyi, Senior Cultural Advisor with the London 2012 Culture Team, said: “The experience of last summer shows that arts and culture really can make a difference to how an event is perceived and valued by spectators, international visitors and our local communities. There is no reason why other major events cannot have a similar impact, at scale, in the future… We found that the space in which sport, arts and culture come together in major events is a hugely powerful one which can create real benefit, yet it is not well understood, managed or shared. This disconnect is creating a missed opportunity for the event industry and communities around the UK.” The Enquiry found cultural practitioners and sports event managers often have little appreciation of each other’s activities and are perceived to speak different languages even though they have similar values. This ‘disconnect’ is reflected in administrative and funding structures which do not support the common social and economic outcomes to which both activities contribute.

The aim of the Enquiry was to determine how expertise developed over years of planning and delivering the 2012 Cultural Olympiad can most effectively be harnessed and made available as a resource. At the heart of the research were the findings from an independent survey by Legacy Trust UK of 2,000 members of the public, which revealed that 62% would like to see arts and culture routinely programmed as an integrated element of major events, and 40% would be willing to travel to attend an arts activity associated with a sporting event. The report calls for an independent consortium body to bring together expertise from a range of stakeholders with the skills and first-hand experience to consolidate learning, produce guidance and consider possible models for delivering this work.

Deborah Bull, Director of Cultural Partnerships at King’s College London, said: “The overwhelming conclusion to emerge from the conversations we had through the Enquiry was that if that extraordinary summer of 2012 is to be more than just an unforgettable one-off, the time to act is now.” The publication of the Cultural Enquiry comes just days after the report from the Lord’s Select Committee on Olympic and Paralympic Legacy which also urges greater action to secure the legacy from the London 2012 Games.