Governance and leadership

This thematic area investigated any shifts, stagnancies and future trajectories of the role of culture and cultural activities in the decade since hosting the European Capital of Culture (ECoC). It did so primarily through the qualitative interrogation of perspectives of key stakeholders, documents and organisations within and beyond the city. We held 8 in-depth mapping workshops with 44 participants in total, complemented by 24 interviews.

The Impacts 08 Governance reports were necessarily focused on the delivery of ECoC with the emphasis on sponsorship and funding and on stakeholder views on future legacies. The Impacts 18 Governance research takes as focus the usage and role of culture within the Liverpool city region in order to highlight any shifts since 2008 – and with this to examine any correlation and explore any lasting benefit, or indeed challenge, specifically related to the development and use of culture within strategies and implementation.

Stakeholder Relationships Mapping

We explored how culture is drawn upon across governance – how it is used in policy, strategies or implementation by different sectors or stakeholders. To do this we used three methods:

i) Mapping Workshops : looking at the decade from 08 to 18 participants drawn from the related ecosystem mapped and discussed perceived changes, current and future trajectories.

ii) Interviews/ focus groups:  these were undertaken to explore the perspectives of change since and impact of ECoC. These drew on people/organisations who had been interviewed as part of the Impacts 08 work, and those who had a key role in, or perspective on, 08.

iii) Strategy Documents  – Key official policy and/or strategy documents were identified and analysed – these included city council, combined authority, marketing and economic strategies.

Across these our research asked:

1) What is the current culture related governance ecosystem within the Liverpool City Region and how is culture used within and beyond related strategies?

2) How has the legacy of ECoC impacted on any cultural strategies and governance?

To assess these themes of change, development and strategy between 08 and 18 we used three key approaches: interviews, mapping activities and document analysis, all of which are detailed in more depth in the methodology section of the full Governance report.