The Creative Communities programme has launched new funding to support devolved cultural policy. Helen Apsey shares her thoughts on how this new investment will support and grow the cultural devolution revolution across all four nations of the UK.
AHRC Creative Communities is a £3.9m research programme based at Northumbria University in Newcastle. It builds a new evidence base on how cultural devolution can enhance belonging, address regional inequality, deliver devolution and break down barriers to opportunity for communities in devolved settings.
Alongside new funding awards are a series of Devolution Policy Provocation Papers that present new recommendations for ways culture can deliver key government missions through devolution, and a new interactive Creative Communities Toolkit.
The English Devolution White Paper sets out the government’s plans to widen and deepen devolution and restore power to communities and Equality of opportunity and belonging in communities are central to its Milestones for Mission-Led Government.
As more powers and resource are devolved across the three nations and mayoral regions of England, the new Creative Communities investments offer timely support to enable sustainable cross-sector policy making in devolved contexts.
Cultural policy making plays a critical role in the process of UK devolution but there is an urgent need to diversify involvement in policy making and restore agency to local communities.
By tapping into the cultural needs and strengths of regional populations, the programme is piloting new ways to unlock locally-driven solutions that challenge traditional top-down policy making.
The AHRC Creative Communities Deep Dive Report (2022) profiled for the first time the social, economic and political value of cross-sector research and development (R&D) involving local communities as partners and identifying new opportunities for growth.
Building on the report’s findings, we introduced Policy Labs, a series of facilitated policy shops with government, policy makers, cross-sector participants, communities and young people, which took place across the country.
The labs highlighted key challenges facing the culture sector and communities that work in culture. They also confirmed the need for a new ecology of diverse, cross-sector participants in devolved policy making.
We took key solution suggestions emerging to government policy makers in our 2024 Policy Sprints. In collaboration with Scottish Parliament, Wales Innovation Network, Northern Ireland Assembly and Darlington Economic Campus, the sprints brought devolved policy makers together to consider ways to implement key learnings from the labs.
These learnings have fundamentally shaped the development of the Policy Network Awards, the Devolution Policy Provocation Papers, and the Creative Communities Toolkit.
Our new Co-Lab Policy Network Awards 2026 launch today (Monday 19 May). They will fund four cross-sector cultural policy networks – one in each of the three devolved nations and one in a devolved mayoral region of England – to create new capacity for collaborative exchange of policy ideas on culture and devolution.
The awards aim to build capacity and catalyse confidence in policy making for cross-sector partners including higher education institutions, independent research organisations, policy, public, third and private sectors and community groups. Co-Lab Policy Networks will bring together these communities in devolved contexts, to develop learning and relationships with policy makers in a UK-wide network.
Our culture and devolution Policy Provocation Papers present innovative policy solutions co-created in the Policy Labs and Policy Sprints that took place across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the devolved regions of England across 2024-25.
Recommendations focus on the capacity of culture in devolution to create a stronger, fairer economy and society through collaboration and delivery into health and wellbeing, environment, belonging and community cohesion.
The Creative Communities Toolkit features four interactive multi-media modules that offer users new ways to engage in R&D, connect with cross-sector stakeholders and learn about co-creation methodologies.
Devolved culture research is vital to address contemporary contexts, challenges and opportunities. The UK R&D system has remarkable strengths, but too many places have yet to fulfil their full potential to create and innovate.
While culture is key to the success of communities, communities are integral to the sustainability and growth of the culture sector. Tracy Brabin, chair of UK Mayors and Mayor of West Yorkshire Combined Authority says: “The work of AHRC Creative Communities shows that devolving powers over culture and the creative industries drives greater economic growth.
“By drawing on a nation or region’s unique cultural heritage and investing in its homegrown talent, we will build vibrant communities, attract tourism and investment, and create good jobs across the UK.”
The executive chair of the AHRC, Professor Christopher Smith adds: “This programme is a key intervention in addressing regional inequality. The new policy papers offer co-created solutions for funding community infrastructure, improving frameworks for civic engagement and developing low-administration grants for grassroots organisations.
“Everyone everywhere should have the opportunity to engage in culture at a local level. Culture is the bedrock of a thriving community, fostering pride and resilience and contributing to prosperity and better health outcomes.”
Finally, our delivery model focuses on the ways in which engaging communities and third and private sector partners in the entirety of the research cycle can bring new skills, experience, knowledge and networks to cultural R&D.
By working more closely together around shared challenges, this can maximise resource, using culture as a lever to unlock the potential of devolution. In turn, this leads to civic cohesion, shared stories of place and a more robust inclusive creative economy, while driving productivity and growth in the regions and nations.
Through these initiatives, we believe Creative Communities will unlock cross-sector solutions that enable communities to create a stronger, fairer UK economy and society that is by all, and for all.
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