Report launch for our State of the Nations series
On Wednesday 7 May 2025 we launched our new State of the Nations report, Arts, Culture and Heritage: Recent Trends in UK Workforce and Engagement in England. You can watch a recording of the online event below.
This is the third report from our consortium partners at the University of Sheffield. It asks what has happened to the arts, culture and heritage sectors in a post-pandemic landscape. It is a deep dive into the geography of audiences for arts, culture and heritage in England. Analysing both DCMS Participation Survey data and Labour Force Survey, it highlights the relationship between arts, culture and heritage engagement, and the workforce within the arts, culture and heritage occupations. It shows changes over the time, different types of attendance and differences across geography.
The event included a presentation of findings and a panel of guests to explore them and take questions from audience.
Watch the launch event
Meet the speakers
Councillor Peter Golds CBE
Tower Hamlets Council
Councillor Peter Golds CBE has served as a London councillor for twenty-seven years, including eighteen years on Tower Hamlets Council, where he is Leader of the Conservative Group. He has been active on London Councils as well as the Local Government Association, where he is currently a Member of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board.
Peter will be joining the launch event as a panellist, providing a local authority perspective.
Dr Helen Pheby
Head of Culture, Heritage and Sport with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Helen’s role at the Combined Authority involves working in partnership to help deliver the West Yorkshire Plan and Mayor Brabin’s pledges, which includes a commitment to ensuring that every child in the region has access to culture. Her PhD thesis (2003) explored equity of access to, and participation in, culture in relation to New Labour’s Policy Action Team 10 and social exclusion.
Prior to her work with the Combined Authority, Helen was Associate Director at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP). During her 23 years there, she supported artists from all over the world to stage exhibitions as well as major offsite projects. Helen was also Chair of the National Arts Education Archive, working with artists such as Bob & Roberta Smith to highlight the continued significance of its holdings and ethos.
Helen will be joining the launch event as a panellist, providing a viewpoint from the regions.
Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries at The School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
One of the authors of this report, Dave’s research and publications focus on inequalities within the creative industries. You can read one of his recent blogs on class inequalities in film, here. Dave will be presenting the report’s key findings on behalf of the research team.
Research Associate at the Sheffield Methods Institute, University of Sheffield
Ruoxi is an author of the report and will be presenting the interactive dashboards for the event. Her research interests include the economics of arts and culture, and the relationships between economic and cultural policy, with a particular focus on well-being and cultural policy. You can read one of her research blogs on creative self-employed workforce, here.
Head of Policy, Creative PEC
Previously, Bernard was Head of Research and Practice at the Design Council, where he oversaw a portfolio of research and policy development and has also worked at the Design Museum in London. Outside of Creative PEC, Associate Lecturer in social innovation at University of the Arts London, and a Fellow of the RSA.
Bernard will be hosting the Q&A during the event.
The Creative PEC is funded by the UKRI via the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
