Venues: East Street Arts & University of Leeds

Researching Guild: critical approaches to artists’ spaces, sustainability and regeneration

Supervised by Dr Jonathan Ward and Dr Leila Jancovich (School of Performance and Cultural Industries) with East Street Arts.

East Street Arts is currently developing Guild, a four year project (2018–2022) conducted with significant national and international partners, funded through Arts Council England’s National Portfolio.

Guild is focused on developing sustainable artists’ spaces, and examining their value and impact on the national cultural landscape. Guild will support the growth of innovative operating models for artists and art spaces by providing learning programmes that are embedded within localities, and by working directly with decision- and policy-makers.

Working alongside East Street Arts and within the School of Performance and Cultural Industries we welcome proposals for doctoral research that will critically engage with Guild’s themes and aims. The range of possible topics in this area is wide but we are particularly interested in receiving applications that explore the following research questions and issues:

• Is it possible to embed artists and artists’ spaces within localities without perpetuating the negative impact of regeneration and replacement?
• Can the use of temporary spaces benefit artists, audiences and localities long-term? If so, how?
• What is the role of artists’ spaces in driving innovation and economic growth?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the relationships and partnerships developed between the arts sector and asset-based stakeholders (e.g. LEPs, landlords/property developers, Business Improvement Districts, social housing and local authority planning departments)?

Applications are invited from a range of disciplines across the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The precise methodology will depend on how the research questions are framed, but it is anticipated that the research will be empirical and involve contact with practitioners or policymakers.

The scholarship will commence in October 2018. It will provide maintenance (around £14,000 p.a.) and cover Home-EU fees for a period of three years. There are extensive, well-established networks which the researcher will be able to access through East Street Arts as well as within the School of Performance and Cultural Industries and the Cultural Institute, and across the University of Leeds.

Please contact Dr Jonathan Ward, J.Ward1@leeds.ac.uk for further details about the project.