Arts, dance, cultural infrastructure, and city regeneration: Knowledge, audience development, networks, and conventions, and the relocation of a Royal Ballet company from London to Birmingham

Abstract

The development of new cultural infrastructure has long been part of the urban regeneration toolkit. Cultural infrastructure is incorporated into major urban regeneration projects as part of a proactive entrepreneurial approach to planning designed to enhance a city's overall image. The existing literature on cultural industries concentrates on exploring film and contemporary music and ignores dance. The article explores the development of ballet in England from the 1920s and the relocation in 1990 of one of England's Royal Ballet companies from London to Birmingham. These events required investments in hard cultural infrastructure (provision of facilities, e.g. theatres) and soft cultural infrastructure (audience development). The development of new hard cultural infrastructure must be supported by a process of audience development and knowledge brokers. The establishment of ballet in England and the relocation of Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (SWRB) to Birmingham were contingent on the articulation of networks of individuals, resources and institutions that had the power and resources to facilitate these developments. The analysis highlights the interplay existing between local and national policies and the ways in which the local can mobilize elites and others to shape the artistic and cultural character of a city.

Keywords:

• conventions
• creative class
• cultural infrastructure
• dance
• knowledge
• networks

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Derek Purnell, former Chief Executive Officer of Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Tessa King-Farlow, Chair of Birmingham Royal Ballet's Board of Directors, for their assistance with this paper. I would also like to thank the two reviewers and Grete Rusten and Phil Jones for their constructive comments.