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Abstract
From the bidding stage onwards, the London 2012 Olympics has been framed by an explicitly instrumental agenda, with objectives including increasing participation in sport in the UK and economic and physical regeneration in host sites, through investment in the Olympic Park and its surrounding infrastructure. The bid also signalled the ambition that London 2012 should be the first Olympics to deliver legacy through a nation-wide cultural programme in the build up to and alongside the Games [Kennell, J. & MacLeod, N. (2008, November 6–8). A memetic framework for the conceptualisation and evaluation of the Cultural Olympiad of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Paper presented at the 2nd Bi-annual International Tourism Studies Association conference in Shanghai, China. Retrieved from http://gala.gre.ac.uk/3951/], deliberately putting in place infrastructure for each English region and nation, shortly after the bid's success was announced. The ensuing national Cultural Olympiad, part funded by Legacy Trust UK, was evaluated through a series of research exercises which aimed to document the legacy and impact of the cultural programme. Through the case study of a regional programme in the North West of England, “We Play”, this article considers how evaluation research has been used locally to develop policy stories and legacy narratives which interpret and interact with the changing landscape of arts funding and cultural policy in the UK.
Acknowledgement
Many thanks to all those who contributed to the development of this article and commented on previous versions: Catherine Armstrong, Debbi Lander, Helen Corkery, Greg Hutchings, Gayle McPherson, Nancy Stevenson, Dave McGillivray, Sara Domville, Paul Kelly, Gabby Jenks, Ulrika Hogberg, Dave O'Brien, Tamsin Cox and Beatriz Garcia. The original evaluation research framework for “We Play” was commissioned by Arts Council England North West and also involved Ruth Melville and Beatriz Garcia, University of Liverpool and Andrew Miles and Mike Savage, University of Manchester. All mistakes are the author's own.
Notes
1 The post was hosted by Culture Northwest, the Regional Cultural Consortium and later by Arts Council England, North West, following the dissolution of Regional Cultural Consortiums in 2009.
2 Eight interviews were undertaken with key personnel involved in the delivery and the evaluation of the Cultural Programme in early 2013. The interviews focused on perceptions of legacy, the role of research and evidence and the responses of other local stakeholders to national Cultural Olympiad, the local programme and its evaluation. The interviewees were: two “legacy producers” programme leads, two consultants involved in evaluation research (one working on the national evaluation and the other on the regional evaluation), two representatives from the funder, the Legacy Trust, a local authority arts development officer and the regional creative programmer.