What Happened Next? - Researching the Long-term Impact of the Arts on People and Places. Chaired by Sally Thomas, Director, Social Regeneration Consultants When: Thursday 22nd April 2004, 10am - 4.30pm Where: The Lipman Lecture Theatre, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne. Tickets: Organisations £90, Individuals £60 (excluding accommodation). Places are limited to 70. Most research in the cultural sector is based on information captured at a point in time. Despite good intentions, there are rarely any follow-up studies, which means our understanding of the impact of events, activities and policies is limited to short-term effects. Long-term, or longitudinal, research is considered essential to the shaping of policy on the economy, education, health and law and order, so why not the cultural sector too? How do we measure the cumulative impact on individuals of participation in different types of cultural activity? How do we assess the long-term benefits to a city of being capital of culture for a year? How can we know what happened next? This seminar provides a rare opportunity for commissioners, consumers and authors of research (artists, arts managers, policy makers, funders, consultants and researchers) to discuss the challenges of longitudinal research in the cultural sector. The day will start with short presentations by two researchers with experience of longitudinal studies within and outside the cultural sector. Shirley Dex is Head of the Bedford Group for Lifecourse and Statistical Studies and Professor of Longitudinal Social Research in Education at London University's Institute of Education. Her work ranges from the world famous studies of children from birth for the rest of their lives (the British Birth Cohort studies) to tracking a sample of television viewers for the British Film Institute. The second speaker, Beatriz Garcia, is research fellow at the Centre for Cultural Policy Research at the University of Glasgow, where she is in the third year of a study of the long-term legacies of Glasgow City of Culture 1990. For more info and downloadble booking forms, visit www.arts-research-digest.com. Or email: hc.ard.unn.ac.uk to reserve a place. Contact Details: Arts Research Digest Holy Jesus Hospital, City Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 2AS Tel: +44 (0)191 233 3856 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7221 7724