UNIVERSITIES AND FESTIVALS Cultural Production in Context Laura C. Ager 2016 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of Salford, October 2016. Abstract This thesis critically examines universities as cultural producers within the creative ecologies of their cities, with a focus on the occasions when they produce cultural events for the public. It is a context-specific and empirical study that examines events at three individual universities in major UK cities. It takes as its starting point the range of third mission, or engagement activities through which universities form links with the local cultural sector and to the wider community and considers how the university, a relatively permanent institution that constitutes the major element of the UK higher education landscape, provides a set of conditions and a site for a temporally bounded cultural formation, a festival. Festivals have not been extensively researched in this particular context and the understanding gained about the processes, structures and human networks through which they are designed, developed and delivered constitutes an original contribution of the PhD. Festival programmes are different to other types of public cultural programmes that are offered to the public on a year-round basis. Although it presents itself as a single phenomenon, the festival is actually a kind of meta-text, or an assemblage of texts and discourses. Festivals offer a spatially and temporally bounded public platform or ‘pop-up third place’ where university activities are externalised and made available for public exhibition and consumption. These dimensions create a discursive formation around the production of such festivals which are investigated using qualitative methods. The thesis is interested in understanding the effects of contemporary and political discourses on higher education and on what is produced, with regard to how the effects are mediated through the distinctiveness of individual places. It takes a theoretically informed look at how changes within the wider political economy of higher education have affected the way in which UK universities are managed, how they report to Government and what they produce. It argues that although the production of festivals is advocated under the ‘public engagement with research’ agenda, the festivals studied reveal a changing political culture within Higher Education. ii Contents Abstract ii List of figures viii Acknowledgements x Introduction p.1 Studying cultural production in context p.3 Aims and objectives p.9 Chapter one p.14 From the rise of knowledge-based industries to the role of the university in the creative economy. The global production of value p.15 The role of universities in a knowledge economy p.17 Taking a perspective on the cultural economy p.19 Creative industries and competitive cities p.23 Producing culture, producing identity p.27 Summary p.31 Chapter two p.33 Universities The origins and idea of a university p.34 What is a university for? p.37 Funding priorities for academic research in the UK p.39 Student fees and the ‘block grant’ for teaching p.41 Urban, knowledge-based development strategies p.43 Understanding ‘the university’ as a cultural organisation p.47 REF, impact and the ‘civic’ role of HE institutions p.50 Public engagement p.52 The intermediary p.54 Beyond the campus: a third place p.55 Summary p.56 iii Chapter three p.59 Festivals What is a festival? p.60 The Critique of Everyday Life p.62 Revolutionary festivals p.64 The aesthetic qualities of festival p.65 Festivals as cultural industry p.66 Studying the contemporary festivalscape p.70 The cultural public sphere: aesthetics, counter-publics and activism p.71 Conceptual frameworks for the study and analysis of festivals p.76 Summary p.77 Chapter four p.79 Perspectives on cultural research Theoretical perspectives on cultural research: a conceptual field of inquiry p.80 The production of culture perspective p.87 A perspective on the intermediary p.90 Summary p.91 Chapter five p.93 Methodological perspectives and research strategy Why qualitative research? p.94 Reflexive researcher: an objective / subjective dilemma p.97 Research strategy p.100 Criterial properties p.102 Setting out the ‘phrases’ p.106 Form, document and encounter p.109 Fieldwork: conduct and ethics p.110 Interviews p.111 Analysis p.115 Summary p.116 iv Chapter six p.118 The University of Birmingham Arts and Science Festival The Arts and Science Festival: form, document and encounter p.120 Context: cultural inheritance p.124 Context: a city perspective p.126 Festival events: The Handsworth Scroll: “Radical politics on the High Street” p.129 Festival events: 1960s Art and Architecture Tour p.133 Festival events: 366 Days of Kindness: A Talk p.138 Flatpack festival and Café Neuro p.141 Discussion: Reflections on the Arts and Science Festival p.146 Discussion: Curating the Campus p.154 Discussion: Artist residencies p.158 Summary p.161 Chapter seven p.164 Manchester Metropolitan University Humanities in Public Festival MMU HiP Festival: form, document and encounter p.165 Context: institutional structure p.169 “Acronym City” p.170 Context: a city perspective p.172 HiP #1: Launch and Day of the Droogs p.176 Festival events: HiP #1: Tina Chanter lecture and Sensing Place symposium p.180 HiP #2: Launch and Inaugural lecture p.182 Festival events: HiP #2: Beyond Babel film festival and “History is the new punk” p.183 Gothic Manchester Festival: “Paint the city black” p.188 Discussion: the evolution of the HiP festival and organiser’s praxis p.191 Discussion: Modes of production: the Gothic Manchester Festival p.196 Discussion: local structures of feeling p.200 Summary p.202 v Chapter eight p.204 The Bristol Radical Film Festival The Bristol Radical Film Festival: Form, document and encounter p.205 Institutional context: “UWE is the whole reason...despite itself” p.210 Context: a city perspective p.215 BRFF 2104 p.217 Why radical? The ‘real’ British cinema p.220 Festival of British Independent Cinema and the Independent Filmmakers Association p.226 The development of the Radical Film Network p.229 Discussion: The creative industries discourse and its effect on film studies p.232 Discussion: on ‘being institutionalised’ p.234 Discussion: the RFN p.236 Summary p.240 Chapter nine p.241 A discussion of the findings Engagement: process or impact? p.242 Clusters, circuits, networks p.246 A genealogy of Humanities festivals p.249 A perspective on the cultural intermediary p.251 Machinic assemblages: production techniques and technology p.257 The social role of objects p.262 Public sphere p.265 Militant disciplines and academic activism p.268 Summary p.271 Chapter ten p.272 Conclusion Festival as method p.273 Festival as sector? p.277 Last word p.279 References p.285 Glossary p.309 vi Appendix 1. Towards a classification system for university-festivals. p.310 Appendix 2. Participant information sheet. p.311 Appendix 3. Individual’s statement of informed consent. p.312 Appendix 4. Events included in the fieldwork in 2014. p.313 vii List of figures Figure 1. Two promotional images for the festival at the University of Birmingham in 2013. p.105 Figure 2. Detail of the University of Birmingham website promoting UBASF events, March 2016. p.118 Figure 3. Side by side: two promotional documents for a film screening event, March 2013. p.119 Figure 4. The printed guide to the 2013 edition of the UBASF. p.120 Figure 5. The printed guide to the 2014 edition of the UBASF. p.121 Figure 6. The Handsworth Scroll, March 2014. p.130 Figure 7. Two details of The Handsworth Scroll, March 2014. p.131 Figure 8. Moonstrips Empire News (1967) exhibited in the Law building, University of Birmingham. p.133 Figure 9. Ancestor I (1970) part of the Family of Man series of sculptures by Barbara Hepworth. p.134 Figure 10. Poster for The Handsworth Scroll event, March 2014. p.136 Figure 11. The Grade 2 listed Muirhead Tower, built in 1963, University of Birmingham, March 2014. p.136 Figure 12. The Modern Languages building, University of Birmingham, March 2014. p.137 Figure 13. A screengrab of a tweet from the 366 Days of Kindness event, March 2014. p.140 Figure 14. Front cover of HiP festival brochure 2013-2014, 2nd edition. p.165 Figure 15. Front cover of HiP festival brochure 2014-2015. p.167 Figure 16. Postcards and promotional chocolate square at the HiP launch, September 2014. p.168 viii Figure 17. Three events programmes in the 2015-16 edition of the HiP festival. p.168 Figure 18. The atrium space at the Geoffrey Manton Building, MMU, January 2014. p.176 Figure 19. 2013-14 festival guides taken at Day of the Droogs, IABF, January 2014. p.177 Figure 20. HiP recoil banner at Day of the Droogs, IABF, January 2014. p.178 Figure 21. Promotional items at the HiP launch event, MMU, September 2014. p.182 Figure 22. Inside the Cotton Theatre at The Manchester Conference Centre, March 2015. p.184 Figure 23. The 'Gothic Curiosity Shop' at the IABF, Manchester, October 2015. p.189 Figure 24. A screengrab of a tweet from a Gothic Manchester event, October 2015. p.190 Figure 25. Aerial Burglars of Cottonopolis at the Sacred Trinity Church, Salford, October 2014. p.197 Figure 26. Front cover image of the BRFF 2014 programme guide. p.205 Figure 27. Screen grabs of the BRFF website and Facebook page, February 2014. p.207 Figure 28. A composite image of photographs taken at Open City Docs, London, June 2014. p.208 Figure 29. The Arc in Bristol being used as a BRFF venue, March 2014. p.209 Figure 30. The Bearpit, on the way to The Cube cinema, Bristol, March 2014.