Tens of thousands of cultural events happen across the UK every week, from theatre to comedy, and festivals to exhibitions. The data stream that is left as a record suggests an opportunity for researchers to analyse trends, understand the contribution that the UK creative industries makes to our culture and society, and plan ahead for the future. But how can researchers in the Arts and Humanities make use of large-scale data analysis, to explore this data?

The Towards Large-scale Cultural Analytics in the Arts and Humanities project is an AHRC funded project which will investigate the availability of UK cultural events data. It aims to propose a design for a future national data service which will help researchers to analyse and report on the UK’s cultural and heritage industries, particularly focussing on UK events. We aim to support novel research and understanding of our world-leading creative and cultural industries, allowing a step-change in evidence that will inform policy, investment, and COVID-19 recovery.

Throughout 2022, we will be undertaking a scoping study, working with our project team, industry consultants Data Thistle, and project partners, to understand how best to gather, analyse, and report on UK events data at scale. We will be interviewing various researchers who have a need for this data, and aim to understand the training needs of researchers in any future data service. We will also host a series of online seminars, interviews, and discussions about how events data is an untapped resource for researchers. Our project should report late summer 2022, and we look forward to involving you in discussions.

Towards Large-scale Cultural Analytics in the Arts and Humanities is funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, under their “Scoping future data services for the arts and humanities” scheme, grant number AH/W007533/1. It is a project supported by the Edinburgh Futures Institute, and EPCC.