Politics, Art and Expression

Many commentators have emphasised the role of the arts in fostering civic consciousness and social capital.

Participating in community art, music, opera, theatre, and a variety of other arts-based activities has, it can be argued, a significant effect both ‘instrumentally’ in the sense of promoting civic activity such as volunteering and voting, but also a more ‘intrinsic’ value of improving cultural diversity, inclusiveness and civic vibrancy.

We want to understanding the relationship between participation in arts projects and engagement in politics, broadly defined, particularly amongst disadvantaged communities.

We’re also interested in the broader relationship between politics and the arts, how music, theatre, film, photography or other forms of art can be used as outlets for political expression and representing politics in new and productive ways.

For example, we are keen to examine how comedy and satire can be an outlet for political expression, and how this may be used as a potentially positive way of promoting interest in politics (in place of much contemporary satire that arguably degrades politics and politicians).

How do politicians relate to the world of art and culture, or attempt to engage with citizens through appealing to the world of art, culture and entertainment?

We research both the relationship between participation in arts projects and participation in politics, and how politics and ‘the political’ can be expressed through a variety of different forms, in a way that we hope helps improve public understandings of how and why politics matters in the twenty-first century.