The space for change: Exploring a capability approach to cultural policy in Calgary and Leeds

This research aims to contribute to the small but growing body of work seeking to (re) imagine cultural policy towards issues of social justice and human wellbeing. It does so by conceptualising what a (cultural) capability policy design might look like and by questioning the space available to advance such policies on the ground. This work uses two middle cities, Calgary, Canada and Leeds, UK as case studies and draws on a unique theoretical framework that combines the capability approach (Sen, 1998; Nussbaum, 2011) with Rainer Forst’s (2014), little used, theory of deliberative and democratic processes of justification, to explore the practicalities behind developing and implementing capabilities-based cultural policy design. It expands on Gross and Wilson's (2018) notion of ‘cultural capability’, defined as "the substantive freedoms to give form and value to our experiences", by considering what processes might be needed to advance cultural opportunities as legitimate policy aims in Calgary and Leeds. In order to gain a better sense of the space available in either city to enact substantive policy change, this research evaluates both cities’ existing policies and practices. In particular, it focuses on how justifications for public support of arts and culture in Calgary and Leeds (and the power relations and processes that sustain them) encourage or constrict the ability to move policy beyond dominant practices and prevailing notions of cultural value.