Demystifying the arts centre model: a critical exploration of a difficult difficult brand

Despite their prevalence in both England and Australia, arts centres are often
neglected within academic research and policy. Beyond a few surveys and a
handful of publications, there is little investigation into the arts centre model
internationally and specifically in England and Australia. This thesis aims to
demystify the arts centre model, shedding light on arts centres in both England
and Australia by asking the question: How suitable is the arts centre model for
effective arts and cultural provision? To undertake this task, this thesis
incorporates three methodological approaches: an online survey with 201 arts
centres, nine external expert interviews, and four arts centre case studies.

The findings highlight the centrality of an arts centre’s relationship with its
community and provide insight into the role of arts centres, uncovering the
unique characteristics of arts centres in terms of management and leadership,
programming, marketing and branding, and stakeholder perceptions. The
research suggests that these inherent characteristics of the arts centre model
could be viewed as providing unique opportunities, yet also constituting a difficult
difficult brand (Harrison and Hartley, 2007), as it is precisely the characteristics
that make arts centres unique that present them with their greatest challenges.

This research reveals that the use of broader literature in the arts centre setting
fails to consider the complexities and nuances of the arts centre model. This
research is particularly timely given the opportunities presented by arts centres in
supporting policy agendas such as the focus on the hyperlocal (Polivtseva, 2020;
Sargent, 2021; Walmsley et al., 2022), placemaking and the rise of local and
regional policymaking. My research shows that if managed appropriately with
community at its heart, arts centres are an untapped resource for communities,
worthy of further research and attention.