In the wake of the extraordinary economic and social disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we resolved to reconvene the Cultural Cities Enquiry to take an urgent look at how investment in culture can contribute to the recovery effort. We brought together leaders from the cultural sector, education, hospitality and tourism, real estate, and investment, alongside local council leaders, to generate practical, high-impact, scalable proposals.

We looked at how we can use cultural investment to stimulate the reanimation of places, and boost the recovery of retail, tourism and hospitality. We also addressed the role of culture in helping to drive change in the places which struggle to attract business investment or to develop and retain talent, which lack high quality jobs, and innovative local enterprises – so they are able to cultivate their own creative industries or high tech clusters, to underpin future prosperity and tackle inequality.

We have put together a plan that we believe will not only sustain the vital contribution of culture to our cities and towns, but also provide a powerful stimulus to recovery and renewal, as part of the process of ‘levelling up’.