Future of Arts & Culture

About Future of Arts & Culture

What is the future of arts & culture project

Future of Arts and Culture is a qualitative probe into the future of arts and culture globally, examining emerging forces, drivers of change and the possible impacts that may reshape the cultural sector in the coming decade.

The project was created as a collaboration among futurists, sector experts and stakeholders. It emerged as a way to see past the fog of global pandemic, to better understand how existing and emerging pressures, innovations and models of culture might unfold — to understand different ways in which creators, institutions and audiences might come together as a results of these shifting forces, and what these changes may mean for all aspects of art and culture ecosystems.

Project methodology

9 High-level drivers of change

Respondents from different regions, sectors and roles were presented, through an online survey, nine high-level drivers of change happening in arts and culture globally.

Extrapolate multiple possible futures

They were then asked to select one driver, extrapolate impacts of that driver through several steps, and describe future vignettes where several key impacts combine. This exercise was open during June and July 2021, and invitees were offered the opportunity to go through several rounds of the exercise to explore multiple possible futures.

Analysis on causes and impacts

Changeist analysed the causes and impacts mapped in the responses, their relationships and outcomes, and developed three inductive scenarios from these inputs. The scenario narratives represent the dominant views of the group as a whole.

The scenarios presented here are not meant to be forecasts as much as provocations that interweave the collective opinions and insights of the global participant group. They are possible futures as collectively voiced by contributors, and the narratives that follow connect the dots of data in narrative forms that can be more easily explored.

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