Stories for Survival: Putting literature at the heart of regional development
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT Literature shapes our understanding of the world and affects how we engage with everything from social relationships to our economic and political attitudes. Literature development agencies (LDAs) are regional organisations which increase the confidence and resilience of communities by giving them the opportunities and resources to engage in writing and literature. Their activities can take the form of creative workshops, training and facilitation, schools initiatives, festivals and events, or mentoring programmes. LDAs can promote good health and wellbeing, expand access to quality education, and help address and reduce inequalities. While the UK has one of the largest literature industries in the OECD,1 it has one of the lowest teenage literacy rates. Unequal access to literature development is compounded in the school system, where the likelihood of writers visiting a school is 84% in the independent sector, and under 10% in Special Educational Needs schools. LDAs help offset the unequal access to literary culture across different socio-economic backgrounds by providing free, welcoming accessible opportunities for diverse communities across their region. They tackle national challenges with literacy and literature engagement by engaging young people with reading and writing. LDAs are rooted in their places, and act as anchor institutions for geographically dispersed communities and creative freelancers. They can also support writers’ professional development, providing organisational infrastructure and expertise to support funding bids and collaborations. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries. 1
FINDINGS Professor Will May and Joanna Nissel worked with ArtfulScribe, an LDA based in Southampton, to better understand the role, capacity and needs of LDAs in regional development. We mapped 250 organisations and literaturefocused projects across the Solent, and led 35 consultations, including regional development agencies, writers, and facilitators. Our analysis showed: 1. Literature development activities are often led by individuals. Our regional survey found a culture of literature development activities being led by a single, highly motivated individual. 73% of events in the sample were run by one facilitator or organisation. This was not sustainable, since many initiatives ended after the leader stepped down. The patchy administrative and organisational support across the region meant burnout was common among people working in community and arts organisations. 2. Geographic isolation is the main challenge for writers at the beginning of their career. Writing benefits from collaboration: in our survey, writers and organisers expressed a need for greater connection and communication. It was widely accepted that there were many excellent writers, event organisers, and practitioners working across the Solent region, but that they often did not know about each other, or were not working together. 3. Support for literature development is clustered in urban areas. In our survey, 71% of all literature development activities took places in towns and cities, despite large rural areas in the Solent region. This suggests LDAs have key roles to play as bridge organisations, helping increase regional connectivity. 4. Areas with less established regional identities often receive less funding, leading to a cycle of under-investment. Our research analysed recent Arts Council England applications, and found the Solent region not only receives less literature funding than any other area, but has a lower number of successful bids. 1 in 10 national priority areas identified by Arts Council England for more investment are in the Solent. Many of the writers we surveyed felt the region was characterised by local writing enclaves. 5. Investing in literature helps strengthen local cultural capital.
The likelihood of writers visiting a school is 84% in the independent sector, and under 10% in Special Educational Needs schools.
LDAs use a local, place-based approach to engage multiple stakeholders, establishing regional networks and hubs. ArtfulScribe’s recent collaborative regional mentoring scheme for young people, Poetry Ambassadors, connected two universities, a national poetry festival, and an independent publisher. The mentoring led to a local poet receiving the inaugural James Berry Poetry Prize in 2021, securing a national profile for writers in the Solent.
RECOMMENDATIONS 1. More partnership working and cross-community collaboration would improve regional literature provision. Literature development is full of energy, enthusiasm and talent, but events and initiatives are often local, one-off, and don’t make connections across audiences and communities. This leads to uneven and unsustainable provision, and individual and organisational challenges with delivery and workload. 2. Regional support on evidence-led evaluation from HEIs and larger arts organisations will improve the success rate for funding bids, and help share expertise. There are a dynamic range of freelancers, volunteers, and small organisations programming literature events or running reading or writing engagement projects, but lack of awareness of funding and poor bidding capacity can limit the range, ambition, and sustainability of regional literature offers. Writers and literature organisations would benefit from a regular programme of workshops on bid-writing by practitioners with a successful track record, improving the quality and diversity of our provision.
71% of all literature development activities took places in towns and cities
3. Sustained models of regional funding for literature development will have a positive impact on literacy levels and engagement with literature. While LDA work can transform the expectations and self-confidence of young people, funding for reading and writing initiatives at all levels is increasingly project-specific and short-term. This can limit the potential benefits of new initiatives, or create a cycle of under-engagement, as communities are built without the wider structures to sustain them. 4. Writers and facilitators would benefit from more opportunities for professional mentoring and talent development, helping to foster a more inclusive talent pipeline. Our arts culture is characterised by small organisations and initiatives led by individuals, often leaving little capacity to access training, development, or mentoring. Writers we surveyed cited the difficulties of managing workloads or developing their skills in a project-led environment.
1 in 10 national priority areas identified by Arts Council England for more investment are in the Solent
Authors Will May Professor in Modern and Contemporary Literature Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities w.may@soton.ac.uk @willbmay Joanna Nissel Postgraduate Researcher in English at the University of Southampton j.f.nissel@soton.ac.uk @Jo_Nissel