An independent think & do tank dedicated to the UK’s creative, cultural & heritage ecosystem.
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We want to help more people and places across the country to get access to the benefits that the creative, cultural and heritage sectors produce.
We want to assist our sectors in securing the support and resources they from decision makers to thrive for many years to come.
We want to lift up under-represented voices and ensure they can participate in more open, transparent and inclusive policymaking processes.
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Our sectors are a powerful force for social and economic good. They enrich lives, bring communities together, and contribute to our national prosperity.
The creative industries are now a ‘priority sector’ for the UK Government, and our cultural and heritage institutions are admired the world over.
Yet today, our sectors face unprecedented challenges that fundamentally threaten their vitality.
We believe that a more inclusive and sustainable future for our sectors is possible.
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Our work is shaped through close consultation with a broad range of stakeholders, ensuring it reflects diverse perspectives and priorities.
We bring together large, collaborative coalitions to drive open policy development programmes on issues of national significance.
We often work directly with elected officials and decision makers across all levels of government to help them fulfil their commitments to the communities they serve.
We partner with leading universities and research institutions on publicly funded research that has national and global impact.
Our consultancy services support clients and partners in defining and pursuing their own policy policy priorities.
What we do
We help our sectors and places across the country to better understand their position within the creative, cultural and heritage ecosystem, spotlight their value to society and secure investment from decision makers.
Through a ‘for purpose’ operating model, we blend income derived from our core services and combine this with grants to deliver projects with the spirit of public support body and the vigour of a consultancy.
Working with a range of stakeholder groups, we’re moving the dial on some of the most pressing policy challenges of our times through research, policy, advocacy and evaluation at the local, regional and national levels.
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We deliver rigorous, high-impact consultancy research that equips organisations with the evidence they need to make meaningful change.
Our work doesn’t sit on shelves; it moves agendas forward and empowers organisations to act with confidence.
From incisive policy reviews and insight-driven discussion papers to peer-reviewed academic research, our work sparks debate and leads to real-world impact.
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We don’t just react to change - we help shape it.
Our policy design work is grounded in evidence, built for real-world impact, and tailored to the fast-moving realities that our sectors face.
We blend rigorous analysis and sector expertise with political insight and sensitivity, ensuring our ideas land credibly with the decision makers who’ll implement them.
We monitor legislative developments in all four UK parliaments and are increasingly working in regional contexts with mayors as devolution extends.
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We help a range of ecosystem stakeholders to connect with key decision-makers and secure support and vital investment.
By bringing clients, partners, and influencers together through targeted events, roundtables and policy labs, we turn ideas into real-world action.
Our thought leadership and collaborative advocacy style cuts through the noise, shifts priorities, and delivers measurable change.
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We help organisations measure and understand their impact with clarity and precision.
Using mixed methods approaches, we bring together data, narratives and lived experiences to uncover what’s working, what isn’t, and why.
Our evaluations go beyond measurement: they support learning, sharpen strategy, and drive evidence-informed decisions that deliver real value.
We are supported with direct and indirect grant and/or core funding from
£21 million
Funding secured for clients
300+
Organisations supported
25
Projects successfully delivered
Who we work with
We initiate and lead projects our own projects and also work in partnership with others to drive towards shared policy priorities.
We work with a wide range of stakeholders, including creative firms, cultural institutions, local authorities, universities, trade unions, funders, parliaments and national governments.
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We help creative firms, cultural institutions and others think about their position within the ecosystem, measure their impacts and articulate how they support policy priorities at a range of spatial scales.
We also help our sectors to get their work recognised by decision makers and put compelling cases for investment together to secure their long-term future.
Our ecosystem focus means that we are able to develop work that benefits everyone - not just those with the time and resources to commission work from us.
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We work with senior leaders, elected politicians and civil servants across the country to boost creative, cultural, and heritage outcomes locally and regionally.
We increasingly partner with elected mayors and their teams to maximise the opportunities that devolution presents.
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We work with researchers and higher education institutions on research projects and help them translate findings into actionable policy recommendations.
We help researchers get their work in front of key decision-makers across a range of government departments to inform live policymaking processes.
Our work supports universities in achieving their goals under the Research Excellence Framework and Knowledge Exchange Framework.
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We work with national governments across all four UK nations, briefing Ministers, Cabinet members, and Secretaries of State and their teams on key policy developments.
Collaborating closely with civil servants, we also help develop practical solutions based on our findings.
We influence policy through evidence submissions to committees and all-party parliamentary groups, while uniting the creative, cultural, and heritage sectors to make sure their priorities reach senior parliamentarians.
Find out about our services
Professor Ben Walmsley, Dean at the University of Leeds
“Culture Commons have affected a step change in the traction that our research is getting with key policy stakeholders at all levels. I really can't recommend them highly enough.”
Latest News
Rosie McPherson, Artistic Director of Stand and Be Counted Theatre
“As an arts organisation, we’ve wanted to have more influence on policy making for years. Culture Commons have opened that door. We've now put across our views to the Home Office and had a meaningful response - that’s just major for us.”
Live Projects
Culture Commons is leading up a national open policy development programme exploring the risks and opportunities that the ‘devolution revolution’ presents to our sectors. A coalition of 30 partners from across the UK have come together to co-commission new research and developing policies that could help us make the most of this period of considerable national change.
The Future of Cultural Devolution in the UK
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Developing a Blueprint for a new National Cultural Data Observatory
We’re working with the Centre for Cultural Value, The Audience Agency and My Cake to scope a blueprint for a new national body that will help people, places and organisations to collect, collate and communicate data better.
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Updating UK Government investment priciples through the Measuring Culture & Heritage Capitals project
We’re working with Historic England, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and others to help develop a new framework to measure Culture and Heritage Capitals that will inform an update HM Treasury's ‘Green Book’ approach to investment.
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Setting a new policy direction for the English Civic Museums Network
We’re working with a network of nearly 100 museums across England to identify a new set of policy objectives based on a fast-moving political landscape, develop a new Statement of Purpose and secured investment from the UK Government.
Professor Pascale Aebisher MBE, Lead Researcher on ‘Pandemic & Beyond’
“Culture Commons have had a truly transformative impact on our project. They have radically shifted the ways we engage with policymakers in Westminster, devolved governments and regional leaders through their ready-made networks.”
Featured Publications
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Culture-led capital projects: catalysing local decision making in place
Discussion Paper
Partners
University of Kent
Author
Dr Cara Courage, Dr Lucrezia Gigante (Culture Commons), Professor Catherine Richardson (University of Kent).
Editor
Trevor MacFarlane
Description
This paper examines how culture-led capital development projects are creating new opportunities for local cultural decision making in the UK. Through an analysis of two live case studies – Docking Station (Medway, Kent) and Harmony Works (Sheffield, South Yorkshire) – we examine how capital development projects function as important nodes within creative, cultural and heritage ecosystems, as well as their potential to enhance the voice of local people within them. We make several tentative recommendations for future policy support mechanisms that could ensure the flourishing of such projects in future.
Published as part of ‘The Future of Cultural Devolution in the UK’ open policy development programme.
April 2025
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The view from local governments in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland on local cultural decision making
Insight Paper
Partners
Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COLSA), Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA).
Author
Culture Commons
Description
This paper summarises discussions at high level roundtables with local government officers and arm’s length external organisations (ALEOS) across Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales about increased local decision making for culture, creativity and heritage.
Published as part of The Future of Local Cultural Devolution in the UK open policy development programme.
November 2024
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A review of devolution and the UK's creative, cultural, and heritage ecosystem
Discussion Paper
Author
Eliza Easton (Erskine Analysis), Trevor MacFarlane (Culture Commons), Jack Shaw (Labour Together).
Description
This paper takes a look back at how the creative, cultural and heritage ecosystem has interacted with devolution in recent years far, charting the empowerment of the devolved nations and regional bodies.
This paper provides a detailed backdrop for the policy work taking places as part of ‘The Future of Cultural Devolution in the UK’ - a major four nations open policy development programme led by Culture Commons in coalition with 30 partners.
November 2024