CRESC Senior Research Fellow Andrew Miles was the Guest Lecturer in the first meeting of Leeds Metropolitan University’s Knowledge Exchange Network on participation and engagement in the arts, which took place on the 23rd September 2010. Andrew spoke on ‘Meaning and Politics in Participation’ to an audience of more than 50 people, including academics from 10 universities, cultural policy makers from the Arts Council and local authorities and a large number of practitioners from individual artists to representatives from some of the North's largest institutions.

Presentations were also given by the network convenors, Leila Jancovich, from the UK Centre for Events Management at LMU, and Professor Franco Bianchini from the University’s Cultural Planning and Policy Unit in the School of Cultural Studies.  These were followed by lively workshops exploring different factors influencing participation and engagement in the arts.