Constellations of Change Report Now Live!
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
Yesterday we launched a landmark report on the socially engaged arts (SEA) and their impact across Europe, Constellations of Change.
Commissioned by the Alliance, for Socially Engaged Arts, and delivered collaboratively with Fondazione Santagata per l’Economia della Cultura and KEA European Affairs, the research maps 1,128 organisations across 39 European countries—the most comprehensive study of its kind to date.
What’s inside Constellations of Change:
Defining the field:Â History, terminology and common principles.
Understanding impact:Â How SEA facilitate personal, collective and systemic change.
SEA organisations:Â Structure, characteristics and approaches to community collaboration.
Challenges and needs:Â Barriers and opportunities for SEA thriving.
Strategic alignment:Â The role of policymaking and funding in recognising and resourcing the field.
Future trends: Exploring emerging pathways for the field’s evolution.
Taking action:Â Recommendations for field-building and advocacy at local, national and EU levels.
The report's core finding is clear: that amidst Europe's intensifying polycrisis, SEA is repairing fragmented social fabric and creating the conditions for transformation at personal, community and systemic levels by activating creative collaboration and empowering communities to imagine and realise alternative futures.
It reveals how SEA organisations and practitioners are acting as mediators between local communities, public institutions, social and environmental services, funders and policymakers. They are creating impact across multiple issues and areas of social and environmental need, often simultaneously, always defining priorities with communities to transform local needs and lived experience into meaningful change. They are largely doing this at a grassroots, place-based level, with small to medium-scale non-profit organisations and modest budgets, and ambitious visions for creatively-facilitated change.
At a time of growing inequality, polarisation and declining trust in institutions throughout Europe, Constellations of Change makes the case for greater recognition and support for SEA and the vital contribution they make to communities, civic life and social cohesion. It maps future trends and pathways, outlining the potential for SEA to scale positive social and environmental transformation, depending the extent to which the gap can be closed between policymaking, funding infrastructure and SEA organisations and their communities. Drawing on case studies of SEA practice and impact from across Europe, as well as examples of collaborative and participatory grantmaking and funding initiatives, Constellations of Change invites readers to consider what could be possible if we rebalanced established power dynamics to enable collaboration across institutional divides that puts community needs and arts-based methodologies at the heart of social transformation.
Combining survey findings, policy analysis, case studies and practitioner perspectives, the report demonstrates the field’s contribution to addressing a wide range of societal challenges—from strengthening civic engagement and wellbeing to supporting inclusion, participation and environmental action—while outlining the changes needed for the field to thrive. It concludes with a set of recommendations for policymakers, funders and practitioners to strengthen support for socially engaged arts at local, national and EU levels.
An additional Supplement to the main report, also available for download at the link above, expands the section on SEA organisations, providing additional insight, regional variances and additional case studies to bring the data to life.
Our hope is that the report can support the work and advocacy of SEA organisations to secure greater acknowledgement, resource and validation for the crucial work they do, as well as supporting policymakers, funders and other collaborators better understand the SEA field and its crucial role in these times.
Advocacy Toolkit
To help translate the report's recommendations into action, the Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts have developed an advocacy toolkit to support practitioners, organisations, networks, funders and policymakers in using the report to advocate for meaningful support for SEA at regional, national and EU levels.
What’s inside the toolkit:
A summary of the key findings, recommendations and impact areas.
A range of social posts and copy to use when talking about the report.
Policy briefs to accompany advocacy efforts.
Stories of impact by socially engaged arts organisations across Europe.
Help us spread the word to make this resource available to as many SEA organisations as possible!
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all of the people who contributed to this report from all three partner organisations, the Alliance for their trust, and all of the SEA organisations, artists, researchers, policymakers and funders we spoke to who gave their time, insights, expertise and experience to help us learn and articulate meaningful findings for the field. We hope this report does their work justice, and can be a useful tool for the SEA field to demonstrate its impact, and make the case for SEA as a form of vital cultural, social and imaginitive infrastructure to navigate these uncertain and turbulent times of change.
