Abigail J Gilmore

Abi has a background in social science, having worked as a cultural policy researcher and lecturer in a number of UK higher education institutions, including De Montfort University, Loughborough University and Staffordshire University. Prior to joining Culture Northwest fulltime as Director of Research, she was in a joint-funded post as Research Officer for Arts Council England, North West and Culture Northwest, tasked with establishing a regional cultural observatory, one of the first in the UK. She has published in Cultural Trends and the International Journal of Cultural Policy, and is currently on the Cultural Trends Advisory Board.

She co-founded and was the first Chair of the Regional Cultural Consortiums Research Network in England. As part of the Northwest Cultural Observatory she has established a regional intelligence network which is currently expanding to include members from key research communities in the North West, including government bodies, local authorities, academic institutions and independent researchers and consultants. This network supports the development of regional research priorities facilitated and supported by the Observatory. The Observatory was formally launched in October 2005, and is funded by a partnership of regional agencies including the cultural agencies and the regional development agency.

Amongst the research programmes the Observatory has been involved with is the ground-breaking Impacts 08 - the Liverpool Model, a programme led by University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University, commissioned by Liverpool City Council, to research and evaluate the social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts of the Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008 designation. There are also a number of key work strands concerned with evidencing culture's contribution to social and economic agendas, particularly in terms of the context of local authority performance management and profiling and mapping cultural assets.

Previous research and consultation which Abi has undertaken includes creative and cultural industries mapping, the development of local cultural strategies, economic impact research for festivals and carnivals, the importance of local images and perceptions to cultural planning and place-marketing, and the role of creative industries in local economic development. She was also research associate on a critical cultural policy study of the Millennium Dome/Experience, directed by Jim McGuigan and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board. Her PhD research was an examination of local music industries and urban cultural policy with her doctorate awarded in 2000.

Abi considers her background in higher education and social science in particular as vital to her current role as research manager and director in the public sector, and continues to value the developing partnerships with higher education institutions and academics which this background has helped to facilitate. She is excited to be part of the expanding network of international cultural researchers which inform the development of UK-based cultural observatories and research capacities aiming to support and evaluate cultural management and policy at local and regional levels.