The challenges and opportunities created by key social trends

This presentation comes from a sociological and social science perspective - one which uses a rigorous quantitative base in order to examine trends of how things are changing and to develop hypotheses for research. The historical data sets are from the government, the British Household Panel Study as well as their proprietary survey Changing Lives. The presentation aims to cover four main topics:

• Arts and culture in a rebalanced world (talking about the way in which the world is changing)
• The renaissance of collective concerns
• Exploring the experience economy
• Complicated lives and time pressures

And then pull together some of the implications for arts marketers.

The government is moving into horizon scanning', which means identifying the unforeseen, the things that can't yet be perceived (almost over the horizon). This is different from forecasting which aims to predict things with relative certainty.

The reality is that the political, economic and cultural map of the world will be redrawn over the next thirty years. While we already have an understanding of the economic implications of these emerging nations, we need to consider what the UK will do in terms of competing, in terms of stamping its mark on the world and having a role in the cultural landscape of the future. One idea is that we might offer Britain as a new Venice, or a Venice of the 21st Century: a vibrant, internationalist 'city state' with innovation and cultural vibrancy at the heart of what it has to offer and export to the wider world, and to attract visitors from overseas.

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