The issues surrounding the development of communities, of social regeneration as opposed to purely economic regeneration, are as varied as the communities themselves. Some common themes do exist and the UK’s experience of using arts and creativity to combat social exclusion and develop coherent communities is significant.

Many projects exist and much research has been done to analyse the impact of these projects and the approach that has been taken. The work of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has been important in this area and their website provides access to a significant body of research in the UK. Its 1997 report Culture Makes Communities, highlighted the role of the arts in underpinning other social inclusion activities, providing evidence of the impact of community arts and creativity projects on a communities self-esteem and social coherence. In 2001 in published a further report Creative regeneration: Lessons from 10 community arts projects. (Copies of both reports are available through their website.)

In 1999 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its report on social exclusion, which examines the contribution made by both the arts and sport to community development.

As creative and arts programmes have become more central to regeneration and social inclusion projects, there has been a growing need to show the impact that they have, particularly in terms of “Best Value”. One recent paper by Roger Stephens at the London Borough of Islington considers the evaluation of community arts projects in the context of “best value” and the issues facing Local Government in this regard.

Of course, artists themselves are often disturbed by the need to analyse their work from the perspective of its impact beyond the aesthetic. A recent report by the UK charity Barnados, which reviewed the literature around the impact of community-based arts projects in terms of social gain, also considered this point and concluded that a broader range of evaluative techniques are required to capture the real impact of community arts projects.