CPS HEartS project

Centre for Performance Science launches survey to study impact of Covid-19 on the arts

Tuesday 14 April 2020

The Centre for Performance Science (CPS) has launched a major new study to track the effects of Covid-19 on arts and culture students and professionals. The CPS is an internationally celebrated research centre run jointly by the Royal College of Music and Imperial College, London.

The Covid-19 study is live in five countries – UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – and builds on the Centre’s £1 million AHRC-funded Health, Economic and Social Impact of Arts Engagement (HEartS) project. Launched in 2017, HEartS explores the impact of arts and culture on health and wellbeing from individual, social and economic perspectives. The project is based on a series of surveys and is one of the largest scale studies involving the arts across the UK, gathering empirical and qualitive data over a span of three years.

The new survey invites residents of five different countries who are over 18 and work in the arts to help provide valuable insight into the impact of Covid-19 on the work, livelihood and wellbeing of those who work in the arts and culture sector.

The current survey is available to take until the end of May.

Later in the year the team will get back in touch with interested participants and re-open the survey to new participants, allowing them to compare responses from different points in the crisis. The results will be published in forthcoming reports and articles using data provided anonymously by survey respondents.

A lead researcher on the project, Neta Spiro, comments: ‘We are keen to learn from people working across the arts and culture sectors in any capacity – whether they are performers or work behind the scenes to facilitate arts and culture in any way. We hope the results will be directly helpful to the arts and cultural community at this challenging time.’

The world-famous Centre for Performance Science is home to researchers investigating the psychological, developmental and social sciences of music, including music’s impact on physical and mental health and wellbeing. The Centre itself draws on its members’ expertise in the arts, medicine, engineering, natural sciences, and business from across the RCM and Imperial.

Find out more about the HEartS project

Follow the CPS team on social media for latest developments in the project and take the Covid-19 survey yourself.

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