Recently, I had the privilege of attending the European Association of Sport Management (EASM) conference in my home city of Belfast, Northern Ireland; the focus being ‘Forward thinking in Sport Management: strengthening inclusivity, accessibility and sustainability’.
Continue reading “Experiencing EASM Belfast 2023 (11th–15th September)”
Imagine standing before an awe-inspiring ancient relic, such as the Borobudur temple compound in Indonesia or the Parthenon of Greece. These astonishing landmarks hold centuries of captivating stories within their dented walls.
Continue reading “Negotiating Meanings in Heritage Sites “
I recently returned from a two-month mobility to the US; its purpose to carry out observation and conversations, as the first phase of my study, entitled: ‘Mega Events, Governance and Human Rights: A Case Study of the United 2026 World Cup’
Continue reading “EventRights Mobility to USA (20th February – 21st April 2023)”
The Elephant in the Room exhibition opened in Paisley’s Art Department space in early May and ran for about two weeks, (until 13th of the month).
Continue reading “The Elephant(s) in the Room 🐘🐘🐘”
On a bright Tuesday morning a couple of weeks ago, members of the CCSE team found themselves walking briskly about the corridors of UWS’s Paisley campus, counting chairs, tracking down pens, collecting printouts from photocopiers.
Continue reading “#FestivalsConnect and So Do In-Person Launch Events!”
Do you end at your skin? This philosophical head-scratcher of a question may hold insights for our understanding of health and is inspiring new avenues of physical activity research.
Continue reading “What Physical Activity ‘Is’: Intervention & the Concept of Immanence 👟”
As part of CCSE’s ongoing collaboration with Renfrewshire Council, and relating to their wide ranging Future Paisley Programme, CCSE is committed to developing a suite of resources to assist Council colleagues with their ongoing work and, to contribute to Future’s Paisley‘s legacy.
Continue reading “Measuring Wellbeing: Gauging (Mental) Wellbeing Benefits of Arts & Cultural Participation”
One of the outputs that the Festspace team has produced from the project is a Handbook of Methods for Researching Festive Spaces.
Continue reading “Handbook of Methods for Researching Festive Spaces”
Culture has become increasingly implicated in regeneration and placemaking in peripheral (sub)urban places in recent years (Richards and Diuf, 2019; Miles, 2020).
Continue reading “Representing Paisley, Culture and Placemaking: Policy Insights from PhD Research”
As the dust settles on Qatar’s World Cup, it is worth returning to consider some of the questions that were raised in the run-up to the tournament.
Continue reading “Qatar 2022: Sportswashing Success?”
The arts and health sector is being mapped out by potential funders using a tight definition. Creative Scotland (link 1) sees this activity as being led by professional artists, with explicit artistic and health/wellbeing objectives, and designed to improve health and wellbeing.
Continue reading “What Lies Beyond Objectives and Definitions in Arts and Mental Health?”
In the past 3 and half years, I have been investigating the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as a soft power tool. I have taken a holistic approach in the context of understanding my case study, this holistic research approach arose because I have never travelled to Japan and I have never experienced the Japanese culture in reality.
Continue reading “The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: Soft Power or Soft Disempowerment?”
CCSE Director Professor Gayle McPherson and Centre members Solomon Ilevbare and I travelled to Manchester on the afternoon of Wednesday 19th October.
Continue reading “(Il)liberal Nation Projection Through Sport, Culture, Entertainment, and International Broadcasting”
In the last week I’ve heard the term ‘the perfect storm’ on repeat, from multiple sources, in relation to the perceived threats to Scottish arts organisations’ future existence.
Continue reading “The Perfect Storm”
The hashtag #Shedders is one that is gaining recognition nationally. It denotes the steadily rising Men’s Shed community, a community focussed on supporting men’s mental health and wellbeing.
Continue reading “An Exciting and Growing Community Hub; Paisley Men’s Shed”
Recently, Paisley’s marvellous STAR Project completed a 9-month long, seasons inspired, arts based therapeutic intervention; ApArt.
Continue reading “ApArt – A Community Based Therapeutic Arts Intervention”
The Paisley Townscape Heritage Conservation Area Scheme 2 (Paisley TH.CARS2) is a £4.5M regeneration programme led by Renfrewshire Council, with match funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) and Historic Environment Scotland (HES).
Continue reading “The Making of Paisley: Communities, Heritage Learning and Regeneration”
With its Future Paisley programme, Paisley has demonstrated a drive to improve the town’s public spaces through the medium of regeneration, whereby participation and community input has become a key tool of success.
Continue reading “Creativity in Regeneration: From a Textile Hub to a Hub of Culture and Creativity”