We have always believed that culture and creativity are vital threads in the fabric of public policy. In 2023, the post-COVID landscape and the UK's cost-of-living crisis, alongside the cultural boom in regions like the Gulf and Asia, have made clear the importance of culture and creativity in public policy remains firm, not only as a crucial response to immediate challenges, but also as a transformative force for sustainable economic and societal change on the largest of scales.

Moving forward into 2024, we remain committed to this vision, integrating climate and environmental considerations into our strategies, while we aim to expand our global presence, strengthen our UK public sector partnerships, and enhance our team - reflecting the diversity and dynamism in our work.

Thank you to our clients, team, and associates for supporting a successful and meaningful year. We look forward to keeping you up to date on our projects and milestones as we move into our next quarter of a century.

Milestones

We turned 25: 2023 marked our 25th birthday, which we celebrated with colleagues and clients. We looked back at our 25-year history with two publications; 'BOP at 25: The Next Chapter', and 'BOP's Origins & Values: Interview with Jo Burns'.

We expanded in the Gulf: In 2023 we expanded our work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Selecting innovative and exciting work we took on projects for NEOM, AlUla, KSA's Ministry of Culture, and UAE's Ministry of Youth and Culture - collaborating with local and international partners. 

BOP500: This year marked the launch of R&D project, BOP500, the first index dedicated to culture and creativity in cities. Spanning 500 cities, we successfully shared our year one findings, took the service to market, and conducted conversations with cities around the world. Listen to Senior Consultant, Martha Pym describe our work or book a call with us here to learn more about this exciting development.

We put climate first: We continued to put sustainability at the heart of the organisation. Adhering to our environmental policy developed in 2022, we passed our ISO audit, continued to compensate for our carbon output, incorporate sustainability into our projects, and in September supported the Creative Industries Council pro-bono with their Creative Climate Charter.

We took to the stage: We participated in panel discussions, keynote speeches, and roundtables worldwide, including the BEYOND Conference (London), Future of Creative Industries in the UK and Europe (European Commission, London), BAFA Conference (Manchester) and SMART Operations (Dublin) , Brighton Festival (Brighton) in the UK and Ireland, and internationally in Morocco for the Africa Place Marketing Conference (Casablanca), China for the World Conference on Cultural Cities & Urban Regeneration Forum (Chengdu) & Urban Regeneration Global Trends Forum (Qingdao), and Macedonia for the International Forum of Creative Industries.

Projects

British Council: Our report, Mapping Arts & Technology: Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea identified crucial trends and opportunities which will be used to provide market insights to the UK and advise on professional and creative exchange between the UK, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. Read full report here.

DCMS Recovery Fund: In April, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport published the evaluation of the Cultural Recovery Fund - the largest one-off package for culture in England's history. The research conducted by BOP, ECORYS and IPSOS estimated that nearly one in five organisations used funding this to avoid failure. Read the full report here.

Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge: We were the national programme evaluator for the second round of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge. In all five participating cities, the programme galvanised a broader public policy response, creating a combined total of $91.15 million in follow-on investments towards infrastructure and initiatives.

ACE International Activity: We conducted a large study on the international work of cultural groups supported by Arts Council England. Following on from a similar survey of international activity undertaken in 2014/15, this research introduced an international readiness test to determine the capacity of ACE funded organisations to export culture internationally. Read the full report here.

V&A Dundee Impact Study: Released in anticipation of V&A Dundee's fifth birthday in September, the impact study showed that V&A Dundee generated £304 million in economic impact for Scotland, contributed 1,685 jobs and had a profound social impact. Read press coverage here.

City Bridge Foundation & Tower Bridge: Our Cultural Masterplanning team worked with Tower Bridge to produce a long-range (15yr) holistic strategy for the central London visitor. Identifying key areas of social impact for the strategy, this work will maximise Tower Bridge’s social impact and their legacy as one of London’s most iconic cultural, heritage and learning sites.

AlUla: We worked with the Royal Commission for AlUla's Culture Sector to create a baseline picture of the wide range of cultural activity and plans developed since 2017 for their new culture strategy. Our impact framework informed the Royal Commission on how it can best capture AlUla’s legacy and embed sustainable development goals into impact monitoring.

UAE:  In the UAE, we worked with the Ministry of Culture and Youth to begin developing a new framework for collecting data on the country's cultural and creative industries. The framework will support an evidence-based approach to policy and planning in the UAE's cultural sector.