PRAN NEWSLETTER ISSUE 16: May 2025
Dear PRAN MEMBERS
Welcome to the May edition of the PRAN newsletter. This month, we reflect on noteworthy events, highlight insightful research, and share opportunities to get involved. Read on for updates and ways to stay connected to our work.
Blog Spotlight: Women and the Cost-of-Living Crisis
Our latest blog post Women’s Experiences of the Cost-of-Living Crisis in Northern Ireland is co-authored Dr Alexandra Chapman (Ulster University), Siobhán Harding (Women’s Regional Consortium) and Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick (Ulster University).
In June 2023, the Women’s Regional Consortium, in partnership with Ulster University, published a major research report based on the experiences of 250 local women. The study explored how the cost-of-living crisis has impacted women’s lives in Northern Ireland across multiple dimensions, including financial stability, access to services and overall well-being.
Event Recap: Cost of Living Special Issue Launch
On the 8TH April, we hosted the launch of the Special Issue on Understanding the Cost-of-Living Crisis in the UK , published in the journal Social Policy and Administration.
The online event brought together researchers, advocates, and community members to discuss a powerful collection of interdisciplinary articles examining the multifaceted impacts of the crisis. Speakers and attendees discussed key themes such as food and housing insecurity, debt, and the emotional toll of financial precarity. The event underscored the need for structural reform - highlighting calls for stronger social protections, fairer work, and policies that centre lived experience. This event will be featured in our upcoming Cost of Living Chronicles podcast segments. Stay tuned!
Event Update: Against All Odds – Class and Resistance in the Arts
Due to the tragic incident on the 26th of May in Liverpool, the Against All Odds event was cancelled. Our community is deeply shocked and saddened and our hearts go out to all who have been affected by this terrible event.
We will do our best to reschedule this event for a later date due to the pressing need to address persistent class inequalities in the sector and the importance of holding such vital conversations. The creative industry in the UK is characterised by stark class inequality, with access and success heavily skewed in favour of those from more privileged backgrounds.
The Creative Industry Policy and Evidence Centre (2024) estimated that only 8% of workers in TV, film, radio and photography are working class, just 5.2% in museums, archives and libraries. According to The Sutton Trust (2024), working-class young adults are four times less likely to work in the sector than their middle-class peers. Among top-selling musicians, 43% attended private schools, compared to just 7% of the general population. The same is true for 35% of BAFTA-nominated actors. Privately educated students make up over half of music students at leading conservatoires, and at universities like Oxford, Cambridge, King’s College London, and Bath, more than 50% of creative arts students come from ‘upper middle class’ backgrounds (The Sutton Trust, 2024). These figures expose a deep and persistent class divide in access to creative careers.
Call for Volunteers: Become a Trustee with Collective Encounters
Collective Encounters is currently seeking new Charity Trustees to join its board.
Several trustees have recently completed their term, and the organisation has vacancies for people with any of the following skills:
Professional experience in the creative sector
Theatre for social change, co-creation, collaboration, participatory arts and/or devised theatre
Communications, marketing and/or branding
Safeguarding of children and/or vulnerable adults
Accounting and finance
They are particularly interested in welcoming trustees who:
Live in Liverpool City Region;
Are previous or current participants of Collective Encounters; and/or
Share characteristics with those who benefit from our programmes, including women, disabled people, people with mental health challenges, people who are care-experienced, parents and carers, and people who experience racism or other types of discrimination.
This is a voluntary (unpaid) role. Out of pocket expenses will be covered.
Deadline for expressions of interest: 29 May 2025, 5pm
For full details, download the Trustee Information Pack (LARGE PRINT pack available here). If you require these materials in an alternative format, please email admin@collective-encounters.org.uk
Thank you for being part of PRAN and for your ongoing commitment to advancing meaningful change.
In Solidarity,
PRAN TEAM
