Who controls the narrative?

Independent research by JACOP into how public arts funders decide who gets a platform

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Let me explain:

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Public money gives a voice. JACOP investigates how national cultural funds determine which artists get to speak on our behalf.

What you'll find here: analyses based on documents from the public domain, interviews with those involved, and more as the research progresses. I'd love to take you along.

Who am I? I'm Jermaine Aroma, the maker behind JACOP: photographer, visual artist and designer. This research is entirely independent.

Let me briefly explain how I've divided this research into
4 phases, to keep a clear overview.

The 4 phases

Phase 1 of 4

I start with the following question:

What's already known about how funds decide who gets a platform?

I'm now looking around and gathering everything around that one question: what's already been said, written, researched? What exactly is a subsidy? What I encounter will ultimately determine where I focus.

Stacks of archive materialNewspaper clippings about cultural policy
Defining the research question

Phase 2 of 4

After exploring, I define the question.

Now that I've gathered everything, I look for connections and determine what fits the research. That's how I'll know exactly what I'm looking for.

Phase 3 of 4

Finding out how it really works.

I go deep. I read documents in the public domain, request files where I can, and speak with people who know this closely.

With everything I find, I ask myself: is this accurate, and where does it come from?

Phase 3: research with a magnifying glass
Phase 4: the conclusion

Phase 4 of 4

Finally: what's the conclusion?

At the end, I bring everything together in a report. Before it's finished, I present all the facts and my findings to everyone involved, so they can respond.

The report then reaches them, other parties who benefit from it, and of course the public. How exactly I'll do that, I'm keeping to myself for now.

Follow the research

Dive into my process. Get updates as soon as there's something to share. No fixed schedule, no algorithm deciding what you see.

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