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Paper short abstract

Arts-based approaches to social cohesion are gaining attention, but evidence remains fragmented. Drawing on a multi-country British Council evaluation, this paper shows how cultural relations and arts practices build trust, dialogue, and inclusive collaboration across societies.

Paper long abstract

As global insecurities intensify, arts-based approaches to peacebuilding and social cohesion are receiving renewed attention. However, the evidence base explaining how arts and culture contribute to social cohesion across diverse contexts remains fragmented. This paper draws on an ongoing multi-country evaluation commissioned by the British Council, which aims to strengthen evidence on how arts and cultural relations practice contribute to social cohesion at individual, community, and institutional levels.

Anchored in global debates on trust, social contracts, and culture’s role in cohesion (e.g. Eriksson, 2023; Justino & Samarin, 2025), the evaluation adopts a mixed-methods approach grounded in a cultural relations lens. It integrates contribution analysis, participatory and arts-based methods, and Wenger-Trayner’s (2020) Value Creation Framework to capture relational, iterative, and multi-layered forms of change that are often overlooked in conventional MEL systems.

The paper presents insights from cross-programme evidence synthesis and selected case studies, illustrating how arts practices enable dialogue and facilitate more inclusive forms of institutional collaboration. It also identifies persistent gaps in the global evidence base, including limited attention to process-level mechanisms, insufficient integration of local knowledge, and a lack of indicators capable of capturing relational change.

Situating arts-based social cohesion interventions within broader debates on reimagining development, the paper argues that cultural relations approaches offer critical pathways for rebuilding trust in contexts of uncertainty and fragmentation. It proposes a set of transferable principles and methodological innovations for future research and policy, inviting scholars and practitioners to rethink how social cohesion is conceptualised, evidenced, and supported through the arts.