CfP: Research Convention for the Night Time Economy Summit 2025

Call for Papers, Research Convention for the Night Time Economy Summit 2025

Deadline: 04.11.2024

Convened by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA)
 
From Wednesday 5th to Thursday 6th February the NTIA, in conjunction with other sector stakeholders, will be convening the fourth major Night Time Economy summit at Hockley Social Club, Birmingham. The event will discuss the important role that the Night Time Economy plays in economic and cultural recovery both across the UK and internationally. It will consider challenges, opportunities, and what the future holds for the sector.
 
As part of the Summit, we will be holding a research convention. This presents an opportunity for scholars to share research and to connect with industry.
 
Context
The Night Time Economy (NTE) is comprised of a diverse range of businesses that operate between 6pm and 6am. Consumer spend in the UK Night-time Economy was £136.5bn in 2022, up from £95.7bn in 2021, showing a strong post-Covid desire to socialise. However, adjusted for inflation, there has been no real growth in turnover over the last three years, despite the significant rise from £121.3bn in 2019. Rather, due to the pandemic and inflation, the UK NTE lost approximately £95bn, impacting investments in customer experiences, marketing, programming and sector resilience (NTIA 2024).
 
Within that 'The Night Time Cultural Economy (NTCE) focuses on those elements of the NTE that are driven by cultural, artistic and event activity, and where alcohol, food etc., are secondary'. The NTCE offers a different perspective than the wider NTE or the overarching sector of the Out of Home Leisure Economy (OHLE), playing a vital role in driving footfall and spend to our high streets, towns and cities in the evening and at night. But crucially the NTCE also brings identity, pride and a unique sense of purpose to places. These include businesses that rely on mass audience participation such as nightclubs, live music, theatre, cinema, performance events, et al. Over the decade prior to the pandemic, the UK NTCE had shown a steady and sustained contribution to the UK's gross domestic product (GDP). The UK NTCE was worth £33.3bn in 2022, up from £23.8bn in 2021, but down from £37.2bn in 2019, indicating a 36% reduction in absolute terms.
 
One of the worst affected segments within the UK NTCE sector are nightclubs. In the four years leading to June 2024, British towns and cities have reportedly lost a total of 480 clubs, averaging at 10 per month, or two a week. While some venues never recovered from pandemic-related lockdowns, the rate at which spaces are shuttering is increasing still with 65 nightclubs closing in the UK between January and June 2024 (Gutteridge-Hewitt, 2024).
 
As well as these businesses providing a livelihood for many people, including many young people, and significant economic benefit, it is also considered that the sector offers advantages to society in general, impacting positively on culture and community.
 
Research Convention
The research convention segment of the NTE Summit aims to examine challenges faced by the sector with a view to identifying possible solutions and, also to illuminate the wider impacts of the sector on society and culture.
 
We invite proposals from UK and International scholars for papers considering any aspect of the Night Time Cultural Economy. Topics and areas to examine might include but are not limited to:
 
Impacts of night time economy on society, culture, and community.
 
Direct and indirect impacts of policies and legislation, regional, national, or international, Brexit, transport policies, drug policies, economic policies, employment policies, immigration policies, fitness for purpose of legal frameworks, et al), post-pandemic legacy, cost of living crisis, infrastructure, transportation, noise, property matters, and geographical impacts.
 
Attitudes of policy makers internationally to the NTCE, treatment by regulatory bodies such as local authorities, consequential manifestations, risk narratives, police resourcing, parity or bias (conscious or unconscious) towards the sector, or in comparison to other industries or within the wider NTE or OHLE.
 
Connections and relationships between NTCE consumer demographics and policy makers.
 
Case studies of effective, best practices and/ or problematic practices.
 
Evolving attitudes of the public to the Night Time Economy and management of those relationships/ public relations.
 
Evolving consumer behaviours, demographics and market segmentation, new behaviours/ trends, nostalgia, competition for the leisure pound and leisure time, mode and manner and attitudes to alcohol consumption/ social drinking, vicarious living, mental health, et al.
 
Employment, labour, skills, education, and development of workforce.
 
Futures – audience development, new and emerging business models, the potential uses and impacts of new technologies to enhance experience including applications for AI, AR, VR.
 
Diversity, inclusivity, accessibility, neurodivergence within the NTE.
 
Environmental considerations, a greener future.
 
The history of nightclubs.
 
Please send proposals (max. 200 words) and short bio to:
Ewa Mazierska – ehmazierska @ uclan.ac.uk and Tony Rigg – trigg @ uclan.ac.uk by Monday 4 November 2024.
 
References
Gutteridge-Hewitt 2024. '65 Nightclubs Shut in 2024 "Unprecedented Crisis" for nightlife', DJ Mag, 26 September,
https://djmag.com/news/65-uk-nightclubs-shut-2024-unprecedented-crisis-nightlife, accessed 29 September 2024.
 
NTIA (2024). 'Night Time Economy Report 2024', NTIA
https://ntia.co.uk/nte-economy-report-2024/, accessed 29 September 2024.