Abstract
The Asia Pacific Network for Cultural Education and Research (ANCER) is a regional network established to advance inquiry and scholarship in arts management, cultural policy, and associated pedagogical concerns primarily in the Asian context. Responding to the gap between academic researchers and arts practitioners, one of the network’s activities is a Research Camp designed to facilitate exchange between research and practice. This article is a report and reflection on the 2025 ANCER Research Camp which centred on the theme of Arts and Advocacy. Recognising that arts advocacy and activism operate across multiple arenas–including political advocacy, community settings, the social enterprise sector and the NGO sphere –the camp adopted a multidisciplinary approach. Invited speakers contributed perspectives on research methodologies and the persistent challenges of assessing cultural value, and shared case studies demonstrating how research by practitioner-researchers can be mobilised for legal and policy change.
Several key themes emerged: the necessity of a strategy in advocacy work, the cultivation of allies, and the value of creative modes of data collection including participatory research methods. In view of the growing regional interest in arts for social action, there is an attendant need to develop sustained platforms for peer learning and transmission of embodied knowledge and skills for arts advocacy. The Research Camp offers a potential model for such capacity-building. Although modest in scale, it has potential as a site of knowledge production in Asian arts and cultural management and a catalyst for further research inquiry.