Dr Peter Merrington

Profile

Biography

Senior Lecturer in the Business of the Creative and Cultural Industries, School of Arts and Creative Technologies

PhD (Newcastle), PGCAP (York), PGCert (Newcastle), BA (Hons) (Durham)

I joined the School of Arts and Creative Technologies in 2021 bringing a background combining research and management experience across the arts and cultural sectors to teach on new programmes focused on creative industries management. I teach cultural management across the School and served as Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Business of the Creative Industries from 2023 to 2026. Previously, I worked as a postdoctoral Research Associate on an AHRC project in the School of Social & Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow and the School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology at Newcastle University. I have a professional background in cultural management working with international contemporary art festivals and biennials, including serving as Assistant Director of AV Festival in Newcastle from 2015 to 2017. I am currently the External Examiner for the BA in Media and Creative Industries at the University of Warwick.

Research

Overview

My research encompasses two central strands: first, cultural production and management, with a focus on the relationships between art, film, and place, alongside questions related to labour, design, technology, and interdisciplinary practice. 

Second, I lead a series of long-term collaborative projects examining how unusual technical phenomena, such as complex highway architecture like the Four-Level Stack interchange can be critically interpreted and understood through art and media. As part of my research, I actively engage in interdisciplinary collaborations with artists, producers, programmers, and curators, resulting in exhibitions, artists' books, screenings, performances, and public events.

My recent research focuses on the practical production of interdisciplinary cultural projects, considering the working processes of organisations with an explicit interdisciplinary curatorial approach. This work was published in the book, Interdisciplinary Cultural Production in Practice (2026). My research has been published in journals including Studies in European Cinema, Cultural Trends, The Journal of British Cinema and Television, and Participations.

Between 2017 and 2021, I served as a postdoctoral Research Associate on the AHRC project ‘Beyond the Multiplex: Audiences for Specialised Films in English Regions’, a collaboration among the universities of Glasgow, Sheffield, Liverpool, and York. Through this project, we explored non-mainstream film exhibition and consumption across the South West and Northern regions of England. My AHRC-funded PhD examined the relationship between contemporary arts festival curating and place, using AV Festival as a case study to analyse the recent cultural history of North East England.

Available PhD research projects

I welcome PhD proposals from prospective students whose research interests align with my own.

Teaching

Undergraduate

I convene several modules, including: 

• Global Producing Contexts: Exploring cultural production in non-Western contexts.
• Creative Event Production: A practical module working with students to develop and produce live events.
• Creative Business Methods: Collaborating with the York Law School to teach key finance, legal and project management skills for the cultural industries.
• Group Project: An industry-focused module where we work with external partners to mentor student projects based on real-world opportunities or challenges in the creative industries. 

Postgraduate

I’ve also contributed to teaching on the Postgraduate MA Management in the Creative and Cultural Industries (MACCI) programme with a particular emphasis on developing authentic learning experiences and fostering industry collaboration.