Professor Geoffrey Crossick's presentation on The Cultural Value Project at the AHRC Subject Associations Event

1. CULTURAL VALUE PROJECT
Professor Geoffrey Crossick
Director, AHRC Cultural Value Project
AHRC Subject Associations Meeting
26 September 2013
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2. Why the Cultural Value Project?
• AHRC’s work on measuring cultural value
• Past efforts driven by political imperative
• Value of arts and culture increasingly discussed
• Need for more ambitious & broader approach
• Research not advocacy
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3. The broader approach
• Value to individuals & society of all arts & culture
publicly-funded, commercial, 3rd-sector, amateur
•Breadth of arts and cultural activities
art to theatre, music to literature, film to design
incl. museums & heritage
incl. digital consumption/co-production; and home
• Start: value located in arts and cultural experience
• Framework approach
components
methodologies & evidence
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4. The components – for now at least (1)
• Reflective individual and engaged citizen
fundamental experience of arts/culture at root of this?
• Benefits to economy
arts & cultural environment and creative industries
innovation & cultural environment
economic impact
• Communities, regeneration and space
urban regeneration, community arts
cultural assets and neighbourhoods
rural communities
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5. The components – for now at least (2)
• Health, physical & mental
therapeutic and clinical interventions
longer-term health impact arts engagement
professional and informal carers
ageing
• Wellbeing
subjective measures + capabilities approach
place of culture
• Culture, understanding and international relationships
cultural engagement & trust, ‘soft power’
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6. The challenge of evaluation
• How evaluate arts/culture value across components?
• Appropriate methodologies & forms of evidence
• Evaluate not measure
no necessary hierarchy quantitative & qualitative
issue is appropriateness and rigour
though will explore meta-methodologies & big data
• Case studies
identify and develop methodologies
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7. The range of disciplines needed
• Creative disciplines
• Full breadth of humanities disciplines
• Social sciences
eg economics, ethnography, sociology
• Sciences
eg cognitive psychology, neuroscience, medicine
• Working across disciplines
for understandings and for methodologies
• All to answer fundamental arts & humanities question
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8. Where has project reached?
• Started Sept 2012 – Report c. April 2015
• Breadth of welcome and interest
UK – town meetings March 2013
cultural organisations
international
• We’ve held workshops to shape thinking
• Open funding call March 2013 – 168 applications
• Next funding call out early October
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9. Harnessing research imagination
• Importance of first, open funding call
harnessing imagination of research community
• 168 applications, 43 awards
11 Critical Reviews, 32 Research Development Awards
• Wide distribution of HEIs
31 HEIs, all parts of sector
• Range of PI disciplines
• Many partners in cultural and other sectors
• Impressive range of topics
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10. Second-phase funding
• Many gaps to fill if objectives for Report to be met
• Second-phase funding far more focused
• Emphasis shifts to capturing & assessing existing research
as well as original research in key areas
• Call will be for 3 types of activity
Critical Reviews and Research Development
and now Expert Workshops as well
• Call will be announced early October
4-week deadline - get decisions out before Christmas
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11. Challenge of the Cultural Value
Project• Objective is understanding – a research goal
+ more grown-up conversations on value of arts & culture
• Yet want it to be useful and relevant
understanding, evidence, methodologies
relevant to cultural world itself at all levels
and, yes, helpful in making case for public contribution
persuasive to policy-makers
• Wide-ranging report
some of the answers, but far from all
basis for future work – esp. evidence, methodologies
future work driven by enhanced understanding 11

12. AHRC Cultural Value Project
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• Director: Professor Geoffrey Crossick
•Project Researcher: Dr Patrycja Kaszynska
• http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funded-Research/Funded-themes
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