Centre for Cultural Value

📢 Exciting news! The Centre for Cultural Value will be leading a new scoping project to develop a blueprint for a national cultural data observatory. In this article, Ben Walmsley (Centre for Cultural Value) and Patrick Towell (The Audience Agency) share more about the project ambitions and why it is vital to solve the problem of fragmented and hard-to-compare data in the arts, culture and heritage sectors. This project presents “ … an ambitious next step towards a joined-up data infrastructure for the arts, culture and heritage sectors, promising pioneering cross-sector, mixed-methods analysis”. The project is funded by the ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council (part of UK Research and Innovation). The Centre for Cultural Value will be working alongside project partners: The Audience Agency, MyCake Ltd, Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA) and Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. https://lnkd.in/ezF7QEi8

"This is a clear message to rethink the traditional business mantra and harness data about the sector in ways that support and enrich its offering …" Writing for Arts Professional, the Centre's director, Stephen Dobson, reflects upon the new publication, Pandemic Culture, and the need for a fairer, more equitable sector. As the sector moves forward, still feeling the impact of the past four years, he argues for the need for smarter, more people- and place-centred data to inform cultural policymaking. Read the full article in Arts Professional [no paywall] 👇 https://lnkd.in/eKN2qPh5

Great to see our top tips for creative evaluation included as a recommended read here! Thanks Centre for Cultural Value 😀

On Tuesday 5 November, Culture Commons will host a free online event sharing the key findings and recommendations from its 12-month research and open policy development programme, The Future of Local Cultural Decision Making. As a project partner, the Centre is pleased to have played a part in this national project, providing research, policy and cultural leadership expertise. This includes providing research insights to shape policy recommendations, being instrumental in sector consultation and policy development, and being a member of the project steering group. We hope to see you at the event on 5 November. Find more information and the event booking link in the post below 👇 Ben Walmsley | Anna Kime | John Wright

How may the value and impact of engaging with culture evolve across someone's lifetime? Are our cultural tastes set in childhood? Or is there scope for our behaviours to change? If so, what can affect these shifts? Written by the Centre’s Emma McDowell, the Lifelong Cultural Engagement research digest explores what we can learn from the current evidence base. What do we know (and what more do we need to discover) about the impact of cultural engagement on people’s lives? Whether you are thinking about audiences, visitors or participants, the research digest brings together studies and research from different disciplines and practices that provide insight into how regular and sustained cultural engagement can have an impact on people's lives. Available to read online or as a PDF download. https://lnkd.in/gHSDKEgJ

When it comes to evaluation, how can we best capture the impact of cultural activities? And how can we develop evaluation approaches that let us report to our funders and stakeholders while also digging deeper into what works well and what we could do better next time? In our new Essential Reads, we asked three experts to share their recommended reading for anyone thinking about carrying out robust, people-centred evaluation. The resulting collection of articles, resources and podcasts (taken from both inside and outside the sector) provides helpful examples of what our co-created Evaluation Principles can look like in practice. Topics covered in this list include creating care-centred evaluations, how we can make evaluations inclusive, and the unique benefits that storytelling and other creative methods can bring. One to bookmark for when you’re next planning evaluation activity. https://lnkd.in/emQejdfQ Stephen Welsh | Dawn Cameron | Emma McDowell

In this new research paper, the Centre's John Wright highlights the growing importance of inclusive, sustainable and locally tailored approaches when developing and evaluating cultural strategies. This research forms part of a series commissioned and published by Culture Commons as part of the future of local cultural decision making, an open policy development programme bringing together creative, cultural and heritage sectors, local governments and leading researchers to explore the future of UK devolution and increased local decision making. (For more about this programme we’ve put the link in comments). Read our news article for more about the paper and a summary of the key findings 👇 https://lnkd.in/emdD6K85

What do we need to know when developing and supporting impactful cross-sector research partnerships? We’ve been reflecting on our Collaborate programme. What key takeaways can we share from our experience that will be helpful for funders and universities ready to support future collaborative research between the cultural sector and academics? With 479 expressions of interest across two rounds of funding, it shows that there is a thirst in the cultural sector for collaborative research opportunities. In this case study, we share why we developed the Collaborate programme and why it is vital to create partnerships that are equitable, ethical, relevant and applicable. The case study shares headline recommendations alongside detailed insights about the processes involved in supporting research collaborations. https://lnkd.in/e8bNFnKs Liz Harrop | Lisa Baxter FRSA

The Centre's Anna Kime and Pam Johnson (Head of Culture Programmes, Leeds City Council) have contributed a paper to this publication from the National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange (NCACE). In the paper, they offer a reflection on their research collaboration and the value of policymakers and academics working together. Link in the post below (head to page 58 of the PDF document) 👇

“… it's where insight and learning connect directly with decision-making”. We asked Beth Woods (Lead Evaluation Officer for Culture, West Yorkshire Combined Authority) to share more about the role evaluation plays in cultural policymaking at local and regional levels. Beth shares how collaborating with the Centre and connecting with colleagues in similar evaluation roles has helped to build shared insights when it comes to evaluation. She also explores how a commitment to being a learning organisation can help support and strengthen evaluation practices, creating a more reflective ecosystem that supports the sector to learn and grow. Head to the Evaluation Learning Space to read Beth’s article and access other shared learning from the cultural sector. https://lnkd.in/eGQDSvCU