Don’t underestimate culture in suburban towns
As a report published this week shows, the cultural sector is not a financial drain, it’s a driver of growth and opportunity, wr…
Posts
Heritage sector’s economic impact ‘difficult to quantify’
A DCMS-commissioned report has recommended a new methodology for assessing the economic value of the heritage sector after a curre…
Illuminate audience data reporting suspended for a further year
Arts Council England (ACE) says it wants to make improvements to the Illuminate software platform to make it 'straightforward&…
Data used to measure degree value is ‘unfair’ to arts graduates
A report examining the value of creative graduates has called for the government to overhaul the metrics it uses to analyse higher…
Croydon: ‘Culture is now firmly on the agenda’
Stephanie Wilson and Honey Gabriel reflect on Croydon's year as London Borough of Culture 2023 and look ahead to the borough&r…
Fail, fail again, fail better
Failure is part of life. We all know this, creative folk perhaps better than most, says Katie Villa. But how can we learn to…
Creating space for collective learning
Evaluation reports in the cultural sector can be packed full of learning. Emma McDowell explores how we might unearth this existin…
Joining the dots for better cultural policy
As Anna Kime begins working with West Yorkshire Combined Authority, she explores how integrated data and evaluation can aid decisi…
ACE: Sharing concerns won’t harm NPO funding chances
In last week’s edition of Arts Professional, a group of Chief Executives of National Portfolio Organisations expressed their…
Has beauty become a dirty word?
Artist Sarah Hunter, physicist Rox Middleton and philosopher Lucy Tomlinson spotlight what they learnt from spending a year explor…
Sector support charities merge after loss of ACE funding
The Audience Agency and Culture24, who were both part of ACE's National Portfolio until they lost funding in April this year,…
What’s the value of digital arts and culture?
If we can find a shared language and inclusive approach to evaluating digital arts and culture, we can tell a better story about t…
EXCLUSIVE: ACE drops reporting requirements over data platform glitches
Amid sector concerns about new data platform Illuminate, Arts Council England says NPOs will not need to provide box office or aud…
Making evaluation valuable
As the Centre for Cultural Value launches a free online evaluation course, Dawn Cameron explains how evaluation can help organisat…
Projects receive £3.1m to measure value of culture
Six projects that aim to evaluate the value of culture and heritage to society have been announced as part of the Department for C…
Cultural encounters of the empathic kind
Driven by funder requirements and sector expectations, evaluation can feel top-down. Stephen Welsh argues for a more people-centre…
Concern over ‘lack of representation’ in creative health research
Study into value of culture in relation to health and wellbeing warns of 'concerning gap' in evidence base.
Lewisham, London’s Borough of Culture engaged majority of local schools
Lewisham starts work on a cultural strategy following successful stint as London Borough of Culture focused on young people, commu…
AHRC announces new hosts for Creative PEC
Centre producing research and policy recommendations on arts, culture and the creative industries will be split across two hubs in…
Birmingham 2022 Festival ‘delivered on inclusivity’, study finds
Evaluation report finds festival made inclusive practice integral to its programme, despite previous claims it had shut out creati…
Why we need to use the F word in evaluation
Talking of failure can feel uncomfortable and we often avoid it when carrying out evaluation. But, as Susanne Burns argues, being…
Evaluating large-scale cultural events
With the evaluation findings from Birmingham 2022 published this week, and those from Coventry City of Culture forthcoming, Katy R…
Why better data is vital for future-proofing the cultural sector
Why do we struggle to convey the cultural sector’s significant impact? There’s no easy answer but an obvious solution…
Many voices, open minds, commitment to change
What should underpin our evaluation practice in the arts? Oliver Mantell reflects on the new Evaluation Principles from the Centre…
