cultural research

review
Six reports you shouldn’t miss
Keeping on top of things
New research on culture is published all the time. With the best will in the world, it’s hard to keep
on top of it all – never mind be able to sift the wellworthreading from the irrelevant. So we
asked some of our Research Associates to recommend some of the most incisive new reports,
the most useful evaluations and the most thoughtprovoking reviews from the last few months.
It’s not academically rigorous. It’s not comprehensive. But we hope it’ll be useful.

The reports suggested are all freely available online at the time of writing – links are provided.

We’d love to have your nominations for future roundups.

Email info@iccliverpool.ac.uk.

April 2011

www.iccliverpool.ac.uk
A clear CASE for data
DC MS / T BR , C ASE R egi o na l a nd L oc a l I ns i g hts ( 2 0 1 1 )

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport’s Culture and Sport Evidence Programme – CASE –
released a tranche of reports and datasets in January this year, including Regional and Local
Insights. The available reports and datasets provide economic statistics – relating to the ‘CASE
economy’ – from employment and volunteering volume to GVA, domestic tourism spend and the
number of physical assets. Some subregional breakdown is offered, including patterns of local
authority investment in the arts (the North West, for example, has risen quite significantly over
five years), and looking at both capital and noncapital funding. Broad tourism trends are
included, as is participation in arts and other activity, educational attainment and takeup in
relevant subjects and data from DCLG’s Citizenship Survey. Whilst the sources will be familiar
for many, the reports do a useful job in bringing together the data, in a consistent way, which
should enable both broad comparison and the recognition of some key trends. Perhaps most
importantly, they begin to build a way into the CASE programme for many whose focus is
predominantly regional and local.
Recommended by Tamsin Cox

> Read the reports and datasets on the DCMS website.

Museums making a difference

Sar a S elw ood , ‘M aking a dif fer e nce: th e cult ur al imp act o f mu seu ms’ (2010)

This essay discusses the problem of describing the cultural impact of museums, by thinking
about the different ways museums can affect people. Although Selwood identifies the familiar
problem that museums still lack detailed evidence for their impact, the essay offers cultural
impact, as distinct from economic or social impact, as a key area in which museums should
develop their understanding.
Recommended by David O’Brien

> Read the report.

Telling Stories in Liverpool
F r anc o i s Mat ar as s o , w i th G e r ri M or i ar ty a nd A d ey i n k a O l us h ond e, ‘ Te l l i ng S tor i e s :
T he a r ts an d we l l be i ng i n N or t h Li v e rp oo l ’ ( 2 0 1 0 )

This booklet aims to give a snapshot of how the arts contribute to wellbeing, based on some
30 interviews undertaken between June and October 2010 by Francois Matarasso and Gerri
Moriarty. The focus is a qualitative presentation of the stories told by participants in a number
of community based arts projects taking place in north Liverpool. While Matarasso also provides
a reflective narrative (which is complemented by descriptions of the area and organisations
based and working there) this is a piece which is selfconsciously nonanalytical (although
certainly thoughtful), and which solely aims to present local voices and experiences. Read
alongside more technical and academic impact studies into the social value of the arts, this
adds a useful and accessible angle to the debate.
Recommended by Ruth Melville
> Read the report.

Working in the creative industries

S o c i al Ma rk e t F ou nda ti o n, S oc i a l m obi l i t y and the c re at i v e i nd us tr i e s ( 2 0 1 0 )

This is a wide ranging report into current trends around access to internships in the creative
industries in the UK. The document makes depressingly familiar reading as it lists the enduring
reasons why it has been found that ‘access (to intern or work opportunities in the creative
industries) is largely limited to the children of professional parents’ (Panel on Fair Access to the
Professions). The report references central government attempts to address key issues via
different programmes, but ultimately expresses frustration at the lack of change in the sector.
It notes a ‘lack of honesty’ in and commitment to identifying the reasons for the slow pace of
change and states clearly that policies of ‘early intervention’ are not enough, particularly for the
creative industries.
Some positive examples of good practice are highlighted in the report though, most notably the
Career Academy approach (a businessled educational charity working via ‘franchised’ schools
across the UK), but it is ultimately critical of a lack of strategic thinking and an overreliance
on schoolsbased provision. The report suggests that the current central government cuts to
services risk removing many of the opportunities and schemes that do exist. In a landscape
where alreadyexisting, informal, professional networking opportunities are statistically most
likely to reward young people with internships and paid work, it really does still seem to be
‘it’s who you know, not what you know’.
Recommended by Louise O’Brien
> Read the report.
Valuing culture
Da v i d O ’ Br i en , ‘ M eas u r i ng t he v a l ue o f c ul t ur e: a r epo r t to t he D ep ar tm en t fo r C ul tu r e
Me dia a nd Sp or t’ (2010)

This report explores the debates around cultural value, considering the meaning of culture
and the reasons why valuation of culture is such a difficult task. The report considers several
solutions to the problem of how to value culture, concluding that the economic valuation
techniques supported by HM Treasury should be used by the sector to articulate its value, while
the sector concurrently looks at developing its own clear guidance for a shared valuation model,
enhancing its voice in the debate. It’s a thorough, interesting and challenging report: forcing us
to address any cosy assumptions we might dare to still retain about how valuations of culture are
likely to be made by those beyond the sector and its close friends, it unapologetically refuses to
shy away from some difficult conclusions, and makes a strong case for cost benefit analysis and
HM Treasury Green Book compliance.
Whether you are likely to agree with the conclusions or not, this is a report that everyone
working in the field of arts and cultural policy needs to read and engage with.
Recommended by Ruth Melville
> Read the report.

Teaching music
Da r re n H enl e y , M us i c E du c at i on i n E ngl a nd – A R ev i e w ( 2 0 1 1 )

This independent review undertaken by Classic FM Managing Director Darren Henley for DfE
and DCMS, was released on 7th February. There has already been warmth from ministers
towards music instrumental teaching particularly, as well as criticism of the ‘initiativeitis’ which
was perceived to have characterised the previous Government’s response to music education.
The review makes 36 recommendations, including: a National Plan for Music Education, to
enable more coherent/consistent delivery; that music education should remain a statutory part
of the National Curriculum; that some central government funding should continue to be ring
fenced to support music education; and that collaborative geographicallyspecific delivery,
through Music Education Hubs, should be encouraged. Responses from ACE, ABO, Youth
Music and many others are already available, and tend to be broadly favourable. DfE has issued
a response which shows enthusiasm for the National Plan, but caution over a number of other
areas (particularly in respect of the forthcoming National Curriculum review). Key in terms of
policy development is DfE’s commissioning of Henley to conduct a wider review of what is being
termed ‘cultural education’. For next year, £82.5million is already committed for music education
(the same as the previous year); for the future, the new National Plan for Music Education will
be the key.
Recommended by Tamsin Cox
> Read the review.
Contributors

T a m s i n C o x is Head of Policy and Research at DHA, a specialist consultancy working only

with the public and nonprofit sectors. She has worked for more than ten years in the arts and
cultural sector, including resource and capital development with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.
Tamsin was latterly Senior Research Fellow and Programme Manager at the University of
Liverpool’s Impacts 08 programme, and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of
Liverpool.

R u t h M e l v i l l e is a freelance researcher and cultural policy practitioner, working on projects

such as the evaluation of Liverpool’s Community Cultural Champions Scheme and supporting
development of UK City of Culture bids and frameworks for Cultural Olympiad assessment.
She is also research advisor to Liverpool’s Arts Regeneration Consortium and an advisor to Arts
Council England on research and resilience. Ruth was Programme Manager and Senior
Research Fellow at Impacts 08.

D a v i d O ’ B r i e n’s PhD explored the European Capital of Culture 2008 in Liverpool, using the
framework of institutionalism to understand decisionmaking within Liverpool’s governance, and
including comparisons with Newcastle and Gateshead. He has recently completed a six month
secondment to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) working on Measuring
Cultural Value.

L o u i s e O ’ B r i e n is currently on secondment with the Institute of Cultural Capital from English

Heritage, where she has worked on strategic projects for over five years. She has managed
largescale international events, publications and devised and delivered a series of seminars in
the Liverpool pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai 2010. Louise is actively involved in cultural
arts projects and is on the board of Fox Carnival Band, a children’s art project in Notting Hill,
London.

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