Impact Update 5, February 2006
This newsletter reviews the content that has been added to the Impact Database since the end of November 2005. As always, many of the studies are recently published but we also include earlier research that is relevant to the themes of the database. Full bibliographical details of the references highlighted below can, of course, be obtained from the database.
We encourage users and their networks to use the facility to submit their own research which will then be considered for inclusion. Research should relate to the main themes of the database (a list can be found in the Advanced Search section) and should have stated aims/objectives, methodological approach and findings/conclusions.
Arts and Culture The UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published the provisional results of its nation-wide survey of culture, leisure and sport, covering the first three months of this year-long survey. Birkin (2005) has carried out a literature review on research on arts and culture in Scotland since 1995, published in Arts Research Digest 35.
Arts, Culture and Regeneration In ‘Just art for a just city: public art and social inclusion in urban regeneration’ (Urban Studies 42 (5-6)), Sharp, Pollock and Paddison (2005) investigate how public art and architecture can be seen as having both positive and negative effects on the social cohesion of cities, within the wider context of debates surrounding urban regeneration.
Arts Culture and Audience Development In The diversity of cultural participation: findings from a national survey Ostrower (2005) analyses the results of a national survey by the Urban Institute among 1,231 Americans, investigating their involvement in the arts over the period of one year.
Arts, Culture and Society Galloway, Birkin, Petticrew, Hamilton and Bell (2006) have undertaken a literature review with the aim of defining ‘quality of life’ in the context of culture, arts and sport, and exploring ways to identify and measure the impact of participation in cultural or sports interventions on quality of life and sense of well-being, both in social and economic terms. Hamilton and Scullion (2006) have produced a think-piece to reflect upon the findings of this literature review, highlighting issues that arose in attempting to measure the concepts quality of life and well-being. Both publications have been commissioned by the Scottish Executive.
The growing demand for evidence of museums’ impact on social inclusion is the topic of a number of publications. In ‘What difference do museums make? Producing evidence on the impact of museums’ (Critical Quarterly, vol. 44 (4)) Selwood (2002) takes a critical look at these demands, arguing that so far there has hardly been any hard evidence produced. West and Smith (2005) in ‘"We are not a government poodle". Museums and social inclusion under New Labour’, International Journal of Cultural Policy 11 (3), consider the role of museums in creating a more inclusive society in the context of New Labour's policy on social exclusion. Mirza (2005) addresses the growing acceptance and institutionalisation of the idea that the arts can be used as a therapeutic tool for addressing social issues, in her journal paper ‘The therapeutic state. Addressing the emotional needs of the citizen through the arts’ (International Journal of Cultural Policy 11(3)). Museums, society, inequality, edited by Sandell (2002), offers a collection of articles by different authors, exploring the wide-ranging social roles and responsibilities of the museum
Jeannotte (2003) examines the role of culture in fostering cohesive and sustainable communities by looking at key literature on the concepts of social and cultural capital and reviewing preliminary research evidence on the social impact of the arts in ‘Singing alone? The contribution of cultural capital to social cohesion and sustainable communities’, published in the International Journal of Cultural Policy, 9(1).
Sharpe, Pollock and Paddison’s (2005) study of public art and social inclusion has been profiled in the Arts, Culture and Regeneration section. A number of studies looking at both the social and economic impact of arts and culture have been profiled in the Arts, Culture and Economy section.
Arts, Culture and the Economy Three studies commissioned by the UK Film Council examine the impact of film in the UK. The first, an analysis by Cambridge Econometrics (2005) assesses the size and economic impact of the UK screen industries, disaggregated by nation and region. Oxford Economic Forecasting (2005) builds upon this study, but specifically looks at the benefits that follow from having a UK-based film infrastructure. Finally, the UK Film Council (2005) itself assesses the impact of local cinemas on the social, cultural and economic life of their communities, and develops 'impact measurement tools' to be used by other researchers.
The Edinburgh Festivals are the topic of an impact survey by SQW Economic Development Consultants and TNS Travel and Tourism (2005), Edinburgh's year round festivals 2004-2005 economic impact study. Final report. This study specifically assesses the additional economic impact generated by the festivals. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics and UNESCO’s Sector for Culture have published a report on international flows of cultural goods and services between 1994-2003, establishing the relative size, distribution and general trends of global trade (2005).
In Impact and values - assessing the arts and creative industries, Kelly and Kelly (2000) evaluate a number of impact studies carried out in South West England to consider how the arts have been valued and assessed over time. Their work, for the Bristol Cultural Development Partnership, also puts forward a range of methodologies to be used in assessing economic and social impacts of arts and culture.
Two major reports have been published on the creative industries in Austria and Switzerland, English language versions of which are included in the database. KMU Forschung Austria and the Institut für Kulturmanagement und Kulturwissenschaft der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (IKM) (2005) analyse the scale, scope and economic importance and potential of the creative industries in Austria in their First report on creative industries in Austria. Held, Kruse, Söndermann and Weckerle (2005) have done the same for the Canton and City of Zurich in Zurich’s creative industries. Synthesis report. Wassall and DeNatale (2005) have carried out a sectional study of New England’s creative economy in 2002, assessing the economic status of non-profit cultural organizations in the region.