Impact Update 10, May 2007

This newsletter reviews the content that has been added to the Impact Database since the end of February 2007. 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 (listed in the Advanced Search section) and should have stated aims/objectives, methodological approach and findings/conclusions.

Please note that both the CCPR website and the Impact Database have now permanently changed address. The CCPR can be found at http://www.gla.ac.uk/ccpr/ while the Impact Database will now be accessible directly at http://ccpr.designiscentral.net/. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Arts, Culture and Society

Belfiore and Bennett (2007) present the interim findings of a three-year research project with the aim to rethink the social impact of the arts, in the form of a review of current and past debates over the social impacts of the arts in the UK. Miles (2004) has reviewed research into the contribution of the arts to rehabilitation programmes in the criminal justice sector, addressing some of the main problems encountered in this type of research.

Dillon (2006), in “Assessing the positive influence of music activities in community development programs” (Music Education Research 8(2) 267-280), discusses the development of an assessment framework and describes the problems encountered in the exploratory phase of his research. Cultural vitality in communities: interpretation and indicators, by Jackson, Kabwasa-Green and Herranz (2006), discusses measures for the quantification of cultural vitality in relation to community well-being, developed as part of a bigger research project by the Urban Institute.

Arts, Culture and Education

Two studies discuss the impact of the arts on young children’s educational achievements. “The arts and academic achievement: what the evidence shows” (Arts education policy review 102(5): 3-6), by Hetland and Winner (2001), summarises the findings of a comprehensive review of a large number of studies dealing with the relation between arts education and academic achievement, carried out as part of the Reviewing Education and the Arts Project (REAP). Fitzpatrick (2006) examines the relationship between music participation and academic performance through a comparison of standardised test results in relation to musical activities.

Arts, Culture and Health

Three publications are based on case studies of community arts in health programmes. In “Art in the community for potentially vulnerable mental health groups” (Health education 105(5): 340-354), Argyle and Bolton (2005) evaluate a small process-based arts in healthcare programme, demonstrating the positive impact of involvement in arts creation on the mental and social well-being of participants. Dooris (2005) reviews a Arts into Health partnership project, while Parr (2006) explores the effects of two community arts-for-mental-health projects.

A study by Gold, Voracek and Wigram (2004) offers a meta-analysis of eleven earlier studies in which on children and adolescents with psychopathology received treatment through music therapy.

Three studies address more general questions of impact evaluation and research. Madden and Bloom (2004) have carried out a review of literature on arts therapy, to assess how this body of research can be used to improve the persuasiveness of arts advocacy arguments that appeal to the concept of creativity. A study by Dalrymple (2006) addresses the evaluation of a number of South African applied theatre and drama projects. A paper by Cooley (2003), for the Canadian Forum on Arts and Health, contains a preliminary review of studies into the contribution of arts and culture to health and well-being.

Finally, Schlaug et al. (2005) present the preliminary result of a study examining the effects of instrumental music training on brain development and cognitive skills of young children, in “Effects of Music Training on the Child’s Brain and cognitive development” (Annals New York Academy of Sciences 1060: 219-230).

Arts, Culture and Inclusion

What’s the point? Using drama to engage young people at risk, a study by Arts Council England North West (2006), reports on the effectiveness of a drama enrichment programme aimed to engage socially excluded young people, based on a case study of a 10-day pilot project.

In “The impact of museums on identity”. (International Journal of Heritage Studies 12(1): 49-68) Newman and Mclean (2006) examine how socially excluded visitors to two museum exhibitions and participants in two museum-based community development projects use that experience to construct individual and social identities.

A study by Parr (2006), addressing both questions of inclusion and mental health, has been included in the Arts, Culture and Health section.

Arts, Culture and the Economy

Two studies were published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Culture and local development, by Greffe, Pflieger and Noya (2005), highlights the impact of culture on the impact of culture on local economies, while Gordon and Beilby-Orrin (2007) published the final version of their report on the feasibility of producing reliable international comparative measures of the culture sector, in International Measurement of the Economic and Social Importance of Culture.

Two Canadian economic impact studies were published. Statistics Canada (2007) looks at the contribution of the culture sector to Canada’s provincial economies, while a more detailed regional picture is given in Economic impacts of "Arts and Culture" in the Greater Edmonton Region 2005, by the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (2006).

Finally, a conference paper by Einarsson (2005) addresses the economic impact of culture and specifically music in Iceland.

Major Sporting Events

A study by PriceWaterhouse Coopers (2005) attempts to identify the potential net economic, social and environmental impacts of hosting the London 2012 Olympic Games.