Panel Overview 09-07-2014

The panel session took place on the morning of the workshop, comprising Eleonora Belfiore (Associate Professor of Cultural Policy, University of Warwick, Director of Studies Warwick Commission for the Future of Cultural Value), Andrew Mowlah (Senior Manager, Policy & Research, Arts Council England), David Fleming, OBE (Director of National Museums Liverpool). The chair was Chris Bilton (Director of the Centre for Cultural Policy Studies at the University of Warwick).

The discussion focused on four main themes: the need for evidence for funding organisations, how to measure impact, how to define cultural value and whether cultural organisations can be politically neutral. The participants engaged in an informal and stimulating discussion with the panellists, trying to give an answer to some complex questions and devise new ways to think about the value of the arts and the humanities.

Andrew Mowlah, as senior manager for Policy and Research at Arts Council England, advocated the need for evidence of social impact made by cultural organisations for funding bodies. Impact measurements do not only provide necessary data to inform the decisions of funding bodies, but are also useful resources for cultural organisations themselves: by conducting research on their own work, they obtain useful information to improve their services and stimulate a debate with their users and the local community. The Arts Council wants to stimulate both the production of high quality art and the implementation of artistic projects that have impact at the heart of their agendas.

Eleonora Belfiore explained that when one tries to give a definition of “cultural value” some problems arise. Cultural value can be articulated in many ways: one can try to define it in social, economic, aesthetic and even psychological terms. The case study selected to explain how cultural value can be a controversial issue was the Channel 4 TV program “My Big Fat Gipsy Wedding”: it is a successful show that has a strong economic revenue and is appreciated by a large audience. These two facts might seem sufficient to determine that it is a culturally valuable product, but it is also true that “My Big Fat Gipsy Wedding” is humiliating and offensive towards the community it is supposed to portray. Its cultural value, therefore, is highly questionable.

David Fleming shared his experience in directing museums and promoting social justice. Measuring impact is hard and cultural organisations feel the need to stop measuring and monetize everything; the different kinds of impact – economic, social and cultural – are at times difficult to measure in a coherent and consistent way. His work in directing National Museums Liverpool is focused on the people who attend exhibitions and their personal stories, their needs and the impact that cultural activities have on their life. The users are not a measurable collective entity, but rather a large and heterogeneous group of individuals, where each person adds value to the experience that takes places in galleries and museums. Moreover, museums have been considered neutral for a long time, but now it seems that they are more willing to bring about the social change they promote in their work.

The difficulties in measuring and defining cultural value seem to suggest that the arts need to find an independent method to affirm their own value and cease to be an “attachment” to wider policies in the public sector. Nevertheless, the importance of impact and its social and political significance need to be acknowledged not only as a rhetorical device, but as an important part of the work of cultural practitioners.