The UK's arts and cultural sector employs 674,000 people and contributes £11.8bn annually to the economy, yet it cannot convincingly explain its own value to funders or policymakers. This matters because the sector suffers from structural weaknesses—poor data analysis skills, weak evaluation practices, and under-investment in training and research—that undermine its ability to make a compelling case for investment from private donors, corporate sponsors, and HM Treasury. Without better evidence, the sector risks losing support to competing priorities in health, education, and infrastructure. The Centre for Cultural Value will address this by training practitioners and students in data analysis, audience research, and storytelling. It will run 20 knowledge exchange events across the UK over five years, covering themes from diversity and health to place-making and cultural democracy. A £200k seed fund will support fresh research on these topics. If successful, the Centre could transform how cultural organisations measure and communicate their impact—not just economically, but on wellbeing, community cohesion, and civic engagement. This would help the sector secure sustained investment and build stronger partnerships with health, education, and local government.
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The UK's arts & cultural sector is thriving: it contributes 674,000 jobs and £11.8bn per annum to the economy and remains one of its fastest growing sectors (DCMS, 2018). Yet despite this strong economic performance and its world-leading reputation for quality, the sector consistently fails to comprehend, capture and convey its values in a compelling way. This is partly because it suffers from structural problems including a lack of diversity, skills gaps (especially in data analysis & digital engagement), poor research & evaluation skills, and significant under-investment in training and R&D. These issues hinder its innovation and resilience and compromise its ability to make a coherent and compelling case for investment to key stakeholders, including private donors, corporate sponsors and HM Treasury, and to cognate sectors such as health & education. So we will dedicate resources to training/developing sector practitioners and students (FE/HE/PGR) in key areas of need including data analysis, audience/participant research, research-driven evaluation and storytelling. This proposal has been conceived by a genuinely national consortium comprising world-leading universities & sector partners. These partnerships will enable the Centre to quickly tap into existing networks and gain ready access to different types & sizes of arts/cultural organisations from all over the UK. The Centre will be delivered in a collaborative way that draws on the complementary expertise of its core & affiliate members and harnesses this in a strategic way to maximise the potential of its activities. Based partly on the findings of the Cultural Value Project, the Centre's priority themes will comprise: diversity & inequality, public impact, health & wellbeing, place-making, culture-led regeneration, civic engagement, cultural democracy, co-creation & participation. These themes will be prioritized in our calls for £200k seed funding and reflected in our events. The aim of the events is to stimulate fresh thinking on key themes related to cultural value & engagement and communicate this beyond the sector. The Centre will deliver the following 20 knowledge exchange events over 5 years: 1. Scoping Event 1 (Creative workshop, Opera North/DARE, Leeds) 2. Scoping Event 2 (Open Space event, British Library, London) 3. Launch (Leeds Town Hall) 4. Arts impact evaluation (Creative workshop, U. of Liverpool) 5. Cultural & economic value (Symposium, Cardiff University) 6. Arts, wellbeing & health policy (Colloquium, U. of Leeds) 7. Cultures of participation & co-production (Creative workshop, QMU, Edinburgh) 8. Diversity Forum (Coventry 2021) 9. Audience research & empirical aesthetics (Participatory Action Research event, UCL) 10. Cultures of fandom (Symposium, U. of Bristol) 11. Creative industries, innovation & the creative economy (Symposium, U. of York) 12. Place-making, culture-led regeneration & evaluation (Symposium, U. of Hull) 13. Barriers to cultural engagement (Open Space event, U. of Sheffield) 14. Arts & education policy (Creative workshop, National Theatre/British Library, London) 15. Processes of cultural value (Creative workshop, Eden Court/U. of Highlands & Islands, Inverness) 16. Cultural taste & class (Symposium, U. of Warwick) 17. Arts and conflict resolution (Symposium, Queens University Belfast) 18. Festival & storytelling symposium (Opera North/Leeds 2023, Leeds) 19. Conference on Cultural Value and Engagement (UoL) 20. Evaluation & legacy planning roundtable (UoL) These events will be supported by our website, which will encourage and facilitate engagement & debate between and beyond the events. Outcomes will be captured via regular research digests & blogs. In order to remain open to stakeholders' input and responsive to emerging issues, the Centre will earmark additional funding to support & partner fringe events that arise during the scoping events and over the lifecycle of the Centre.
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