Research project
Centre for Cultural Value
- Start date: 1 October 2019
- End date: 31 January 2025
- Funder: AHRC
- Primary investigator: Professor Ben Walmsley
- Co-investigators: Professor Leila Jancovich, Dr Stephen Dobson
- External co-investigators: Franco Bianchini (University of Hull), Beatriz Garcia (University of Liverpool), Andrew Higson (University of York), David Stevenson (Queen Margaret University), Stephanie Pitts (University of Sheffield)
- Postgraduate students: Ava Podgorski
- Postdoctoral researcher: Dr Robyn Dowlen, Dr John Wright, Dr Emma McDowell, Dr Alex De Little
Value
£2.5m
Partners and collaborators
The Audience Agency; the University of York, the University of Hull, the University of Sheffield, the University of Liverpool, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. For affiliate partners see https://www.culturalvalue.org.uk/partners/
Description
We are a national research centre based at the University of Leeds. We want to enrich lives by building an equitable, confident and sustainable cultural sector. We are funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council, Arts Council England and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
We are building a shared understanding of the differences that arts, culture, heritage and screen make to people’s lives and to society. We want cultural policy and practice to be based on rigorous research and evaluation of what works and what needs to change.
We work alongside cultural practitioners and organisations, academics, funders and policymakers to:
- Summarise existing evidence to make relevant research more accessible
- Support the cultural sector to develop skills in research, evaluation and reflective practice
- Convene discussions around questions of cultural value
- Shape policy development
We recognise that there are diverse perspectives about culture and cultural values. Everyone values culture, even if they don’t always have equal opportunities to take part in the cultural activities they value the most.
Collaboration and partnership underpin our work and help us draw on a rich range of insights, evidence and practice.
- We co-produce our work in partnership with others and we bring people together to further understanding of cultural value.
- We are committed to diversifying the voices and viewpoints heard in discussions about cultural value.
- We are independent, objective and clear about what evidence there is and where the gaps lie.
Impact
See project website and REF ICS on cultural evaluation in development plus 4 x ResearchFish submissions
Publications and outputs
https://www.culturehive.co.uk/cultural-value-resources/
Podcast: https://www.culturalvalue.org.uk/reflecting-value/