Search results

In this chapter, we consider dominant arguments for the ‘disaggregation’ of the value of culture into discrete dimensions – economic, social, environmental, heritage and cultural and so forth – and their separate measurement. We discuss the role of proxies in assessment processes (‘parts’) and their relationship to the cultural experiences (‘wholes’) for which they are taken to be representative indicators. Disaggregation encourages a divisible approach to cultural activities that, at their heart, present as non-divisible experiences. Thus, we should speak of ‘culture's value’ as opposed to ‘cultural value’ as a way of highlighting a crucial methodological point – that arts and culture are more than the sum of their parts and that the assessment of a particular cultural activity must consider not only the benefits returned by its separate dimensions but also the activity's overall purpose, scope and place in the world. These non-divisible, often non-measurable, contextual features should not be considered contingent externalities but as sense-providing parameters that give meaning to any numerical data whatsoever. We conclude by looking at the issue via an example of a recent stage play from South Australia, Mi:Wi 3027 written by Ngarrindjeri playwright Glenn Shea and commissioned by Country Arts South Australia. The values of the drama cannot be and should not be distinguished from its value, and assessment processes must therefore look to frame the primary cultural experience it embodies in ways that make sense of its purpose, scope and place in the world.

The purpose of this paper is to argue for the importance of separating out three key dimensions of culture’s value – definition, measurement and cultural reporting. This has implications for the balance between quantitative and qualitative methodologies in achieving a meaningful context for interpreting numbers-based cultural data, as well as for the management of reporting regimes – the process by which value is “conferred” – by individual cultural organisations and events. It concludes with a brief sketch of a new set of priorities for assessment processes based on a less unitized, more cooperative understanding of cultural value (a Total Cultural Value exercise)

This paper is a keynote address from the Global Events Congress.

Valuation processes are comparative processes. They involve benchmarking, standardisation, unitisation and ranking. Cultural activities have an incommensurable aspect that makes them resist this kind of assessment and not infrequently make a nonsense of it. This makes it difficult for policy makers to choose between them from a resource perspective. No new proof of worth is going to change this fundamental characteristic of culture. A Total Cultural Value exercise is “allocutionary” and helps cultural programmes “make a case” based on best use of the available data and a meta-cognitive appreciation of the biases different proofs of worth involve.

Total Cultural Value is a new concept developed to bring quantitative and qualitative methods for valuing arts and culture together

The purpose of this paper is to define event evaluation, develop a conceptual model of its process and elements, review pertinent literature, and draw conclusions pertaining both to the discourse on evaluation and its praxis.

General review of literature and development of a conceptual model of the evaluation process.

The review suggests that impact assessments have dominated, but are only one type of evaluation; research and papers on evaluating the worth of events has been minimal, while those on the evaluation of various management and marketing functions is fragmented.

It is concluded that little has been written about evaluation paradigms and systems, although the discourse on sustainability and triple bottom line accountability has led to a greater emphasis on non-economic considerations.

The conceptual model of the evaluation process and its components offers a systematic approach to shaping evaluation discourse and methods. Conclusions are drawn on how to advance evaluation research and methods applied to events.

Within Australia, cultural festivals focusing on music, food and art represent important social and economic opportunities for rural communities. However, tensions may also arise within communities where stakeholder ideologies are at odds regarding the place identity being presented for consumption by tourism practices. Thus, using Mitchell’s model of creative destruction/creative enhancement as a theoretical framework and through qualitative analysis, the purpose of this paper is to critically examine three South Australian festivals from multiple perspectives, to identify what relevant stakeholders consider festivals contribute to the community and how this may impact on the success of the festival itself.

Using Mitchell’s model of creative destruction/creative enhancement as a theoretical framework and through qualitative analysis, this research critically examines three South Australian festivals from multiple perspectives, to identify what relevant stakeholders consider festivals contribute to the community and how this may impact on the success of the festival itself.

Findings suggest that those communities who present a more complex understanding of the “rural idyll” through the integration of multiple local products will experience greater success, both for internal and external audiences.

This research represents a unique contribution to the literature on festivals by combining the theoretical construct of cultural value with Mitchell’s model of creative destruction and creative enhancement, particularly within South Australia where little such work has been one, despite the fact that it presents itself as the “Festival State”.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the value of the arts play in public spaces in replicating a contemporary commons.

The study is an exploratory investigation which uses a case study of cultural events in public parks – the Vancouver Parks Board’s fieldhouse residency program (2012-2015). The study uses content analysis of the social media sites created for these projects to identify how the sites and the cultural events were valued by stakeholders and participants.

The paper finds that, in combination, the park events and the social media discussion of them function as a form of the commons, in which new urban communities are formed or defined around specific common social interests.

The paper finds that, in combination, the park events and the reflective engagement prompted by the social media discussion of them function as a form of the commons, in which new urban communities are formed or defined around specific common social interests.

It is anticipated that cultural programs will increasingly interact with common public places.

The study supports the increased use of and recognition of public places as culturally significant.

The study aims to encourage the expansion of arts and cultural policy and programs to incorporate common public places.

Crisis can bring out the true nature of people. Also in terms of consumers, this can be for better or for worse. On the one hand, irresponsible consumer behaviours rose, with for example people starting to hoard bulk quantities of toilet paper, rice and flour, which in turn increased scarcity perceptions and induced fear in others. Besides panic buying, impulse purchasing also rose, as a means to alleviate negative feelings and to treat oneself (particularly once the stores reopened again). For some consumers, this increased buying can become compulsive, leading to shopping addiction and financial problems. On the other hand, the crisis also forced a pause in the rat race we live, allowing people to reconsider their consumption behaviour and evolve towards more sustainable choices. This chapter provides insights on both directions, allowing retail managers to incorporate this new reality in further strategic decisions. In what follows, three consecutive stages in notable changes in consumer behaviour in the pandemic crisis are discussed: from reacting (e.g. hoarding), over coping (e.g. do-it-yourself behaviours), to longer-term adapting (e.g. potentially transformative changes in consumption).