Towards a framework for measuring local government return on investment in arts and cultural development

Trudie Walters; Lisa Chandler; Stephen Clark

doi:10.1080/03003930.2018.1518220

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Towards a framework for measuring local government return on investment in arts and cultural development

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Towards a framework for measuring local government return on investment in arts and cultural development

Trudie Walters, Lisa Chandler and Stephen Clark

Local Government Studies, Vol.45(2), pp.262-280

2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2018.1518220

Appears in UniSC Diversity and Inclusion Research Collection

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Abstract

local government

arts and culture

return on investment

evaluation framework

public value

cultural value

UniSC Diversity Area - Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

Local governments make a significant annual investment in arts and cultural development programmes. However, the practicalities of measuring the return on this investment have been largely overlooked by researchers, and investigations into return on investment have frequently focused on the economic return. Here, it is argued that intrinsic social and cultural returns on investment are equally important. A further issue is that measurement frameworks have often taken an outputs-based approach, seeking to evaluate the performance of one-off events rather than measuring the outcomes or impact of the total investment in arts and cultural development over the life of a policy or strategy. This paper therefore takes a broader, outcomes-based approach and offers a practical evaluation framework. An implementation-ready method is presented which will allow local government policy-makers to provide evidence of medium- and long-term outcomes and impacts of their arts and cultural development programmes and weigh this against their investment.

Details

Title: Towards a framework for measuring local government return on investment in arts and cultural development
Authors: Trudie Walters (Author) - University of Otago, New Zealand
Lisa Chandler (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts, Business and Law
Stephen Clark (Author) - The Good Thinking Group
Publication details: Local Government Studies, Vol.45(2), pp.262-280
Publisher: Routledge
Date published: 2019
DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2018.1518220
ISSN: 0300-3930
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Creative Industries - Legacy; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451005102621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Political Science; Public Administration; Regional & Urban Planning

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