As part of my ongoing research about cultural entrepreneurship, I have understood the value of indicators and statistics and the power of data (numbers) interpretation. Numbers speak to finance people and finance people make decisions about where the funding (money) goes to. Only recently national authorities have started collecting cultural data and initiated a public discussion on what is and what is not cultural data and how to count employment in the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs).
So while looking for more interpreted data, I came across an ‘Australia-wide consultation on the value and future development of a set of national cultural indicators’. A consultation by the Australian Ministry for the Arts has been launched. It is entitled ‘Future of National Cultural Indicators’ and it offered participation to a survey closing on March 17th, 2014.
The call was as follows:
“Vital Signs is the first attempt to identify a set of high level cultural indicators for Australia. It was developed by the Statistics Working Group of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers and released for discussion purposes.
The Vital Signs indicators are based on a framework for measuring the value of the arts and cultural sector in terms of its contribution to economic prosperity, cultural vitality and social well-being.
Suggested indicators include:
- Economic value measured by cultural employment and expenditure on cultural goods and activities;
- Cultural value measured by innovation and cultural identity; and
- Social value measured by access and participation.”
For more information including the full report, fact sheet and Power Point presentation, click here.
Culture & Capital 