Drawing on findings from the Culture in Crisis research project, @johnwrightart.bsky.social & @aliceborchi.bsky.social explore how festival organisers found new ways to share knowledge, create experiences, support one another and sustain a collective identity. culturehive.co.uk/CVIresources...

How commoning practices became commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic - CultureHive

During the COVID-19 pandemic, festivals faced a major challenge: how could they create meaningful shared experiences when people could no longer gather? Moving online was often described as a practica...

culturehive.co.uk

What was the cultural sector’s response to the Hodge Review? This article for @ctjournal.bsky.social from @universityofleeds.bsky.social researchers offers a useful snapshot of how the report landed with the sector when it was published in December 2025. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Receiving the Hodge Review: the cultural sector’s response to a policy landmark

This article provides a critical overview of cultural sector responses to the publication of Baroness Hodge’s (2025) review of Arts Council England (the Hodge Review). It offers a snapshot of how t...

tandfonline.com

What might the experience of Italian opera houses tell us about the wider relationship between cultural policy, investment and cultural vitality? In this article, @aliceborchi.bsky.social & Carlo Alberto Petruzzi examine the challenges facing Italian opera. www.culturalvalue.org.uk/beyond-the-b...

Beyond the bailout: What Italian opera houses reveal about cultural policy - Centre for Cultural Value

What might the experience of Italian opera houses tell us about the wider relationship between cultural policy, investment and cultural vitality?

culturalvalue.org.uk

Holly Sandiford reflects on her recent work facilitating a series of three Cultural Vitality Labs, where creative methods, from walking and mapping to collaborative making, played a key role in connecting the many voices of the Norwich culture sector. www.culturalvalue.org.uk/creative-met...

What if we started with place rather than planning? 🤔 Cultural planner @liaghilardi.bsky.social shares more about her place-based and cultural vitality-focused approach to urban regeneration, where local mapping of cultural DNA comes before strategy. www.culturalvalue.org.uk/start-from-p...

Rethinking evaluation with young people. In this feature for @artsprofessional.co.uk the Centre's @rob-eagle.bsky.social and Stephen Dobson share more on why we should adopt a more participatory, reflective approach to evaluation with young people. www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/fea...

Re-thinking evaluation with young people - Arts Professional

Youth programme evaluation is typically a retrospective exercise, with a report produced at the end of a project. The Centre for Cultural Value’s Rob Eagle and Stephen Dobson advocate for a more parti...

artsprofessional.co.uk

In a free online webinar on 8 June, the NCDO team will share more about their research and the blueprint they have developed for a National Cultural Data Observatory. Find out more about the event & book your free place >>> www.ticketsource.com/centre-for-c...

A new collaborative research report sets out a blueprint for a National Cultural Data Observatory to transform how the UK understands the impact of arts, culture and heritage. Learn more about this work and download the report >>> www.culturalvalue.org.uk/new-report-t...

Writing for @artsprofessional.co.uk, we share more about the Centre’s approach to ethical data practice and how going beyond simply measuring what culture does and where can help to begin to shape how culture is understood, strengthened and sustained. www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/fea...

Ethical data practice: What we measure shapes what we value - Arts Professional

Stephen Dobson and Anna Kime from the Centre for Cultural Value reflect on why ethical data practice sits at the heart of their approach.

artsprofessional.co.uk

In a free online webinar on 15 April, the NCDO team will share more about their research and the blueprint they have developed for a National Cultural Data Observatory. Find out more about the event & book your free place >>> www.ticketsource.co.uk/centre-for-c...

How can we place participatory research and co-production at the heart of cultural evidence? We're launching Cultural Vitality Labs, a research programme exploring approaches for understanding cultural vitality rooted in local experience and priorities. www.culturalvalue.org.uk/cultural-vit...

Cultural Vitality Labs: Placing participatory research and co-production at the heart of cultural evidence - Centre for Cultural Value

The Centre for Cultural Value launches Cultural Vitality Labs, a new participatory research programme working with three partners to explore how cultural vitality can be understood, evidenced and used...

culturalvalue.org.uk

Writing for @artsprofessional.co.uk, we look ahead to what comes next for the Centre for Cultural Value, setting out a refreshed vision for the next three years, grounded in practical relevance and long-term benefit. www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/fea...

Building the next chapter for the Centre for Cultural Value - Arts Professional

Stephen Dobson and Liz Harrop of the Centre for Cultural Value discuss their next steps after securing ‘the rare gift of stability’- thanks to confirmed multi-year funding.

artsprofessional.co.uk

What can we learn about co-producing research and evaluation? In this article, Ava Podgorski reflects on the Speak Up Youth Researcher initiative, a bold example of peer research in schools as part of a wider @nationaltheatre.org.uk youth programme. www.culturalvalue.org.uk/empowering-y...

Empowering Youth Researchers: how handing over the research reins reveals fresh perspectives and deeper insights - Centre for Cultural Value

Ava Podgorski reflects on the Speak Up Youth Researcher initiative, a bold example of peer research in schools as part of a wider National Theatre-led youth programme.

culturalvalue.org.uk

In this article, Centre director Stephen Dobson takes a cultural vitality lens to reframe familiar audience segments, finding that audiences are no longer seen as passive consumers but as micro-producers, co-creators, and cultural influencers. www.culturalvalue.org.uk/rethinking-a...

Brilliant to see our Cultural Indicator Suite reflected so powerfully in the 10-year Impact Report from @funpalaces.bsky.social. Their long-term, grassroots data shows what “cultural vitality” truly looks like in real life. funpalaces.co.uk/everyday-cul...

Everyday Culture, Measured - Fun Palaces

Fun Palaces share the 2025 Impact Report. Read 10 years of stories, facts and figures as well as the importance of measuring cultural impact

funpalaces.co.uk

From ambition to action – building better evaluation practice. In this case study from @researchleeds.bsky.social discover more about a strategic collaboration between the Centre for Cultural Value and @leedscitycouncil.bsky.social researchatleeds.leeds.ac.uk/embedding-ev...

Are you curious about how we can better support stronger, more connected and vibrant communities? In this research digest, Understanding Cultural Vitality, @rob-eagle.bsky.social explores the current research into the cultural vitality of places. www.culturehive.co.uk/CVIresources...

Research Digest: Understanding Cultural Vitality - CultureHive

This research digest draws together research and practice on how to support the cultural vitality of places.

culturehive.co.uk

We’re talking about the value of data in @artsprofessional.co.uk. Data is vital to show culture’s impact, yet narrow, fragmented evidence continues to obscure its true value. What evidence is needed to drive fair investment and growth in the sector? www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/fea...

Making culture count: Why better data matters - Arts Professional

Data is vital to demonstrate culture’s impact, yet narrow, fragmented evidence continues to obscure its true value. Stephen Dobson and Liz Harrop of the Centre for Cultural Value argue that a UK Cultu...

artsprofessional.co.uk

In this piece from @thespacearts.bsky.social, Centre associate @emmamcdoofus.bsky.social shares three simple and practical tips to help you get the most out of your evaluation & signposts evaluation resources available for free on our resources platform. www.thespace.org/resource/mak...

Making space for unexpected outcomes | The Space

Setting clear goals and metrics is a vital part of evaluation but how can you plan to understand any unexpected outcomes from your work? Setting clear goals and metrics is a vital part of evaluation b...

thespace.org

What has one organisation learnt from 50 years of cultural placemaking? Kathryn Welch explores the story of @junctionartsuk.bsky.social telling us more about creative placemaking across 50 years of economic, social, demographic and political change. www.culturalvalue.org.uk/junction-art...

The Centre for Cultural Value has been selected as an international partner as part of The Arts Impact Partnership, a seven-year research initiative coordinated by @torontomet.bsky.social , Canada. Read more >>> www.culturalvalue.org.uk/working-inte...

“What’s emerging is a new shape for the Centre, one that might mean doing less, but doing it better." Six months into a deliberate and strategic pause, we share our initial reflections, the challenges and the unexpected rewards. www.culturalvalue.org.uk/taking-the-c...

How can immersive art reshape cultural access, foster resilience, & position young people as co-creators and leaders of cultural change? Read more about Crossover Labs’ Consensus Gentium & a new toolkit for adapting immersive work to non-traditional venues. www.culturalvalue.org.uk/lessons-of-t...

Cultural Trends – Volume 34, Issue 3 Does ‘cultural value’ mean the same thing everywhere? Steven Hadley, Emma McDowell & Ben Walmsley analyse the Irish cultural policy context. Read it here: doi.org/10.1080/0954... #CulturalTrends #CulturalPolicy #CulturalValue #ArtsResearch

The mutability of cultural value: a critical analysis

The contemporary cultural value debate has been broadly UK-driven, albeit with European and international dimensions. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent focus on sector working condi...

doi.org

In our latest feature for‪ @artsprofessional.co.uk the Centre’s @rob-eagle.bsky.social and Anna Kime explore why we need a deeper, more nuanced understanding of cultural vitality and share more about the Cultural Indicator Suite project.

Arts Professional@artsprofessional.co.uk · last yr.

How can practitioners and policymakers measure the cultural vitality of their communities? A new project from the Centre for Cultural Value aims to deepen that understanding, as Rob Eagle and Anna Kime explain. www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/fea...

In our latest feature for‪ @artsprofessional.co.uk, the Centre’s @rob-eagle.bsky.social and Anna Kime explore why we need a deeper, more nuanced understanding of cultural vitality and share more about the Cultural Indicator Suite project. www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/fea...

If you missed the online launch of the Cultural Indicator Suite, a recording of the session is now available to watch online. At this event, we discussed the project to date, shared the framework of suggested indicators, and invited discussion and questions. youtu.be/STjbaiYhw30?...

Cultural Vitality: A discussion of national cultural indicators

YouTube video by Centre for Cultural Value

youtu.be

In this video from @policyleeds.bsky.social, Centre director Stephen Dobson explains more about cultural vitality and the development of a cultural indicator suite framework. For more about this work visit: www.culturalvalue.org.uk/understandin...

Policy Leeds@policyleeds.bsky.social · last yr.

🎥 First up, how do we measure cultural vitality? Stephen Dobson, Centre for Cultural Value, and The Audience Agency are developing new ways to capture everyday cultural life to inform #place-making and #investment in #culture. Funded by @ukri.org Research England PSF. youtu.be/paYj0pWZH34

Working with The Audience Agency and supported by Research England, we have been leading a project to develop a Cultural Indicator Suite, a new framework that helps to communicate the holistic everyday cultural vitality of the places we live. Read more 👇 www.culturalvalue.org.uk/understandin...

Understanding and measuring cultural vitality in the UK - Centre for Cultural Value

The Centre for Cultural Value has been leading a project to develop a Cultural Indicator Suite, a new framework that helps to communicate the holistic everyday cultural vitality of the places we live.

culturalvalue.org.uk

As the summer tourism season gets underway, we spotlight this think piece by @aliceborchi.bsky.social‬ & Carlo Alberto Petruzzi, highlighting recent events in Florence, a city caught between the pressures of mass tourism and preserving its cultural identity. www.culturalvalue.org.uk/the-curious-...

Mass tourism, heritage, music, and debt: the curious case of opera and urban planning in Florence - Centre for Cultural Value

Researchers Alice Borchi and Carlo Alberto Petruzzi examine recent events in Florence, a city caught between the pressures of mass tourism and the need to preserve its cultural identity.

culturalvalue.org.uk