From Data to Wisdom: building the knowledge base for cultural policy

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1 From Data to Wisdom: building the knowledge base for cultural policy Colin Mercer, UK

2 Propositions Need to enhance the quantitative baseline (cultural statistics and other data) and the qualitative baseline (evidence on ' social impacts', the relationship between culture and quality of life, social cohesion and inclusion. Need to move along and up the 'knowledge value chain' from data (statistics) to information (indicators) to knowledge (benchmarks) to wisdom (policy) Need for a research and knowledge-development culture which is stakeholder-based involving both 'top-down' research expertise and 'bottom-up' local knowledge, expertise and ownership Need to position indicators, governance and the strategic place of culture in public policy within a unified conceptual horizon within which an enlarged and enriched concept and ambition of citizenship is the central landmark and stake. Need a strategic positioning of culture like the environment

3 Citizens '...statistics... one of the fundamental branches of the art of government The Abbé Grégoire, Report on Bibliography, Session of 22 Germinal, Year Two of the One and Indivisible Republic, followed by the Decree of the National Convention (1794) For government - and governance - in mass and proto-democratic societies, you had to know how to count. More importantly, you had to know what to count You had to know in what context and to what ends you were counting. In his case 'unity of idiom' for the newly formed 'One and Indivisible Republic' and 'unity of the Revolution'. There was a single word for the unit, fulcrum and focus of calculation: citizen. In our case.?

4 Statistics, Indicators, Governance Statistics are not indicators: they only become such when transformed - or when value is added - through a route map of policy. Indicators need to rest on a robust knowledge base, both quantitative and qualitative, which is constantly refreshed by research, both pure and applied. There are no universal cultural indicators independent of these specific and operational contexts of governance. Governance is not the same as government. It describes, rather, our joint and uneven terms of engagement with the complex field of economic, human, social and cultural power relations in which we are all 'stakeholders'

5 Mapping What actually counts as culture to the stakeholder communities - the 'indigenous venues of validation'. There is a qualitative baseline which needs to be engaged, that is to say, before the quantitative baseline can be constructed. Cultural statistics and indicators, in this context, cannot simply be 'downloaded' or imported from available data sets, no matter how robust these may be. These are important quantitative but necessary but not sufficient for mapping.

6 New Conceptual Horizons Urgent need for new forms of collaboration and crossfertilisation between research, community, industry and government sectors. A conceptual horizon within which it becomes possible to reconcile a broad and inclusive approach to the forms of production in the cultural field with an equally broad approach to the forms and modalities of consumption -the cultural value production chain or the 'culture cycle'. Indicators, both quantitative and qualitative, will be needed along this chain and throughout this cycle

7 From Indicators to Governance As we begin to evaluate and understand the moments in the value chain or 'culture cycle', and the points in between - distribution, circulation, promotion and knowledge, delivery mechanisms, access - we can also start to recognise the inherent connectedness of the cultural domain with others such as the nature of our 'lifestyles' and quality of life, the quality of our built and natural environments, our capacities for creativity and innovation (our 'soft' and 'creative infrastructure'), and our ability to educate and train for diversity.

8 Culture as Capital What are the community's cultural resources and assets? What cultural values underpin that community and its way of life? How can the development of social capital work with cultural values and resources? Amartya Sen - Capital and capabilities

9 Indicator Clusters: a possible conceptual architecture Cultural Vitality and Diversity Indicators in this suite are essentially concerned with measuring the strengths and weaknesses of the cultural economy, both private and public, in terms of: Number of people employed, number of businesses and organisations, turnover and contribution to GDP, relative strength and weakness of the respective subsectors, capacity for production, marketing, distribution and patterns of consumption.

10 Indicator Clusters: a possible conceptual architecture Access and Participation Indicators in this suite are more 'consumption' oriented but also include measures of participation, both public and private, in processes of creation and production and would include, for example: Participation rates by demographics, physical location, etc; the existence or not of policy measures to assist in increasing participation, mapping of infrastructure to enable access and participation, etc

11 Indicator Clusters: a possible conceptual architecture Identity and Lifestyle Indicators in this suite are 'appropriation' oriented and are more concerned with how people actively use cultural resources and experiences to form and reform identities, fashion and consolidate lifestyles and include, for example: Evaluations through research surveys of the different uses of culture by different demographic groups and the ways in which those uses contribute to the formation and/or reformation and reproduction of identities and lifestyles

12 Indicator Clusters: a possible conceptual architecture Conduct and Governance Indicators in this suite are oriented to the analysis and understanding of how people use cultural resources to develop and/or challenge particular forms of behaviour and conduct including in areas such as recognition of and respect for cultural and other diversities, how culture enables - or hinders - people to live together in terms of social cohesion and inclusion and would include: Evaluations through research surveys and other methods of the contribution of cultural resources and experiences to quaiity of place, quality of life, tolerance and recognition of others, intercultural dialogue, etc.

13 Words of Wisdom Numbers used to make my eyes glaze over. Not any more. Not since I began to follow the directions in which they point. (Arundhati Roy) '...statistics... one of the fundamental branches of the art of government (The Abbé Grégoire, Report on Bibliography, Session of 22 Germinal, Year Two of the One and Indivisible Republic [1794], followed by the Decree of the National Convention) It is a question of. integrating cultural policy into social options as a whole.' (Jacques Depaigne, Cultural Policies in Europe, 1978) "Our biggest problem in cultural policy is not, I would suggest, lack of resources, lack of will, lack of commitment or even lack of policy co-ordination to date. It is, rather, a misconstrual or only partial formulation of the policy object itself: culture. (Our Creative Diversity, 1995).

14 Joining things up: for research, policy, governance or the only way is Essex. Culture is already 'joined-up'. It is joined up with our personal, community, regional and national identities. It is joined up with the way we live, work and play. It is increasingly joined up with our capacity for sustainable economic development, and attracting inward investment in a knowledge-based and creative economy. It is joined up with the ways in which we can make communities and places physically attractive, socially and economically dynamic and diverse. It is joined up, ultimately, to our whole quality of life. Creative Consequences: the contribution and impact of the arts in Essex 2001/2002, London, Local Government Association, 2003