What difference do museums make? Producing evidence on the impact of museums

Critical Quarterly

Volumn 44, Issue 4, 2002, Pages 65-81

  Selwood, Sara ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33645066923     PISSN: 00111562     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8705.00457     Document Type: Review

References (53)

1. Defined as the direct products of activities usually expressed as measurable units, such as the number of services provided or the number of people provided for. For example, facilitating 300,000 new opportunities to experience the arts and 200,000 new educational sessions as proposed in DCMS, A New Cultural Framework (London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1998)
2. Defined as the benefits or changes in skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours - in short, the difference a particular service made; for example, inspiring a young person to have a lifelong interest in the arts. See IMLS, Outcome-Based Evaluation for IMLS-Funded Projects for Libraries and Museums (Washington DC: Institute of Museums and Library Services, 1999)
3. Gordon Brown, cited in A. Grice, 'Billions have to be cut from spending plans, Brown warns', Independent, 20 March 2002: 〈http://www.independent. co.uk/story.jsp?story=276411〉
4. Cabinet Office, Performance and Innovation Unit, Adding it Up (2000): 〈http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2000/addingcoiadc〉
5. RMTF (Regional Museums Task Force), Renaissance in the Regions: A New Vision for England's Museums (London: Resource, 2001), 18
6. ACE, Annual Review 2001, Breaking New Ground A Review of the Year (London: Arts Council of England, 2001), 2-3
7. RMTF, Renaissance in the Regions, 127
8. DCMS, A New Cultural Framework
9. DCMS, Museums for the Many: Standards for Museums and Galleries to Use when Developing Access Policies (London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1999)
10. DCMS, Libraries, Museums, Galleries and Archives for All: Co-operating Across the Sectors to Tackle Social Exclusion (London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2001)
11. It could be argued that Labour's 'new cultural framework' (DCMS, A New Cultural Framework) represents a move towards not only greater accountability, but increased centralisation. It effectively marks a final blow for the 'arm's-length principle', and the incorporation of the regional arts boards into a new single arts funding and development body (as of 1 April 2002) means that the arts are more directly accountable to central government than ever before. The Institute of Ideas' Museums for 'the People'? Conversations in Print (London: Academy of Ideas, 2001) perceives central government funding to regional museums as furthering what they refer to as the 'new orthodoxy' - 'vacuous slogans of relevance, accessibility and inclusiveness'
12. S. E. Weil, 'From Being About Something to Being For Somebody: The Ongoing Transformation of the American Museum', Daedalus, special issue, American Museums, 128:3 (Summer 1999)
13. Kenneth Hudson, cited by S. E. Weil, 'Transformed From a Century of Bric-a-Brac', in IMLS, Perspectives on Outcome Based Evaluation for Libraries and Museums (Washington DC: Institute of Museums and Library Services, 2000), 6
14. F. Matarasso, 'Foreword. A Cultural Imperative?', in QUEST, Social Inclusion in Action, final draft (London: Quality, Efficiency and Standards Team, 2002)
15. S. Selwood, Markets and Users, Renaissance in the Regions working paper (2001): 〈http://www.resource.gov.uk/information/policy/marktuser.asp〉
16. MORI, Visitors to Museums & Galleries in the UK (London: Resource, 2001), 15-16
17. This is increasingly true of private sector grants in the UK. See P. McCurry, 'Let's Be Honest', Guardian, 19 December 2001: 〈http://society. guardian.co.uk/fundraising/story/0,8150,620672,00. html〉
18. In the US, the Institute for Museum & Library Services' adoption of outcome-based evaluation took its lead from evaluation practices introduced in 1995 by the private sector, in particular the United Way a federation of some 1,400 community-based fundraising organisations (see IMLS, Perspectives on Outcome Based Evaluation for Libraries and Museums, 4-15
19. M. Allison, Realising the Potential: The Case for Cultural Services. Museums, Local Government Association (2001): 〈http://www.lga.gov.uk/ Publication.asp?1section〉, v
20. B. Sheppard, Museums in the Community: Measuring Impact, Remarks for the Museum Trustee Association Annual Meeting, 21 October 2000: 〈http://www. imls.gov/whatsnew/current/sp102100.htm〉
21. DCMS (2002) Examples of Good Practice: 〈http://www.culture.gov.uk/ role/research-north.html〉
22. F. Coalter, Realising the Potential of Cultural Services, Local Government Association (2001): 〈http://www.lga.gov.uk/Documents/Briefing/ Our-Work/Cultural/Advocacy. pdf〉
23. Selwood (ed.), Markets and Users
24. S. Selwood, 'Profile of Museums and Galleries', in S. Selwood, The UK Cultural Sector: Profile and Policy Issues (London: Policy Studies Institute, 2001), 342-59
25. QUEST, Modernising the Relationship, 10
26. Selwood, The UK Cultural Sector, Appendix 1
27. This figure excludes allocations to Resource, the Designated Museums Challenge Fund and Single Regional Agencies; DCMS, Annual Report 2001 (London: Stationery Office, 2001)
28. DCMS, Review of the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the National Museums and Galleries (London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1999)
29. DCMS, Review of the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the National Museums and Galleries
30. MORI, Visitors to Museums & Galleries in the UK, 15-16
31. I. Cobain, 'Museums Angry over Order to Increase Ethnic Visitors', Sunday Telegraph, 21 May 2000
32. C. Smith 'No quotas', letter to the Daily Telegraph, 29 May 2000
33. Lord Tebbit, cited by Cobain, 'Museums Angry over Order to Increase Ethnic Visitors'
34. Cobain, 'Museums Angry over Order to Increase Ethnic Visitors'
35. DCMS, Review of the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the National Museums and Galleries, 76
36. DCMS, Free admission to museums 'a spectacular success' says Tessa Jowell, Press release 2/02 (London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 7 January 2002)
37. DCMS, Visitor numbers for national museums and galleries up twenty percent. Chris Smith hails new figures as a 'success for art, heritage and education', Press release 104/01 (London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2 April 2001)
38. QUEST, Social Inclusion in Action
39. and H. Jermyn, The Arts and Social Exclusion: A Review Prepared for the Arts Council of England (2001): 〈html://artscouncil.org.uk/publications/ docs/socialexclusionreview. doc〉
40. For example: LGA, Tackling Poverty and Social Inclusion through Cultural Services: A Toolkit for Local Authorities, Local Government Association (2001): 〈http://www.lga.gov.uk/Publication.asp?1section〉
41. J. Dean, R. Goodlad and C. Hamilton, Toolkit for Evaluating Arts Projects in Social Inclusion Areas (Edinburgh: Scottish Arts Council, 2001)
42. ACE, Research Brief: National Evaluation Toolkit for Measuring the Impact of the Arts (tenders due to be submitted by 22 March 2002)
43. M. Reeves, Measuring the Economic and Social Impact of the Arts (London: Arts Council of England, 2002): 〈http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/ publications/docs/measuring.doc〉
44. Resource, Inspiring Learning: A Framework for Access and Learning in Museums, Archives and Libraries (2001): 〈http://www.resource.gov.uk/action/ learnacc/insplearn.asp〉
45. Resource A Learning and Access Standard for Museums, Archives & Libraries, final stage paper (2001): 〈http://www.resource.gov.uk/reports/ learnacc.html〉
46. I am grateful to Fred Coalter who identified these broad categories in a workshop, 'Mission for Measurement' at the 'Mainstreaming the Arts' conference, Belfast: Arts Council of Northern Ireland, September 2001
47. P. Hewitt, Beyond Boundaries: The Arts after the Events of 2001, speech given at the National Portrait Gallery (London: Arts Council of England, 2002)
48. M. Evans, The Economy of the Imagination, New Statesman Arts Lecture (2001): 〈http://www.resource.gov.uk/information/newstat01.html〉
49. GLLAM, Museums and Social Inclusion: The GLLAM Report (Leicester: Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, 2000)
50. Resource, 'Embed to Unlock: Using Museums, Archives and Libraries to Develop a Learning Community' (unpublished, 2001)
51. S. Bitgood, 'The Hein-Miles Debate: An Introduction, Explanation and Commentary', Visitor Behaviour, 12:3 and 4 (1997), 3-7
52. R. Miles, 'No Royal Road to Learning: A Commentary on Constructivism', Visitor Behaviour, 12:3 and 4 (1997), 7-15
53. M. Wright, S. Selwood, C. Creaser and J. E. Davies, 'UK Museums Retrospective Statistics Project' (unpublished report for Resource, 2001): http://www.resource.gov.uk/information/evidence/ev-stats.asp