The value of measuring value: using cultural data to advocate for the arts

Queenslands State Government agency for arts and culture Key areas of responsibility: Advising the Minister on strategic policy for arts and culture in Queensland Administration of funding programs and capital works programs Reporting on government investment in arts and culture Managing the states arts and cultural assets Supporting governance in broader arts portfolio About Arts Queensland

Evidence-based policy and funding decisions Tighter fiscal environment Local government positioning of arts and culture Arts Qld policy goals Broader measurement frameworks about wellbeing and progress Drivers to improve advocacy

ABS data – useful but not localised or outcomes-based Arts Portfolio data – focus on targets/outputs Program data – anecdotal information and sporadic evaluation Local government data – variable quality of data across local government Data hidden in reports The data landscape

1. Grow the evidence base – improve the quality and quantity of data 2. Tell the story – present data in a digestible way that supports advocacy The data challenge

More than bums on seats – state and regional data Local government data collection tool Arts Qld program and policy evaluations Growing the evidence base

Evaluation resources for the sector resource.html Growing the evidence base

Good practice case studies studies.php Growing the evidence base

aqblog Growing the evidence base

More than bums on seats – general booklet, regional and community profiles seats.html Telling the story

Local government community arts and wellbeing presentation exchange/advocacy-resources.html Telling the story

Community recovery fact sheet Telling the story

Good practice case studies wordless-case-study.pdf Telling the story

Executive summaries of evaluations Telling the story

Continue to build an evaluation culture within Arts Qld and the arts and cultural sector Identify new advocacy tools in consultation with local government and the sector Obtain trend data by repeating More than bums on seats research Learn from the Western Australian public value measurement study What next?