How do we demonstrate the true value of culture and heritage? And are we measuring everything that matters?
These were two of the questions that stood out during the third day of the Culture and Heritage Capital: Putting Theory into Practice conference.
Cultural organisations have long recognised that their impact extends beyond visitor numbers, ticket sales and tourism revenue. Museums, heritage sites and cultural programmes can support mental health and wellbeing, strengthen community connections, create opportunities for learning and preserve our shared heritage for future generations.
But demonstrating these benefits in a way that can inform funding and investment decisions remains a challenge. Two themes from the conference were particularly relevant to our work at M·E·L Research.
Putting a value on wellbeing
One of the most interesting areas of discussion was how we can measure and quantify the health and wellbeing benefits of cultural engagement.
While we might recognise that visiting a museum, participating in a creative activity or engaging with heritage can improve wellbeing, translating those experiences into robust economic evidence is more complex.
Research and guidance from Frontier Economics and the National Centre for Creative Health provide useful starting points for understanding how these benefits can be evaluated.
The opportunity for researchers is to move beyond measuring participation and satisfaction, towards understanding the outcomes cultural activities generate and the economic value associated with them. This could help cultural organisations build stronger business cases and demonstrate their contribution to wider health and social priorities.
Why we need to listen to non-users
A second theme challenged a common assumption in audience research: that the value of a cultural organisation is primarily determined by the people who visit it.
People can value museums, historic buildings, and cultural collections without ever visiting them. They may care about preserving heritage for future generations, value the opportunity to visit in the future, or simply believe that these assets should exist for the benefit of society.
These non-use values are often overlooked when evaluation focuses exclusively on existing audiences. Research methods such as contingent valuation and discrete choice experiments offer ways to understand and quantify these wider benefits.
For researchers, this raises an important question: whose voices are missing from our evaluations? If we only speak to people who already engage with culture and heritage, we may miss a substantial part of the picture.
Towards a fuller understanding of cultural value
The discussions highlighted the importance of taking a broader approach to measuring cultural impact. Understanding wellbeing outcomes, capturing non-use values and exploring the motivations behind people’s connections to culture can help build a more complete picture of the benefits cultural organisations provide.
Economic valuation will not capture every dimension of cultural value, nor should it replace the rich qualitative evidence that helps us understand people’s experiences. But used thoughtfully, these approaches can complement existing research methods and provide stronger evidence to inform decisions about cultural investment.
For us at M·E·L Research, the key question is how we can bring these different approaches together to help cultural organisations demonstrate their value more comprehensively. Because the value of culture and heritage is not limited to the people who walk through the door.
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Whether you’re a public body, charity, or organisation looking to understand your audience, evaluate impact, or inform future strategies, we’re here to help.
Get in touch with the M·E·L Research team today via our ‘Get in touch’ form below to see how our expert researchers can support your goals. Alternatively, you can email the team at info@melresearch.co.uk.
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