The Biennial Research Conference gathers researchers from around the globe doing work in cultural affairs. The conference focuses on a different theme, or themes each session. Interested researchers submit abstracts for papers to be presented at the research conference. Select papers are reviewed and invited for presentation at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Cultural Policy Beyond the Here and Now: What do we owe to Future Generations?
June 7, 2021
This virtual event gathered researchers from around the globe doing work in cultural affairs. This year’s conference titled Cultural Policy Beyond the Here and Now: What do we owe to Future Generations? addressed cultural policy, specifically on the theme of policies that promote the preservation of culture and the arts for future generations. While the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has established protocols for the preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage, how choices are made in terms of what most calls for preservation, the means by which this is achieved, and the decision-making processes, all warrant further study, in addition to how these principles are, explicitly or implicitly, adopted in national cultural policy.
Our conference brought together a group of international scholars from disciplines in the social sciences, humanities, and sustainability, to present research and scholarship in panel sessions. We also hosted policy makers for a series of roundtables discussing the conference theme in partnership with the Cultural Research Network (CRN).
Program and Policy Evaluation in Cultural Affairs
Decision-makers in the private and public sectors pursue desired outcomes for the creative industries, and the cultural sector in general, through various programs and policies. This puts great importance on empirical analyses of the success, or lack of success, in achieving those desired outcomes. Rigorous evaluation of programs and policies is essential in learning what interventions are more effective than others in achieving goals, the relative cost of programs relative to their outcomes, what are the unintended consequences of programs and policies, and ultimately in improving the efficacy of cultural policy.
This call for papers sought original applications of program and policy evaluation in the creative industries and arts policy.
Authors of selected proposals were invited to share their research at the May 2019 symposium that was held at the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. This research was published in a special edition of Cultural Trends.
