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Visit Observations for insight, commentary and pointers to data and intelligence about the West Midlands region. |
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Monitoring the impact of the recession - can you help? Here at the West Midlands Cultural Observatory, we continue to keep a close eye on how the recession is affecting West Midlands’ culture. As part of our ongoing research, we are co-ordinating an informal, quarterly survey with cultural organisations. The survey for April – June 2009 is now live. Can you help us to recruit respondents for this survey? If you know of any cultural organisations (arts, sport, heritage etc) based in the region that you think would be willing to take part in the survey please send them the link and encourage them to complete surveys by 17th July 2009. Thank you! Link to the recession survey New cultural research handbook for local authorities West Midlands Cultural Observatory recently published a short, 15 page guidance paper which offers practical advice on what cultural data and intelligence is available to local authorities, how this data can be accessed and what methodology might be used to analyse the data. The handbook also has a wider appeal for anyone looking to replicate the research conducted as part of the two recent evidence papers: Culture & Prosperity: The Economic Role of Culture in the West Midlands and Culture, People & Place: The Social & Environmental Role of Culture in the West Midlands.This includes, for example, researching levels of cultural employment and participation at regional and local levels. Download the handbook New maps reveal patches of high cultural engagement Four maps just published by the DCMS help to visually demonstrate the geographical areas in the region where residents have relatively high or low levels of participation in culture. Maps show sports (NI 8), libraries (NI 9), museums and galleries (NI 10) and arts (NI 11) participation, based on the latest National Indicator estimates. While the story is ofcourse different for each cultural form, there is a persistent patch of low participation in Birmingham and The Black Country (to the centre-East of the region) and in the Stoke-on-Trent / Staffordshire Moorlands area (to the far North East). Participation in culture is consistently high to the South – South East area of the region from the Malvern Hills in the South, to the Warwick / Rugby area in the South East corner. Stafford also forms an ‘island’ of high participation towards the North of the region, despite bordering several areas of low participation. Overall, the visual story provided by the maps serves as a useful reminder that in statistics, the ‘West Midlands average’ can mask what is often a piecemeal array of high and low results. Download the maps and accompanying data What are the West Midlands most significant cultural attractions? This is the question which Burns Owens Partnership sought to answer in their recent study: 'Mapping and Gapping Analysis of Cultural Assets in the West Midlands ’. The study, which was commissioned by the West Midlands Regional Assembly as part of the Regional Spatial Strategy evidence-gathering process, analysed elements such as an attraction’s size, volume of visitors and critical recognition to determine 'significance’. Over 200 attractions or ‘assets’ (considered to be of more than ‘local’ significance) were identified. Examples of assets considered to be particularly significant include Warwick Castle in Warwickshire, Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire and Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham. The West Midlands mapping work feeds into the current debate (led by the DCMS CASE programme) about the creation of a national cultural assets database. A recent scoping study commissioned by CASE has suggested that the online ‘CultureMap’ resource developed by Audiences London could form the most appropriate model for the national project in the first instance. It remains to be seen whether this national project will be given the go ahead and if it does go ahead, how far this database will draw on / corroborate with the West Midlands mapping study. Download the West Midlands cultural assets mapping study Millions more people in England participating in sport Newly published data sourced from the 2008 Active People Survey has revealed that since 2006, millions more people in England are now taking part in regular sport and active recreation. Around 3.6 million more people now qualify as undertaking sport or recreation ‘for at least 30 minutes in the last 4 weeks’, bringing the total number of regular participants to 43 million. Walking remains the most popular pursuit - over 9 million adults (aged 16 or over) embarked on a recreational walk in 2008, marking an increase of 2% since 2006. Participation rates for the more regular rate of ‘at least once a week for 30 minutes’ also increased, with a particularly notable increase (of around 250,000 people) in numbers taking part in weekly athletics sessions. View the newly released Active People results Measuring the impact of museums, libraries and archives A thought-provoking discussion paper produced for MLA has concluded that methodologies which consider social and environmental factors (as well as standard economic ones) are best placed to measure the economic impact of museums, libraries and archives. Authors of the paper advocate the adoption of a ‘social return on investment’ technique which involves convening focus groups of people that have visited institutions, getting focus group participants to reach a shared understanding of the benefits they have gained from visits, and then calculating what the benefits equate to in financial terms. For example, ‘improved physical and mental well-being’ may cause people to spend less time visiting health professionals and this saved time can be attributed a monetary value based on the average wage rate. Creative cities journal - Birmingham case study The forthcoming edition of the architecture and planning journal: ‘Built Environment’ will explore approaches to the creation of ‘creative cities’ and includes an article which focuses specifically on ‘The Case of Birmingham’. For more information and to order your copy contact Alexadrine Press (alexandrine@rudkinassociates.co.uk / 01865 391 687). |
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