Searching for the “public” in Public Value: arts and cultural heritage in Australia

Abstract

What constitutes the value of publicly funded arts and culture heritage is a much discussed and debated subject. As the debates have gained momentum over the last decade, considerable discourse has been devoted to who should be involved in decisions about what values we should be measuring to substantiate funding from the public purse. The concept of Public Value has been of interest to these discussions because it reminds us that public funding should be spent effectively to provide benefits for citizens and that it is the duty of governments and their funded agencies collectively to achieve this end.

Though Public Value emphasizes the relationship between government decision makers and the managers of public sector institutions, the role of citizens in the process of identifying and defining Public Value is both unclear and contested. This article examines what, if any, role the public play in defining Public Value within Australia's publicly funded arts and cultural heritage sector. Although evidence of increasing consultation and engagement between industry stake holders and what Moore (1995) calls “the authorizing environment” and examples of engaging the general public in identifying Public Value exist, it finds that the public view of value is not formally embedded into decision-making processes at the government policy and planning levels.

Keywords:

• Public Value
• value
• measurement
• policy
• consultation

Notes

There were two publications produced by the Work Foundation in 2006 on the subject of Public Value. Both publications involved the same authors (Horner, Lekhi and Blaug) but the order of their names is cited differently on each of the two documents. Both publications are cited in the references of this article with the author order reproduced as per the Work Foundation publications.

Intrinsic value: Inherent qualities of things, often intangible, described in affective language, without a utilitarian dimension.

Instrumental value: Going beyond core functions and having aspirations to a wider agenda of social change.

Use value: often the effort expended to engage with something – the time travelled to the attraction, the time spent there, the monetary cost, the degree of engagement. Use value encompasses direct use but increasingly it also refers to non-use value described as existence, future and bequest value.

Institutional value: Processes and practices which agencies adopt that build trust in governments and the public service which government funded agencies provide.

The Cultural Ministers' Council also includes the New Zealand National Arts Minister.

All of the major national and state museums, galleries, archives and libraries were involved.

Though the Department for Culture and the Arts is an autonomous government Department in Western Australia, this is the exception rather than the rule.

Universities, galleries and museums, Regional Arts Development Fund Liaison Officers, Indigenous Arts Centres, Indigenous Regional Arts Development Fund, Indigenous Knowledge Centres, performing arts venues, peak bodies, small to medium organizations, other arts and cultural sector, grant applicants, state and local arts statutory authorities, major performing arts organizations, government shareholding companies.

Regional Arts Australia is the peak body promoting arts in regional, rural and remote Australia.

Three of the first institutions to adopt this approach were the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Museum Victoria in Melbourne and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

Three of the first institutions to adopt this approach were the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Museum Victoria in Melbourne and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

Terms of Reference for the Collections Council of Australia.