Capturing the public value of heritage
In January 2006 HLF worked with DCMS, the National Trust and English Heritage to host a conference entitled 'Capturing the Public Value of Heritage'. At the heart of the conference was the question of how we caputure the value of heritage. We know that people care about it, and that funding it generates social and economic benefits. But the challenge is how to present that case to the public and to politicians. Understanding the different ways in which heritage is important to people also helps heritage organisations to improve their own performance.
The proceedings have now been published and are available as a book from English Heritage or as a pdf from the links below:
Part 1 contains the list of contents and the introduction to the event, and to the idea of public value. Public Value draws on the work of Mark Moore who has been looking at ways in which public services can be analysed, and raises the question of whether this can be applied to heritage.
Part 1 (pdf file 116 KB)
Part 2 includes a paper from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who challenged us to find new ways of measuring the value of heritage. Speakers from Demos, Accenture and the Work Foundation put forward ideas for how this might be done using concepts of public or cultural value. There was then a debate about the benefits of this approach.
Part 2 (pdf file 471 KB)
Part 3 of the publication focusses on the instrumental benefits of heritage. Baroness Andrews spoke about the economic, social and environmental benefits of heritage whilst Professor David Throsby outlined what economics might contribute. Sue Wilkinson spoke about the works being done on generic learning outcomes for museums, whilst Julia Thrift explored the value of parks. Heather Garnett spoke about the role of heritage chamtpons, and Kate Clark explained the link between significance and sustainbility.
Part 3 (pdf file 524 KB)
Part 4 discusses the significance (or 'intrinsic' value) of heritage. David Lammy MP spoke about community, identity and heritage whilst Sir Neil Cossons talked about the value of places. Christina Cameron spoke about the way in which Parks Canada have incorporated different kinds of values into their work. The new English Heritage Conservation principles were introduced by Edward Impey whilst Liz Forgan spoke about the importance of listening to the public. Deborah Mattinson introduced the HLF Citizens' Juries and the conference heard from several people who had taken part.
Part 4 (pdf file 270 KB)
Part 5 The final part of the publication relates to a different kind of value - the values that organisations hold (or 'Institutional' values). Whether as funders, curators or statutory bodies, heritage organisations see themselves as having a responsibility to the wider public to act in a manner that is fair, responsible, trustworthy and open. Different speakers at the conference touched on the issue of how heritage organisations need to behave and this part of the proceedings draws out some of their key points. It also reviews the final discussion session where a panel debated the issue of what values heritage organisations need to adopt.
Part 5 (pdf file 270 KB)
The conference followed on from Challenge and Change - a report produced by Demos for HLF on the value of HLF's investment in heritage.