The British Council (a BOP client) has just published a new report suggesting that people who have had cultural contacts with the UK are more likely to do business with UK firms: further evidence, perhaps, of the economic benefits of culture that Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, has asked to see.
The benefits of culture for UK business
24 May 2013
A mixed picture for arts philanthropy
21 May 2013
Arts & Business has published its latest annual report on private giving to the arts. The report presents a mixed picture. The overall numbers (for 2011/12) have grown by 7.6%, a good performance at a time when the economy is largely flatlining. However, giving is increasingly focused on London-based organisations, which now account for 90% of individual giving and 67% of business support.
Among the sub-sctors, heritage receives more than a third of the money, with a further 15% going to visual art. Opera, dance and festivals get less than 10% between them.
What should Britain's relationship be with the EU in culture?
20 May 2013
David Cameron is currently setting out on the long and rocky road to his proposed in/out EU referendum in 2017. It remains to be seen if he ever gets there, but the formal processes have begun. The government is determining which powers it hopes to re-patriate from the EU. Its chosen method is a ‘balance of competencies’ review for each government department. The DCMS has just launched a public consultation for the culture, tourism and sport sector on its review. This is a chance for the sector to say “where the EU helps and where it hampers”.
BOP is recruiting an economist/consultant
17 May 2013
BOP is continuing its recent expansion – we are now looking for an economist/consultant to join us. A full description of the job can be found here, while the equal opportunities form we ask you to fill in is here.
Helping to shape the cultural education agenda in London
16 May 2013
In this post Callum Lee reflects on the way BOP is working with our client, A New Direction, to bring some continuity to the cultural education policy debate in London.
Do creative businesses foster innovation in the wider economy?
15 May 2013
It is often assumed by writers (and consultants) on creative industries that creative firms foster wider business innovation, especially in the cities in which they cluster. Yet there is relatively little empirical evidence for this belief. In a new working paper for Nesta, Neil Lee of the Work Foundation (brother of BOP’s Callum Lee) and Andrés Rodríguez-Pose of the LSE have sought to explore the question in more depth. Their findings are intriguing. They suggest that it is people working in creative occupations more than creative businesses that drive innovation. Among their conclusions:
A more 'holistic' approach to valuing culture?
13 May 2013
Dr Claire Donovan, who was the AHRC Placement Fellow at the DCMS in 2012, has just published a paper summarising her year’s work. The fellowship was part of the Measuring Cultural Value programme, and followed on from the Phase 1 fellowship held by Dave O’Brien.
Arts Council puts the case for the economic contribution of the arts and culture
10 May 2013
Earlier this week Arts Council England published a report it has commissioned from the business consultants, CEBR, looking at the economic contribution of the arts and culture to the national economy. [We should say at this point that BOP bid for this contract.]
Heritage and culture at centre of Britain's new tourism strategy
07 May 2013
The Government recently launched a new tourism strategy. Entitled Delivering a Golden Legacy, it aims to build on the success of the Olympics by increasing the annual number of international visitors to the UK to 40 million by 2020. Heritage and culture are seen as central to this: on VisitBritain’s website the first goal of the strategy is summarised as:
Round-up of reaction to Maria Miller's arts speech
03 May 2013
Last week Maria Miller, the Secretary of State for Culture, gave her first major speech on the arts, in which she called on the sector to make its case for support in economic terms, as that would be more likely to persuade the Treasury. She declared: