aceUVi

world, we are less than satisfied with our results on both of these counts. There is
a marked emphasis on the performing arts and some mention of museums and
film, but many other arts disciplines and cultural practices receive scant notice.
We are unsure whether this reflects a bias in the available literature or whether
our bibliographic research was skewed by our pre-existing familiarity with certain
portions of the literature.
Unfortunately, our literature review is also largely limited to English-language
publications. In part, this is due to our own language abilities, which are restricted
to a few European languages, and the fact that we had limited time and resources
for bibliographic research in other languages and translations. In addition,
however, we sought literature that would contribute to the current discourse
in the UK, a discourse which is taking place in English. We corresponded with
several researchers from non-English speaking countries during the process of
sourcing literature, one of whom suggested that the rhetoric of ‘value’ and ‘impact’
is less prevalent in the cultural policy discourse of other languages, which may
explain the relative paucity of foreign literature on these topics.
Even within the realm of English-language literature, our review is far from allencompassing.
We are aware of some important work that we were unable to
include here simply due to our limitations of time and space, and we are certain
that many more studies exist of which we are entirely unaware. When forced
to make decisions about which literature to include and which to leave out, we
focused on the works that seemed most relevant and add a perspective that is not
already covered elsewhere in the review.
Despite its limited scope, we believe this literature review provides a good
overview of the major frameworks and methodological approaches that have
been used to investigate how individuals are affected by the experience of art
and culture. Our confidence in this regard is bolstered by the fact that a more
extensive review of the older and more theoretical literature presents a similar
picture (Belfiore and Bennett 2007).
The primary audience for this report is the Arts Council England, though it may
also be of interest to other cultural funding agencies, policymakers and researchers
who seek a deeper understanding of the value and impact of cultural experiences,
and who themselves will contribute further to this understanding over the
coming years.
Introduction 28
UNDERSTANDING the value and impacts of cultural experiences