[csaa-forum] Call for papers - Making Culture Count: rethinking measures of cultural vitality, wellbeing and citizenship

[Emma Blomkamp]

 Dear Colleagues,

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Please find below the "First Call for Papers" for the upcoming conference
in Melbourne, Australia: *Making Culture Count: rethinking measures of
cultural vitality, well being, and citizenship.  The deadline for the
"first call for papers" is December 9, 2011.  *This international conference is
presented in Melbourne on *May 3-4, 2012, *by the Cultural Development
Network and the Centre for Cultural Partnerships, Faculty of the VCA and
Music, University of Melbourne. *For more information see:
www.culturaldevelopment.net.au*

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Can you please forward this call to any contacts you feel would be
interested in this conference? Thanks and sorry for any cross-posting!

 Emma Blomkamp

Joint PhD Candidate
Centre for Cultural Partnerships, Faculty of VCAM, University of Melbourne
Department of Political Studies, University of Auckland |
http://auckland.academia.edu/EmmaBlomkamp

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*Making Culture Count: rethinking measures of cultural vitality, wellbeing
and citizenship. *

** **

In recent years, culture and cultural development have become
internationally recognised as****

important dimensions of contemporary governance and public policy. As in
other policy areas****

(economic, social, environmental), the production of accurate and relevant
data has become****

central to cultural policy and how the cultural lives of citizens are
understood. Conceptual and****

practical developments in measurement tools, such as new forms of cultural
indicators, have the****

potential to enrich our understanding of culture's role in well being,
vitality and citizenship. From****

UNESCO’s benchmarks for cultural freedom, through comparative measures of
states’ cultural****

provision and creative cities indices, to indicators for community arts
evaluation, diverse****

approaches to quantifying cultural value and measuring societal progress
now exist. ****

** **

But how useful are all these measures? Are they helping us to keep track of
what matters? What****

opportunities exist to contest, refine or democratise these systems of
cultural measurement?****

This international conference brings together diverse perspectives from
international guest****

speakers and leading local practitioners to explore the burgeoning field of
cultural indicators.****

Participants will engage in a critical dialogue on various approaches to
monitoring, evaluating,****

planning, advocating, predicting, and simply understanding, cultural
change. Presentations will****

cover a range of theoretical and practical approaches to quantifying
cultural values often****

considered intangible, including vitality, well being, citizenship,
sustainability and heritage.****

** **

Keynote speakers (so far) include: ****

Associate Professor Eleonora Belfiore, Director of Graduate Studies, Centre
for Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick, UK.****

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, Senior Research Associate and Director,
Creativity and Communities****

Program, Urban Institute, Washington DC, USA.****

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The submission of abstracts for presentations on diverse aspects of
cultural measurement are invited. In particular, proposals that address the
following topics are welcome:****

   - Critical accounts of forms of cultural measurement, including cultural
   indicators.****
   - The emergence of new cultural measures, such as categories of cultural
   vitality, well being, citizenship, sustainability and heritage.****
   - Cross-cultural measurement, the relationship between mechanisms and
   categories of measurement and cultural difference.****
   - Community-driven cultural indicators, including attempts to
   democratise the processes of cultural measurement.****
   - The use of arts-based processes in the measurement of culture.****
   - The implications of new technologies, digital research methods and
   information visualisation for the measurement of culture.****

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