Emeritus Faculty Annual Lecture 2016: Understanding the value of arts and culture

Delivered by Professor Geoffrey Crossick, Director of the United Kingdom’s Arts and Humanities Research Council's Cultural Value Project and author, with Patrycja Kaszynska, of the major 2016 Report: Understanding the Value of Arts & Culture. This talk highlights the diverse contexts of the value of culture and how the digital landscape is playing an increasingly larger role in shaping people’s engagement with arts and culture. Crossick asks: How should we understand the difference that arts and culture makes to individuals and to society? The case is too often presented in terms of benefits that are thought to be important to the government of the day while neglecting some of the more fundamental benefits that matter to us all. Professor Crossick was Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board from 2002–05, Warden of Goldsmiths College from 2005–10 and Vice-Chancellor of London University from 2010-12.