Questions concerning the value of culture have attracted philosophers for centuries, and they continue to both occupy and divide a broad range of stakeholders, including policymakers, artists, managers, producers and scholars. Research into culture’s institutional forms and processes, as well as its political roles and effects, has enhanced, but also complicated, foundational debates over value assessment and measurement. With the advent of the new Centre for Cultural Value in the UK, now is an ideal time to reflect on the premise and significance of the value(s) that arts and culture do or do not provide to those who engage with them directly, as well as their distal effects on society more broadly.

This chapter argues that research into the phenomenological aspects of audiences’ cultural experiences can positively influence the direction of policymaking, as audiences take their rightful place as primary subjects of value-based research. Yet it also explores the dangers of generating false methodological hierarchies, and the resulting proliferation of reductive (and ineffective) utilitarian indices and metrics. Taking a comparative overview of evaluation strategies and structures in the UK and Australia at the present time, the chapter highlights the tensions and disconnections that persist between academic research, cultural policy and artistic/managerial practice, and shows how they can be addressed. It points to the pitfalls and pathways for future researchers in the field of audience studies choosing to focus on the “wicked problem” of cultural value.