ABSTRACT
All across the world, the value of the arts and culture has become a pressing topic that people want to hear and talk about. And that's interesting. It is happening not simply because the arts need to find ways to describe their value in order to attract private and public funding they have had to do that for a long time but rather because there has been a fundamental change in the role of the arts and culture in society. The new reality demands a different way of looking at what culture means, and hence new ways of looking at the value of the arts and culture. It demands a shift in the political response to culture and it requires changes in the way that cultural funders and cultural organisations go about their business. Understanding the full value of culture then is a complicated business, though experiencing it and seeing it in action can be very direct, powerful and simple.
