Call for papers ‘Heritage Impact 2012: impact measurement, impact drivers and business strategies for heritage’

University of Brighton, Grand Parade, Brighton, UK

June 21 -22 2012

Heritage Impact 2012 is the sixth international symposium on socio-economic impact and strategies for change in cultural heritage to be organised by the CUBIST Research Group, part of the University of Brighton Business School. The symposium aims to bring together speakers from across Europe and further afield to consider the impact of heritage sites on society and the economy.

Heritage sites are facing an unprecedented threat. The long-term erosion of funding sources coupled with the current economic climate has the potential to change the heritage landscape.  The concept of the ‘Big Society’ places an increasing reliance on the ‘community’ for funding, either through traditional fundraising or innovative crowd funding campaigns.  But these threats are coupled with new avenues of engagement with the community.  Communication through various social media channels, mobile applications and other digital means has the potential to enlarge the so-called community to become a potentially global audience.  Increased access to digital heritage resources is one a number of mechanisms leading to the democratisation of heritage.

Heritage sites are coming under increasing pressure from funders to measure their benefit to society, to add value to their offerings and to increase self-sustainability.  All this comes at a time when resources for assessing impact are under threat and the scope of impact becomes ever more diverse.  And yet, as ever, there is little evidence for the impact of heritage on the community and society. Heritage Impact 2012 aims to bring all this information together coherently in one place.

The symposium will explore the processes that influence impact at heritage sites.  Assessing the value of cultural heritage and determining its impact on society and the economy, is crucial for the future of the heritage sector.  As the heritage community begins to understand the processes that influence impact, the sector will be in a better position to influence positive future outcomes. Furthermore, if the heritage community can provide evidence of why certain strategies are successful, this information can be put to direct use by heritage sites to exploit their assets most effectively and influence decisions at a policy level.

The organising committee invites both practitioners and academics to submit papers that explore the following complementary themes:

• Measuring impact
• Changing impacts through strategy, marketing and policy
• Heritage as a regeneration tool
• Sustainability issues for heritage
• Community heritage and the ‘Big Society’
• Community engagement in a digital world

Detailed information can be downloaded here:

Detailed information on call for papers