The Cultural Ministers Council Statistics Working Group has announced the publication of a report investigating the social impacts of participation in the arts and cultural activities. The report, which was developed in 2004, comes with an annotated bibliography of research in a searchable Excel database. Excerpt from preface: "This project was born of the increasing focus on how participating in arts and cultural activity intersects with other areas of public concern such as education, crime prevention, community identity and development. While continuing to recognise the intrinsic value of arts and culture, this project focused on the growing body of research work examining the impact of participating in arts and cultural activity on other areas of social interest and concern. The impact areas examined were: cognitive skills and educational attainment; community pride/identity; crime prevention; mood; self-esteem; social behaviour; social cohesion; and health." To view the report as a PDF document, CLICK HERE.