D'Art Report: Policy research by government arts agencies: a review of approaches

D'Art Topics in Arts Policy no.26, 2007

IFACCA

According to the report, the majority of national agencies undertake some sort of research activity, with all but four respondents undertaking research 'in house' and all bar one agency contracting research externally. Three of the four agencies that do not undertake research 'in house' contract research externally and the majority of agencies (11 out of 15) have a dedicated research unit, with units having staff sizes of between 1 and 15, with an average of 5 staff.

The report states that research budgets range from 0.28% to 7% of the organisation's total budget, with an average of 1.4%. Most agencies have a dedicated library (11 out of 15). Of these libraries, 7 are open to the public or have their catalogues online. Two agencies stated that they purchased library services externally while one agency received external library services free of charge.

There were four responses from other agencies representing a cross-section of other types of arts support/cultural policy agencies. All of thsoe agencies undertake research 'in house', one does not contract research externally and two have their own dedicated library.