
Data visualisation is a powerful tool that can turn raw numbers into a compelling story to impress, persuade and educate. Analyst Aaron Kosovich shows how new tools can be used to present your information and ideas far more effectively than any other form of communication.

This blog looks at how a city’s culture and environment contributes to its ranking on The Economist's Global Liveability Report. Perth, who scored 100% in the categories of healthcare, education and infrastructure, believe it’s culture and environment stopping them from cracking the top five. But what is it that makes up the culture and environment category and where should Perth be looking to improve?

A recent report has valued the Great Barrier Reef at an estimated $56 billion. In addition to the economic case, due consideration should be given to cultural, social, civic and environmental impacts, in order to truly appreciate the reef's broader value. Callum Taylor discusses the need for a holistic measurement framework for the reef.

How do we understand, measure and express the value of the arts? What contribution do the arts make to society, the economy, health and wellbeing, education, innovation and civic life? The Arts Value Forum at the Canberra Theatre Centre brought together leading experts and practitioners in health, economics, culture and the arts to explore these questions—including Culture Counts CEO Michael Chappell.

John Berger’s 1972 essay, Ways of Seeing explores the idea that where and when we look at something directly affects what we see. Our evaluation of the artistic quality and impact of an artwork is fundamentally influenced by context. This blog post explores how these relationships manifest. By filtering and analysing data by different event and audience classifications we gain significant insight into if and how different contexts shape experience.

Many organisations we work with have limited staff resources and competing evaluation needs. Along with cultural data, they must collect social, economic and tourism impact data for events. This has encouraged us to broaden our outcomes framework in conjunction with the Cultural Development Network (CDN), so organisations can measure the impact of arts and culture across economic, social, civic, environmental and cultural domains.
Australian artists and galleries achieved record visitor numbers in 2016. Patricia Piccinini had the second most popular exhibition globally and the NGV was 19th most visited gallery in the world. While visitor numbers reflect healthy audience engagement they are just one of the many measures of success. Alison Lasek, Marketing and Client Manager, looks at how organisations can tell a stronger story about audience engagement.

What would we measure? How would we measure it? Art criticism is subjective, not objective. How do we remain subjective and still make meaningful measurements? Chris McCormick, Chief Technology Officer, goes back to the conception of Culture Counts and offers new insights into the organisation and the way our system has developed.