Valuing the Queensland Museum: A Contingent Valuation Study

Abstract

Over the past couple of decades, there have been various attempts to articulate the value of the arts and cultural industries to the economic, social and cultural life of individuals and communities, and their impact on regional regeneration and national development. With more exacting demands from government funding organisations relating to accountability and impact measurements, the sector’s key cultural bodies and national institutions have searched for more reliable methodologies to support their cases. An increasing number of cultural institutions are now utilising various applications of choice modelling or contingent valuation methodology (CVM) to help justify either continued, or argue for increased, government funding. During 2008-9, the Queensland Museum commissioned a valuation project in an attempt ‘to increase awareness of the cultural, social, intellectual and economic benefits and value of Queensland Museum to the State’. This paper discusses the contingent valuation process undertaken by the Queensland Museum, which is the first such study by a major museum or cultural institution in Australia.