Being of Value

Abstract

The discussion of public value is in the air among museums and other cultural institutions as they strive to achieve strategic impact for and with their communities, rather than merely operational impact for themselves. At the most basic level, it is about ensuring that their work is fully and meaningfully connected to the fabric and true needs of the communities in which they reside. Though not an entirely new idea, interest in achieving and documenting public value has come into sharper focus because of two different, though clearly interrelated issues: (1) After a time of excess, there is a desire to refocus and return to the core values and mission that these institutions were created to uphold, and (2) as economic issues plague communities globally, nonprofits are appropriately being asked to concretely demonstrate their public value to ensure funding and sustainability over time. This paper explores the issue of public value: defining it, describing frameworks for planning and documenting it, and examples of outcomes and indicators that may be useful in demonstrating the public good that planned intentionality by museums can support.

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