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The aim of the study is to explore the chain of relationships between service attributes, consumers' perceived benefits, fulfilment of personal goals, satisfaction judgements and future intentions.

This research proposes and implements a model of consumer satisfaction in the performing arts. The model is based on means-end chain theory and incorporates consumer involvement as a moderator. The paper is a quantitative study using a questionnaire administered in Romanian theatres, the country chosen because of its post-communist profile.

A partial least squares structural equation modelling analysis revealed that both core and peripheral attributes' evaluations were positively related to perceived benefits, which in turn were positively related to goal fulfilment. Acting as a mediator, goal fulfilment predicts satisfaction, which positively influences a series of intentions regarding supportive behaviours such as recommendation, donation, subscribing and repurchasing. Consumer involvement partially moderates the relationships within the proposed model.

The limitations of this research offer opportunities for future studies. First, as this study was conducted in Romania, the obtained results are not easily generalisable to other geographical or cultural contexts. Second, future studies could extend the proposed model to include other constructs that may be connected to satisfaction in performing arts. They could also apply the model (or an extended alternative) to adjacent fields such as opera, or live jazz, in order to explore whether the patterns of results which emerged here hold in other situations.

From a practical perspective, the research has implications for performing arts managers by offering actions to improve cultural consumption. First, the results support the idea that satisfaction is a key construct to investigate, even in the field of performing arts, as it can predict future positive intentions. Thus, arts managers should strive to maximise consumer satisfaction. From a marketing perspective, consumer satisfaction could be increased by improving core and peripheral service attributes, but especially the latter. The research provides means for audience segmentation in terms of consumer goals, benefits, and involvement. Arts managers should devote special attention to increasing consumer involvement in services provided.

The research provides a different view on the performing arts evaluation considering the theatregoers' perceptions. This type of evaluation is useful to understand the specificities of the audiences and to respond to their needs accordingly, contributing from a social point of view to audience development and making arts accessible to a wide range of people in a variety of ways: physically, geographically, socially and psychologically.

This research explores a new model of customer satisfaction in performing arts in a post-communist country, such as Romania, and the findings have implications at both theoretical and practical level. From a theoretical perspective, it contributes to a better understanding of the cognitive and emotional processes underlying the formation of satisfaction judgements in performing arts. The obtained findings are particularly useful for expanding current knowledge of how consumers think and behave with respect to performing arts. From a practical perspective, the findings have implications for arts managers deciding how to develop marketing strategies aimed at increasing satisfaction, and the consequential supportive behaviours towards performing arts.

In this chapter, we develop a conceptual framework on how cultural value can be lost in conflict and created by the arts, artists and arts organisations again and how the arts may also help victims of conflict. We explore examples of the different ways that the effects of cultural engagement are manifested and articulated in the depiction of armed conflict, especially looking at the civil war in Syria (2011–present as of 2020) and discuss three stages in the life-cycle of cultural value. Our conceptual framework of cultural value in the depiction of armed conflict is based on the multifaceted private, public, intrinsic and instrumental benefits of the arts as well as the cultural value created by arts, artists and arts organisations. We discuss universal value at the first stage of a potential loss of cultural value. The second stage addresses the politics of aesthetic value, as the cultural value created by artists and artistic activities which may evolve during armed conflict with examples of two international war artists, John Keane and Ben Quilty. Finally, we review social value as the impact of the cultural value created in overcoming armed conflict as well as restoring and transforming impaired individuals, communities and societies. Within this context, we reinforce the notion of cultural value as an alternative framework for understanding the value constructs surrounding the creation of art in this chapter.

This review article seeks to draw on experience in the UK to describe the different forms that arts in health activity can take and to examine the challenges for research in this field.

A case study is used to describe the kind of arts in health project that intends to enhance the social capital of its community and to show how difficult it is to measure the effects of this work using conventional measures of health improvement. However, those who are responsible for providing funding for arts in health are increasingly demanding results that indicate a measurable health gain from the projects.

A literature review of the evaluation of arts in health projects in the UK has shown that few aim at direct health improvement but rather at intermediate indicators of health gain, such as raising awareness of health issues and social activity and participation. This suggests that artists instinctively locate their work as having value within a social model of health where improvements in social inclusion and social cohesion are the important indicators which may go on to lead to long‐term improvements to the health of the community in which they are working.

Understanding the nature of this work has implications for the kind of research appropriate to measure its effect and the timescale required for such research.

Empowerment has been described as the ‘holy grail’ of health promotion. This article describes an evaluation of arts participation for people with mental health needs that both measured empowerment outcomes and explored the processes by which positive outcomes were achieved, through six qualitative case studies. For the outcomes study, 62 arts and mental health project participants returned a questionnaire, including a measure of empowerment, soon after joining their project and again six months later. The follow‐up questionnaire asked participants to rate the impact of their arts involvement on the issues addressed in the measure. Six diverse arts and mental health projects took part in the case studies. Interviews with project participants explored what they saw as the benefits of arts involvement and how these came about. Results from the outcomes study showed significant improvements in empowerment and were suggestive of a strong causal link with arts participation. Analysis of the case study interviews revealed five processes through which benefits relating to empowerment were brought about. We argue that psychological empowerment is in itself important for people with mental health needs. In addition, our case studies indicate that some arts and mental health projects do empower participants at a social as well as individual level.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how participation in creative arts activity can enhance public mental health and wellbeing. It is informed by both the author’s clinical practice with service users and carers and by research.

The approach taken is to draw selectively on research in the field of creativity, creative arts and wellbeing, focusing in particular on the use of music and creative writing, and to incorporate learning from clinical experience to explore what is understood about the health and wellbeing benefits of creative arts activity.

There is evidence that creative arts activity is beneficial to mental health and wellbeing. Arts activities that involve active participation appear to offer the greatest benefits. Creative arts participation can help people with diagnosed mental health difficulties to recover from mental illness. Moreover, creative arts activities can also promote wellbeing in the general population.

The paper does not provide a comprehensive review of the literature in this field.

The paper suggests that if nurses and other mental health professionals are to play a full role in facilitating flourishing then they will need to learn more about using creative arts in practice and will need to become involved and encourage others to do so.

The paper suggests it is important that creative arts activities should be participatory, so they become a vehicle not only for self-expression but also for participation in groups and communities, increasing connectedness and social inclusion.

This paper fulfils a need for a wider understanding of the health and wellbeing benefits of creative arts activity.

This chapter examines the impact and influence of the visual and performing arts in sustaining thriving communities and highlights the essential role of libraries in providing access to arts and cultural programming and services. Creative and artistic intervention has become the imperative of our time. Creativity is required not only in design studios and workshops, but in all areas of work and life, both professional and personal. Places of artistic and cultural production are strongly correlated with strong local economies and sustainable communities. Libraries are public spaces that promote and maintain community, not only civic institutions. As such, the library plays a key role as incubator for the arts. Libraries advocate freedom: of ideas, communication, and information. Arts programming in libraries provides an avenue for people to communicate ideas and feelings through visual, auditory, or kinesthetic forms. But more than that, libraries are also about education, safe and welcoming spaces, community, and entertainment. Libraries support and promote the value of multiple perspectives and voices. Libraries can shape patronage of the arts and engage future generations by addressing social diversity and inciting inclusive participation in the arts. Many libraries are participating in the creation of new forms of understanding through arts programming, services, and resources. In an age where many of society’s most important challenges are related to our relationship with information, it is vitally important to include visual and performing arts professionals in the intersection between artistic practice and critical engagement with information.

This article considers how an evidence base may be found for the effectiveness of using arts in mental health care services. It looks at what arts in health work brings to the promotion of social inclusion and summarises current issues in the field. It calls for arts in health workers to share their practice and undertake research as a preliminary to evaluation. It outlines the contextual factors that appear to have a bearing on the successful development of arts in mental health services.

It is well known that culture is a catalyst for change, helping economies respond to societal problems and demands and that culture is where people turn to in moments of crisis. In this case study around designing and implementing evaluation methodologies/frameworks for Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, it is suggested that in English public policy and within publicly invested arts there is a maturation of thinking around recognising/measuring the public value of culture including its social value. The purpose of this paper is to chart the recent policy of justifying cultural expenditure with social value claims and highlight challenges for evaluating activity within Coventry UK CoC 2021 as a change in wider policy is taking place.

This paper provides creative insights into the design and implementation of the evaluation methodologies/frameworks for Coventry UK City of Culture 2021. The authors of this paper as the collective team undertaking the evaluation of Coventry's year as UK City of Culture 2021 bring first-hand experiences of challenges faced and the need for a cultural mega-event to evidence its value.

The case study aims to address the concepts of measuring value within cultural events and argues that a paradigm shift is occurring in methods and concepts for evidencing the aforementioned value.

The case study within this paper focuses on the build-up period to the UK City of Culture 2021 year and the thinking and logic behind the creation of the evaluation/measurement framework and therefore does not include findings from the actual cultural year.

It is acknowledged that there are papers examining measuring and evidencing the “value” of cultural mega-events, the authors bring real-life first-hand experience of the concepts being utilised by them on the ground in the delivery and evaluation design of Coventry, UK City of Culture 2021.

The purpose of this research is to explore the economic and social arguments used in support of government assistance for cultural well‐being, and the accounting measures used to capture cultural well‐being at a regional level in New Zealand.

Accounting information reported in city council annual reports is used to examine expenditure on cultural well‐being. The research investigates possible relationships between regional economic growth and regional expenditure on arts, culture and heritage. It also investigates justifications for expenditure on activities classified under the category of arts, culture and heritage in the annual reports produced by New Zealand city councils.

In most regions, funding for cultural activities has increased over the past ten years. The findings of this research indicate there is no significant relationship between funding on cultural activities and regional economic growth. Instead, the research highlights the emphasis placed on social benefit arising from funding cultural activities.

The research is limited by access to comparable data. Accordingly, not all New Zealand regions are included in the analysis, resulting in a small number of observations. Moreover, robust city‐based measures of economic growth are unavailable, resulting in the use of labour force participation as a proxy for economic growth, together with the elimination of some regions in part of the analysis.

Extant literature indicates that government expenditure on artistic and cultural activities is undertaken for reasons that include: possible economic benefit or generation of externalities, mitigation of market failure, educational purposes or improved national identity. In New Zealand, the “merit good” argument prevails with the objective of spending on artistic and cultural activity by local government expected to generate social rather than economic benefit.

There is a long association between the arts and mental well‐being, but this can also be an area of contest and debate. In this commentary on the issues raised by the papers in this special arts and mental well‐being issue of the journal, James Oliver and Paul Murray question the attempt to impose scientific measures of outcome on arts participation, and ask if we should not, instead, regard access to opportunities for creative expression as a legal right and moral duty owing to those whom we, as a society, have excluded from the mainstream through incarceration or labelling.