Thought Leadership event: DCMS Culture and Heritage Capital initiative

Overview

As part of CIfA’s Thought Leadership series of events this session will discuss the development of the new DCMS Culture and Heritage Capital Programme. This initiative will be an influential tool for government to articulate the value of culture and heritage on an economic platform using economic methods and techniques.  The session will be an opportunity to learn more about the initiative and hear about two current projects:

• Arts, Culture and Heritage taxonomy project (Historic England)
• The Value of Outdoor Capital for decision makers (National Trust/University of Exeter)

The session will inform CIfA members on the opportunities to influence DCMS over the coming years and for the profession to plan for the impacts that the methodology may have. This follows an in-person workshop at CIFA in Birmingham where we introduced the concept and debated the relevance to archaeology and some of the challenges.

Learning Outcomes

Following the session, participants should:

• Be familiar with the principles behind the culture and heritage capital initiative, including the application of monetary values to heritage assets, using market and non-market valuation techniques
• Understand how these applications might be applied in decisions around heritage or archaeology.
• Be aware of some of the potential benefits and disbenefits of monetary valuation methods in heritage practice.

Background material

The online CIFA workshop follows on from in person discussions at CIFA 2025: Shaping the future (of our proefssion). The initial session posed a number of provocations before breaking into a carousel debate workshop. The prompts for this session, as well as a bit of background of the DCMS programme, can be found here: The DCMS Culture and Heritage Capital Initiative – what’s in it for archaeology? The video is 15 minutes.

The DCMS Culture and Heritage Capital Portal contains background material.

Workshop agenda

10.00  Welcome, overview of the workshop - Sadie Watson and Rob Lennox

10.10  Brief introduction to the Culture and Heritage Capital Initiative - DCMS
Drawing on the Natural Capital/Ecosystem Services model—which views natural assets as 'stocks' generating valuable 'services'—the Culture and Heritage Capital programme seeks to support culture and heritage with a structured, economic framework that can give them greater weight in public policy and decision-making.

10.30  Workshop 1 & 2 (simultaneous)
Following a call from AHRC/DCMS, several projects are now applying the approach to heritage. The workshop will be an opportunity to hear about the project and provide feedback.

10.45: The arts culture and heritage taxonomies project – Adala Leeson and Hugh Brown
This project, led by Historic England with partners including the University of Manchester, University of Leeds and University of Glasgow, is developing taxonomies of arts, culture and heritage assets and services and developing case studies.

11.30 Break

11.30 Understanding the value of outdoor culture and heritage capital for decision makers – Tom Dommett and Hannah Fluck
This project led by the National Trust and the University of Exeter is using economic methods to value outdoor heritage.

12.15 Conclusion and next steps - Sadie Watson

12.30 Session ends.

If you are unable to afford the fees for this event, please email conference@archaeologists.net to request a bursary.

In line with CIfA’s policy on the use of AI technology transcription or sound recording of CIfA meetings, event registrants are not permitted to use AI technology, transcription or sound recording when attending CIfA training or networking events.