This book is a collection of diverse essays by scholars, policy-makers and creative practitioners who explore the burgeoning field of cultural measurement and its political implications. Offering critical histories and creative frameworks, it presents new approaches to accounting for culture in local, national and international contexts. 

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The book followed an international conference on the topic as a partnership between the Centre for Cultural Partnerships, University of Melbourne and the Cultural Development Network: Making Culture Count: Rethinking measures of cultural vitality, wellbeing and citizenship.

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“Making culture count: The politics of cultural measurement focuses on the ever-present issues of measurement and meaning in articulating value for cultural policy practices and research. … I would recommend this book for cultural policy scholars and practitioners, and even activists, as well as those interested in indicators of the social and development studies more broadly.” (Susan Oman, Cultural Trends, April, 2016)

"Here is where the rubber meets the road: how much does a critical cultural studies have to contribute to the lived lives of culture? Read this insightful and diverse collection of perspectives on the theory, history and purposes of cultural indicators to find out. A pathway toward democratizing the measurement of culture and cultural value is mapped out in this excellent book. Scholars, policymakers and cultural activists alike will find these contributions both enlightening and useful." - Carole Rosenstein, George Mason University, USA

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MacDowall, L., Badham, M. Blomkamp, E. and Dunphy, K. (eds), (2015) Making Cultural Count: the politics of cultural measurement, London: Springer.

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