Many members of the Cultural Research Network are also educators teaching and studying Arts Administration, Policy, and Practice. A group of us gathered during the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) annual conference held in Montreal in June 2014.
Back row (left to right): Patricia Dewey, Andrew Taylor, Neville Vakharia, Linda Essig, Carole Rosenstein
Front row (left to right): Michael Rushton, Jennifer Novak-Leonard, Roland Kushner, Aimee Fullman, Woong Jo Chang
On Wednesday, September 24, 2014, the Cultural Research Network held a virtual study group on the topic of “Vetting arts research: peer-review vs. client-review”. This conversation featured:
Research in the arts and other areas is typically subject to review and revision before it is shared with the world. In academia, peer review is the standard system for evaluating research quality and relevance in advance of publication or conference presentation. In commissioned or commercial research, a range of formal and informal processes critique and inform the final work.
This virtual study group explored the mechanics, logic, and context of reviewing and revising arts research inside and outside of academia, encouraging discussion about how these systems support (or don’t support) the development and dissemination of rigorous, timely, and relevant research.