PhD defence M.C. (Marjelle) Oosterling- Vermeulen

The impact of cultural participation has increasingly become a central issue in the research area of arts and cultural studies. It is claimed that cultural participation has many social benefits, varying from a sense of well-being and life satisfaction to the development of skills and increased self-confidence. Moreover, it is argued that cultural participation contributes, among other things, to the feeling of social inclusion of participants, to the creation of a cohesive multicultural community and to individual, collective and societal identity. As a result, participation in cultural activities is increasingly seen as an instrument to achieve social change and development. Consequently, many stakeholders demand for transparency and accountability. They expect organizations in cultural and creative industries (CCI) to show their legitimacy and to be transparent about their achieved social impact. However, because of the lack of knowledge of impact and impact measurement and the lack of clear guidelines on how to measure and assess impact, many organizations in CCI struggle to be transparent about and to gain insight in their achieved social performances.

This dissertation focusses on the concept of social impact measurement in the CCI in The Netherlands and aims to make a connection between social impact measurement and principal-agent conflicts. Consequently, the dissertation has three research objectives. Firstly, the objective of this dissertation is to investigate the relevance of social impact measurement for the CCI. Secondly, the objective is to examine how the social impact of activities in the CCI can be measured. Lastly, the objective is to contribute to our understanding of how social impact measurement can enhance principal-agent relationships within the CCI.

The public defence will take place at the Senate Hall, 1st floor Erasmus Building, location campus Woudestein. The ceremony will begin exactly at 13.00 PM. In light of the solemn nature of the ceremony, we recommend that you do not take children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.