We all have our favourite clichés. 'Don't reinvent the wheel' is one of mine. But we work in a creative sector that is very good at identifying a problem and trying a new approach to solve it and far less interested in doing some research, finding out what has worked in the past and building on tried and trusted models.
Last week in Audience News we featured a recent report on measuring the 'Intrinsic Impact' of venues in Liverpool. This was using a methodology I first read about three years ago that was being used in Chicago. It has been gradually honed and improved and now looks incredibly useful.
Last year we featured a toolkit that was trying to do something similar. We asked who was using it. We heard nothing but silence.
When I used to assess grant applications, I used the power of Google to double check whether the amazing new tool that someone needed funding to develop actually already existed and was freely available to use. You'd be amazed how many times it was.
If the cultural sector could ever afford to fund the development of different approaches to answering the same needs (and then not use them), it can't now. We need to do things once and well wherever possible and share knowledge of what works (and what doesn't) inside and outside the sector. We need to work together nationally and internationally to refine and improve collective approaches and build on accumulated knowledge.
And we need to stop reinventing the wheel.
David Brownlee, Chief Executive, Audiences UK
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