Success and Sikhism in the next decade...
We all know a little bit about what this means. Do we indeed? I have been looking into decision making processes of two major Sikh Temples and note that they are not very different from the boardroom ‘ousters’ in business or corporate life. Many a chief executive or chairman is asked to leave (to use polite language during this Holy Season of Christmas) when they least expect to be served notice.
Are Temple ‘politics’ driven by different agenda? Are these politics in the true sense? One would like to think so but err…the answer is ‘no’. The sources of conflict do vary significantly and indeed the drivers for change are mostly different. But people in contention believe that they have better solutions to offer and in some cases change is imposed by leaning on ‘external factors’ – power and wealth, which have nothing to do with offering subservient service to a place of worship. While the process of prolonged consensus creation, in some cases, may challenge the stamina and resilience of some members of the community, it seems to be a healthy way to resolve issues. The alternatives can be horrendous; especially where people resort to ‘strong-arm tactics’ (Do you get the gist of my point?) and the emerging solution appeals to no one, especially those who may spend a few days in the cooler...
In the main, while conflict can be constructive, it must also be managed creatively. Many people claim to ‘hate’ conflict when in many cases they have a problem of dealing with it. In a recent case, the causes of conflict were trivial and its resolution did not require a mastery of rocket science. The essence of the conflict was to use it as a lever to challenge authority or credibility of the incumbent committee. That was clearly wrong because neither side was willing to identify the real problems and to address them openly without resorting to personality bashing.
As 2009 draws to a close it is important to put all this debate into perspective. The first important lesson is that Sikh institutions are doing well by most standards; there is no common standard and perhaps there is not a place for one. The second major outcome is that Sikh communities continue to achieve if not survive in different conditions throughout the world. More and more temples are being built and new facilities are being added. For some, this is a measure of success but for increasing number of Sikhs, investment in infrastructure must be realigned with the development of the Temple as a multidimensional community organisation. While religious or pastoral issues must prevail, the Sikh community needs to invest in succession planning; bringing in young talent and new energy to deal with the non-religious agenda as a starting point. There is a strong body of knowledge and expertise relating to the preaching and dissemination of the religious doctrines of the Sikh faith. There is also substantial consensus - the religion is not torn by accrimonious debate relating to its fundamentals. There will be more focus on this aspect later.
There is a view that the Sikh religion is a great religion but it is in the hands of wrong people. This is grossly untrue as the management of the religious protocol or 'maryada' of a temple does not need the same type of skills that are required for community advancement, leadership training for women or critical issues in health and welfare. Where the people with religious duties do not have the skills to manage the broader agenda of community development other people with relevant expertise need to be brought in. There must be a duality of roles and functions and where these roles can be carried out with sincerity and caution, the whole Temple will be judged to be ‘successful’ or ‘progressive’. The issue is therefore about defining what we mean by success. Temple managements can be very good, resourceful and adept in the planning and delivery of religious programmes. The same cannot be said about their ability to envision, plan and deliver the community action programmes which will draw in young people, the mainstream community and growing number of professional Sikhs who also expect to see growth and development in the broader 'community development' aspects of Sikh life in the UK.
These are the real challenges for the next decade….economic success needs to be realigned with community empowerment in a changing society. How is this going to be achieved? Sikh infrastructure must equally be used for new and more challenging community development objectives, the successful resolution of which will bring more Sikhs to the Temple...
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Alistair Darling and the Sikhs
" Really?"
I was waiting for today’s Pre-Budget Report to see how we can develop this programme for our collective consideration. How can the Sikh and other Asian communities respond to the economic challenges facing our country?
One more time: what do we mean by ‘new heritage’? By our country, I mean Britain, in case that needs to be clarified. I also go back to an earlier comment about who are the people who represent the ‘new heritage’? The answer is that we are addressing the new heritage of all immigrants as well as the British Nationals who have been coming home, as I did from Uganda in 1972 following the expulsion. However, my message is addressed to the Asian community only because I have had access to the Sikh, Muslim and Hindu societies in the UK. I understand the community representational systems in the ‘South Asian’ community better than any other community. I have a very good understanding of the Sikh community, its structures, leadership and the funding mechanisms which have led to the development of the ‘new heritage infrastructure’ which I estimate is worth £3 billion today and another £1 billion could be the size of the ‘working budget’ that the community may be dealing with every year at market prices. What this means is that the Sikh community has an inbuilt mechanism of volunteering, or ‘kar sewa’ or, the contribution of time voluntarily to achieve community objectives. In determining the new economic heritage, we have to remember that much of the £1 billion is in the form of volunteering time, but not entirely.
What did Alistair Darling say to the Sikhs?
Well, nothing directly! Putting Party politics aside, the Chancellor talked about the struggle before we can get out of the recession but that things should get better by 2011, with the next year helping to make a sure but important start. We have to deal with the major debt of the country as a priority, which means that the cutbacks in public services and the search for more efficient ways of doing things will be the key challenge facing everyone, including the voluntary sector of which all Sikh charities are also a key part. The Hindu, Gujarati and Muslim community organisations are also important ‘players’ in this sector.
Focus on critical debate
Alistair Darling did not address the Sikhs during the budget statement but it is abundantly clear that they can make a positive contribution in the following ways:
1. Ensure that the religious agenda is successfully managed by people who are most suitable for the delivery of the religious services, the diwans, paths, kirtans and community events; the weddings, birth and death ceremonies for all members of the various temples.
2. Release resources from the community to critically assess and plan the challenge for providing community services covering health, welfare, education, community development, leisure and cultural development by utilising the vast assets that the community has at its disposal. There are rooms, halls, offices and open spaces at each Sikh temple awaiting better utilisation.
3. Release skills, knowledge and professional expertise which is present in the congregations. Every Sikh temple has access to a vast number of people who can make an immediate contribution. Indeed there are people waiting to be asked. There are young people who want to be engaged in community development but do see a formal participation in the religious programmes as they only way they can make a contribution. They see themselves as participants in the religious life but not as leaders, activists or volunteers. They want to get involved in the mainstream issues affecting the community as well as the larger community. They want to be involved as visionaries and active community developers. They need access to resources and physical space which can be used to develop new community programmes and projects.
4. Create new forms of leadership to take this part of the agenda forward. Many of the current ‘quasi’ religious leaders may not be too pleased to hear this. But they are not being asked to step aside; only that they empower other people to plan and deliver ‘the community development part’ of the Community Programme, covering youth leadership, women’s projects and programmes for the elderly. Successful leaders know how to get other people to deliver the various parts of the community plan; they cannot deliver everything on their own.
5. Recognise that the wider community programme is a joint responsibility. When talking to Sikh leaders who are hard-pressed even to run the pastoral or religious side of the agenda, I sometimes hear the following statements:
- ‘What you are saying about programmes for the elderly and mental health for women are the responsibility of the city council and the government’.
- ‘Our youngsters will only go to the modern sports centres built by the council’
- ‘Our young men and women do not want to work for the community. They are too modernised and westernised’.
- ‘Professional people such as doctors, dentists, accountants and engineers will not contribute their time to the community’.
- ‘We have tried but we do not have the funds’.
- ‘The funders will never fund our projects’.
- ‘Our council is only interested in collecting the rates. They will not support us’.
To all these statements, I have one response -“Really?” More to follow on this later. But, is this not a good time for many people who are reading this now to come forward and to take part in the debate? Good, well managed debate should lead to positive action. Now, I can hear you say “Really?”
I was waiting for today’s Pre-Budget Report to see how we can develop this programme for our collective consideration. How can the Sikh and other Asian communities respond to the economic challenges facing our country?
One more time: what do we mean by ‘new heritage’? By our country, I mean Britain, in case that needs to be clarified. I also go back to an earlier comment about who are the people who represent the ‘new heritage’? The answer is that we are addressing the new heritage of all immigrants as well as the British Nationals who have been coming home, as I did from Uganda in 1972 following the expulsion. However, my message is addressed to the Asian community only because I have had access to the Sikh, Muslim and Hindu societies in the UK. I understand the community representational systems in the ‘South Asian’ community better than any other community. I have a very good understanding of the Sikh community, its structures, leadership and the funding mechanisms which have led to the development of the ‘new heritage infrastructure’ which I estimate is worth £3 billion today and another £1 billion could be the size of the ‘working budget’ that the community may be dealing with every year at market prices. What this means is that the Sikh community has an inbuilt mechanism of volunteering, or ‘kar sewa’ or, the contribution of time voluntarily to achieve community objectives. In determining the new economic heritage, we have to remember that much of the £1 billion is in the form of volunteering time, but not entirely.
What did Alistair Darling say to the Sikhs?
Well, nothing directly! Putting Party politics aside, the Chancellor talked about the struggle before we can get out of the recession but that things should get better by 2011, with the next year helping to make a sure but important start. We have to deal with the major debt of the country as a priority, which means that the cutbacks in public services and the search for more efficient ways of doing things will be the key challenge facing everyone, including the voluntary sector of which all Sikh charities are also a key part. The Hindu, Gujarati and Muslim community organisations are also important ‘players’ in this sector.
Focus on critical debate
Alistair Darling did not address the Sikhs during the budget statement but it is abundantly clear that they can make a positive contribution in the following ways:
1. Ensure that the religious agenda is successfully managed by people who are most suitable for the delivery of the religious services, the diwans, paths, kirtans and community events; the weddings, birth and death ceremonies for all members of the various temples.
2. Release resources from the community to critically assess and plan the challenge for providing community services covering health, welfare, education, community development, leisure and cultural development by utilising the vast assets that the community has at its disposal. There are rooms, halls, offices and open spaces at each Sikh temple awaiting better utilisation.
3. Release skills, knowledge and professional expertise which is present in the congregations. Every Sikh temple has access to a vast number of people who can make an immediate contribution. Indeed there are people waiting to be asked. There are young people who want to be engaged in community development but do see a formal participation in the religious programmes as they only way they can make a contribution. They see themselves as participants in the religious life but not as leaders, activists or volunteers. They want to get involved in the mainstream issues affecting the community as well as the larger community. They want to be involved as visionaries and active community developers. They need access to resources and physical space which can be used to develop new community programmes and projects.
4. Create new forms of leadership to take this part of the agenda forward. Many of the current ‘quasi’ religious leaders may not be too pleased to hear this. But they are not being asked to step aside; only that they empower other people to plan and deliver ‘the community development part’ of the Community Programme, covering youth leadership, women’s projects and programmes for the elderly. Successful leaders know how to get other people to deliver the various parts of the community plan; they cannot deliver everything on their own.
5. Recognise that the wider community programme is a joint responsibility. When talking to Sikh leaders who are hard-pressed even to run the pastoral or religious side of the agenda, I sometimes hear the following statements:
- ‘What you are saying about programmes for the elderly and mental health for women are the responsibility of the city council and the government’.
- ‘Our youngsters will only go to the modern sports centres built by the council’
- ‘Our young men and women do not want to work for the community. They are too modernised and westernised’.
- ‘Professional people such as doctors, dentists, accountants and engineers will not contribute their time to the community’.
- ‘We have tried but we do not have the funds’.
- ‘The funders will never fund our projects’.
- ‘Our council is only interested in collecting the rates. They will not support us’.
To all these statements, I have one response -“Really?” More to follow on this later. But, is this not a good time for many people who are reading this now to come forward and to take part in the debate? Good, well managed debate should lead to positive action. Now, I can hear you say “Really?”
Monday, 7 December 2009
Reaping the benefits of new heritage infrastructure
An Early Statement on My Thesis
OPPORTUNITIES
Major Achievements of South Asian Communities should not detract from huge potential for community action:
The development of vast number of community assets has generated capacity and huge possibilities for undertaking community and public services for the local authorities in which temples are mosques are based. The first part of my thesis aims to distinguish between three types of activities undertaken at these sites and also the skills that are needed in each case. This early projection of my analysis suggests that the results are not uniformly distributed.
SCOPE
The three major strands of activities that are undertaken at community and religious sites are:
a) Planning, delivery and management of religious programmes; programming of religious events- weddings, religious anniversaries, deaths, naming ceremonies and so on. This is a core area and requires cultural background and knowledge of religious protocol and ceremonies. Consequently, only people specific backgrounds may undertake these roles and fulfil responsibility for the ‘pastoral’ needs of the communities.
b) There are many small scale ‘forays’ into action for community support and occasional projects to develop outreach into local groups:, e.g. collections for service clubs, e.g. the Lions Club does attract sponsorship and support from temples, collections to pay for natural disasters. Many temples run internal programmes for members, especially women, people with disabilities and elderly but very little is known about their aims and objectives and more importantly how these initiatives are evaluated. There may also be a tendency to accept less as enough.
One of the most significant areas of action in many minority communities is the provision of secure, warm and well lit community space for the elderly. However, in the main there is little evidence of structured planning. People come in a voluntary basis to for a ‘chat and chai’ and while this does serve the needs for many people who need company and access to friends, the lack of formal provision when it is possible. The fact that most of these informal friendship groups are based in places of religious worship may also deter other people from coming in. Informal groups of elderly people could well be tapped to provide access to larger networks in the community. The use of discrete interventions to offer help for some of the prevailing concerns could also provide better benefits than just offering space. For example there is a concern that many elderly people are depressed and may have health conditions which could benefit from early intervention. There is a need to take in wider views on this issue and to attempt to build a reliable consensus.
c) The scope for providing structured, possibly large scale projects aimed at community development and the delivery of services to community need to be taken on board.
Major opportunities are certainly being missed and urgent and concerted action is much needed. However, it is felt that many of these responsibilities may not be well served by religious leadership or priests from non-Western backgrounds. More significantly, community action needs professional skills.
What can be done to use community assets which are underutilised during the weekdays? Apart from religious space the sanctity of which must be certainly protected, there will be hundreds of rooms, community halls, offices and also open spaces which could be put into effective use for the benefit of the communities that own them. I reiterate that there is no suggestion of sharing ‘religious facilities’ with people from other faiths and diverse backgrounds.
Local authorities need to work with community organisations and to assess the potential for joint ventures. Costs and benefits need to be shared. However, to make joint ventures sustainable, South Asian communities need to recruit professional support in the form fulltime staff on pay and volunteers to sustain the administrative functions.
PUBLIC SPENDING CUTS WILL AFFECT EVERYONE
As public spending cuts take shape and services are curtailed, is there not a logical role for community organisations to fill the gaps in provision or even to start new services? There are key issues here about dealing with expectations and mindsets which militate against community-led provision of some services, starting with the following:
• Local authorities have always provided certain services. This cannot change.
• The community does not have the expertise
• The community does not have the resources
• Members of the community will not welcome this role; it’s the role of the authorities.
• Why should community organisations be required to provide services anyway? Their members pay their taxes and contributions to the state; it is their entitlement.
CALL FOR ACTION
There is no evidence that community organisations have started to consider these options and whether a few may even respond. Instead of offering services on short-term contracts, they need to become comprehensive service providers in their own right but always working within the policy priorities of the local authorities or other commissioning agencies. How is this going to be done? A number of proposals will be discussed here and the scope for tangible action will also be considered. Proposals will be put forward and hopefully, new joint ventures will be formed to service critical needs.
There is idle capacity in the temples and mosques. The religious programmes of each community need to remain under the control of existing leaders. However, professional management teams need to be brought in the tackle the community development agenda. Even more pertinent is the need for Asian community organisations to work as Third Sector voluntary organisations and to share the workload, capacity and perhaps even a proportion of the costs to meet the needs for specialist provision in the community.
The next step lies in the formation of new Asian professional services organisations to compete in the mainstream market for public services and to use their underutilised physical capacity to gain competitive advantage. Many key premises remain underutilised. It does not make economic and business sense when public spending cutbacks will restrict the supply of premises for essential work programmes to benefit local communities through strategic transformational action.
OPPORTUNITIES
Major Achievements of South Asian Communities should not detract from huge potential for community action:
The development of vast number of community assets has generated capacity and huge possibilities for undertaking community and public services for the local authorities in which temples are mosques are based. The first part of my thesis aims to distinguish between three types of activities undertaken at these sites and also the skills that are needed in each case. This early projection of my analysis suggests that the results are not uniformly distributed.
SCOPE
The three major strands of activities that are undertaken at community and religious sites are:
a) Planning, delivery and management of religious programmes; programming of religious events- weddings, religious anniversaries, deaths, naming ceremonies and so on. This is a core area and requires cultural background and knowledge of religious protocol and ceremonies. Consequently, only people specific backgrounds may undertake these roles and fulfil responsibility for the ‘pastoral’ needs of the communities.
b) There are many small scale ‘forays’ into action for community support and occasional projects to develop outreach into local groups:, e.g. collections for service clubs, e.g. the Lions Club does attract sponsorship and support from temples, collections to pay for natural disasters. Many temples run internal programmes for members, especially women, people with disabilities and elderly but very little is known about their aims and objectives and more importantly how these initiatives are evaluated. There may also be a tendency to accept less as enough.
One of the most significant areas of action in many minority communities is the provision of secure, warm and well lit community space for the elderly. However, in the main there is little evidence of structured planning. People come in a voluntary basis to for a ‘chat and chai’ and while this does serve the needs for many people who need company and access to friends, the lack of formal provision when it is possible. The fact that most of these informal friendship groups are based in places of religious worship may also deter other people from coming in. Informal groups of elderly people could well be tapped to provide access to larger networks in the community. The use of discrete interventions to offer help for some of the prevailing concerns could also provide better benefits than just offering space. For example there is a concern that many elderly people are depressed and may have health conditions which could benefit from early intervention. There is a need to take in wider views on this issue and to attempt to build a reliable consensus.
c) The scope for providing structured, possibly large scale projects aimed at community development and the delivery of services to community need to be taken on board.
Major opportunities are certainly being missed and urgent and concerted action is much needed. However, it is felt that many of these responsibilities may not be well served by religious leadership or priests from non-Western backgrounds. More significantly, community action needs professional skills.
What can be done to use community assets which are underutilised during the weekdays? Apart from religious space the sanctity of which must be certainly protected, there will be hundreds of rooms, community halls, offices and also open spaces which could be put into effective use for the benefit of the communities that own them. I reiterate that there is no suggestion of sharing ‘religious facilities’ with people from other faiths and diverse backgrounds.
Local authorities need to work with community organisations and to assess the potential for joint ventures. Costs and benefits need to be shared. However, to make joint ventures sustainable, South Asian communities need to recruit professional support in the form fulltime staff on pay and volunteers to sustain the administrative functions.
PUBLIC SPENDING CUTS WILL AFFECT EVERYONE
As public spending cuts take shape and services are curtailed, is there not a logical role for community organisations to fill the gaps in provision or even to start new services? There are key issues here about dealing with expectations and mindsets which militate against community-led provision of some services, starting with the following:
• Local authorities have always provided certain services. This cannot change.
• The community does not have the expertise
• The community does not have the resources
• Members of the community will not welcome this role; it’s the role of the authorities.
• Why should community organisations be required to provide services anyway? Their members pay their taxes and contributions to the state; it is their entitlement.
CALL FOR ACTION
There is no evidence that community organisations have started to consider these options and whether a few may even respond. Instead of offering services on short-term contracts, they need to become comprehensive service providers in their own right but always working within the policy priorities of the local authorities or other commissioning agencies. How is this going to be done? A number of proposals will be discussed here and the scope for tangible action will also be considered. Proposals will be put forward and hopefully, new joint ventures will be formed to service critical needs.
There is idle capacity in the temples and mosques. The religious programmes of each community need to remain under the control of existing leaders. However, professional management teams need to be brought in the tackle the community development agenda. Even more pertinent is the need for Asian community organisations to work as Third Sector voluntary organisations and to share the workload, capacity and perhaps even a proportion of the costs to meet the needs for specialist provision in the community.
The next step lies in the formation of new Asian professional services organisations to compete in the mainstream market for public services and to use their underutilised physical capacity to gain competitive advantage. Many key premises remain underutilised. It does not make economic and business sense when public spending cutbacks will restrict the supply of premises for essential work programmes to benefit local communities through strategic transformational action.
Friday, 4 December 2009
Introducing ‘new heritage community champions’
Early thoughts on how to work with providers of new heritage benefits!
I am grateful for a few responses and know that many people are reluctant to name themselves in a public debate for many reasons, not to mention contractual undertakings with employers. It is the feedback that I want …even a flying pigeon will do if you can find one!
It is also time to look at a few examples in further detail. I will be talking to Kuldip Singh Rihal to focus on the work that the Sikh community has been doing in Southfields, South London, near Wimbledon. Over 20 or more years, the Sikh Temple on Merton Road has become “a centre of excellence”, using the yardsticks that people in community development understand and value.
What has been the reason for the success of the Southfields Sikh Centre as a agency for local development? How has a place of religious worship found its way into the local community? What more would the centre managers like to achieve and what are the areas in which they need help? These questions apply to many new heritage community champions a term that I will be using to describe the work of dedicated leaders who have worked with very little to achieve so much.
Many are on the verge of major change and may need help in achieving their objectives. It is clear that the Government will be seeking new collaborations with the Third Sector. The new heritage champions are people and organisations which have ‘cut through the ice’ and created a sound asset base which needs further exploitation. How can Government work with new heritage organisations and help to create better returns on their efforts but at the same time to utilise the talent, asset base and capacity? A few early thoughts follow in the next post.
An organisation that has taken major strides in developing their programmes for community development is the Ramgarhia Sikh Temple, based in Upton Park, Newham. I will admit to an affiliation with the organisation but their action plans have led to a surge in new ideas that people in the community are starting to relate to. It is setting up the Centre@270 Trust, a new dedicated organisation to spearhead community action programmes by using £2 million worth of community assets which have now become available following the construction of a new Sikh Temple on Neville Road, E7. A case study is to follow following extensive discussions with past and present leadership. An interview will also follow with Trustees, comprising Sarup Singh Kalsi, Tarsem Singh Bhogal and Kewal Singh Chana.
Another project with extensive future benefit is the prospective launch of The Falcon Sports and Community Centre under the leadership of Ajit Singh Purewal and his team. Early stage planning issues have been taking up some time but the impact of community action in creating a major sports and community centre will benefit the entire community in the Stoke Poges Lane, an area of Slough, Berks.
Sukhjit Dhaliwal and Rajinder Sandhu bring many years of business, voluntary sector and local authority expertise to their plans to launch the Centre for Community Action Partnerships, to be based also in Slough. A work programme will make first advances in accessing Government funding to create employment and training outcomes. A second case study follows.
I am grateful for a few responses and know that many people are reluctant to name themselves in a public debate for many reasons, not to mention contractual undertakings with employers. It is the feedback that I want …even a flying pigeon will do if you can find one!
It is also time to look at a few examples in further detail. I will be talking to Kuldip Singh Rihal to focus on the work that the Sikh community has been doing in Southfields, South London, near Wimbledon. Over 20 or more years, the Sikh Temple on Merton Road has become “a centre of excellence”, using the yardsticks that people in community development understand and value.
What has been the reason for the success of the Southfields Sikh Centre as a agency for local development? How has a place of religious worship found its way into the local community? What more would the centre managers like to achieve and what are the areas in which they need help? These questions apply to many new heritage community champions a term that I will be using to describe the work of dedicated leaders who have worked with very little to achieve so much.
Many are on the verge of major change and may need help in achieving their objectives. It is clear that the Government will be seeking new collaborations with the Third Sector. The new heritage champions are people and organisations which have ‘cut through the ice’ and created a sound asset base which needs further exploitation. How can Government work with new heritage organisations and help to create better returns on their efforts but at the same time to utilise the talent, asset base and capacity? A few early thoughts follow in the next post.
An organisation that has taken major strides in developing their programmes for community development is the Ramgarhia Sikh Temple, based in Upton Park, Newham. I will admit to an affiliation with the organisation but their action plans have led to a surge in new ideas that people in the community are starting to relate to. It is setting up the Centre@270 Trust, a new dedicated organisation to spearhead community action programmes by using £2 million worth of community assets which have now become available following the construction of a new Sikh Temple on Neville Road, E7. A case study is to follow following extensive discussions with past and present leadership. An interview will also follow with Trustees, comprising Sarup Singh Kalsi, Tarsem Singh Bhogal and Kewal Singh Chana.
Another project with extensive future benefit is the prospective launch of The Falcon Sports and Community Centre under the leadership of Ajit Singh Purewal and his team. Early stage planning issues have been taking up some time but the impact of community action in creating a major sports and community centre will benefit the entire community in the Stoke Poges Lane, an area of Slough, Berks.
Sukhjit Dhaliwal and Rajinder Sandhu bring many years of business, voluntary sector and local authority expertise to their plans to launch the Centre for Community Action Partnerships, to be based also in Slough. A work programme will make first advances in accessing Government funding to create employment and training outcomes. A second case study follows.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
The Application of Economic Analysis to New Heritage Economics
The Work of Xavier Greffe and some examples of the application of his analysis
There is a need to place any work programmes relating to the ‘new heritage’ in a professional and sustainable framework. The field of ‘heritage economics’ has attracted extensive research, challenge and interpretation. The work of innovative thinkers merits analysis and reporting within the context of this programme. However, instead of embarking on a formal ‘literature review’ which would help to highlight the scope and depth of the current debate, I consider it more appropriate to address the needs of a wide readership by looking through the prism of some writers. The work that I have selected for reporting here will not so much reflect the status of the writer in the larger field of ‘heritage economics’ internationally but more for its usefulness and relevance to us for the exploration of ‘new heritage economics’.
In ‘The Economic Value of Heritage’ Xavier Greffe refers to heritage as an economic resource and, ‘ an important lever for economic development’ and an ‘instrument for satisfying the demand for leisure activities’. His paper also covers the same ground of interest to us, that is:
Opportunities to create jobs
A source of new references for economic innovations
Greffe also refers to ‘a way of positively enforcing the identity of the local authorities’. Greffe maintains that ‘economists have always quoted the cultural activities as a prototype of the non-economic commodity; it was non-reproducible and non-substitutable’. Greffe recommends four key questions which need to be addressed in relation to analysing the ‘economic knowledge of heritage’. These are:
What are the bases of the economic value of Heritage, i.e. what are the reasons for the individual and social demand for Heritage?
Greffe sees heritage as a source of economic activity since it creates some utilities, direct or indirect, individual or collective. These are artistic and aesthetic values related to feelings and knowledge and are linked to tourism. Greffe also refers to ‘educational value’ resulting in the education and training of young people in heritage studies. Greffe observes that the progression of multimedia ‘has allowed to deliver new tools and products which increase the quantity and quality of this potential training through heritage. Further the clustering of information, archive and research services is noted as economic activities. Greffe also says that households, companies and local authorities may also be linked with housing and real estate services.
What are the economic limits of Heritage, in terms of content and development?
Further heritage links are connected with cultural tourism. The cultural heritage may change over periods of time leading to the need to clarify the criteria for defining cultural activity. The communication criterion is Greffe’s first suggestion in that it creates a strong meaning for the society. The ‘scientific’ criterion recognises scientific or artistic value and destruction would be considered as a loss. Finally the ‘economic criterion’ refers to the high cost of replacing a heritage asset.
Further expected benefits of heritage can be understood in terms of ‘the expenditure or income multiplier’, ‘the employer multiplier’ and the ‘input-output multiplier’ or the Leontief multiplier.
Greffe next addresses ‘the optimal Heritage investment’ and asks ‘what are the optimal investments in heritage conservation’? Three different kinds of investment are proposed, supported by mathematical equations to express the relationships between costs, values, inputs and outputs:
‘The re-utilisation’ factor where an owner changes the use of the heritage.
‘The renovation or rehabilitation’ where the owner maintains the state of the heritage without considering the use that can be realised.
‘The conservation’ factor, private or public, where the owner of the heritage asset intends not only to maintain his heritage but also to create new user or non-user values.
The relevance and importance of the Economics of New Heritage
Returning to the economics of the ‘new heritage’, are the above considerations relevant or even important? They are relevant even if so to some extent. The above analysis of Greffe’s work may present avenues for investigating the economic potential of the new heritage assets.
Are the tools of analysis proposed by Greffe important for the study of new heritage of minority communities in the UK? Greffe proposes the following reasons for the implementation of his analysis and, some of it is applicable to the new heritage of the UK:
The owners of the new heritage may not have assessed the interest of their heritage assets.
The owners may have identified the right indicators to assess the value of demand for the assets
The owners of the assets may be unable to organise new services required by different consumer groups
How can the positive expected effects of heritage be materialised? It must be remembered that Greffe’s questions apply to the more general and traditional sources of heritage, which may have greater connections with tourism. The main outcome of interest is the use of multipliers. This will be considered in greater detail based on the key outcomes:
1. The owners of heritage own the assets; the users demand only services.
2. There may be a need to reduce the cost of heritage services.
3. The owners need to develop marketing and sale promotional skills if they are exploit new heritage assets.
4. There may also be a need to develop non-profit organisations with a specialisation in t e development of heritage assets.
5. There may be a need to develop a public policy to manage public collective goods which many new heritage assets may become over time.
The above factors merit further consideration in the future. The work of Xavier Greffe has potentially helped to identify a number of pathways for future exploration of the economics of new heritage in the UK. I also hope to take a few leaps and look at situations in US, Canada and Europe.
There is a need to place any work programmes relating to the ‘new heritage’ in a professional and sustainable framework. The field of ‘heritage economics’ has attracted extensive research, challenge and interpretation. The work of innovative thinkers merits analysis and reporting within the context of this programme. However, instead of embarking on a formal ‘literature review’ which would help to highlight the scope and depth of the current debate, I consider it more appropriate to address the needs of a wide readership by looking through the prism of some writers. The work that I have selected for reporting here will not so much reflect the status of the writer in the larger field of ‘heritage economics’ internationally but more for its usefulness and relevance to us for the exploration of ‘new heritage economics’.
In ‘The Economic Value of Heritage’ Xavier Greffe refers to heritage as an economic resource and, ‘ an important lever for economic development’ and an ‘instrument for satisfying the demand for leisure activities’. His paper also covers the same ground of interest to us, that is:
Opportunities to create jobs
A source of new references for economic innovations
Greffe also refers to ‘a way of positively enforcing the identity of the local authorities’. Greffe maintains that ‘economists have always quoted the cultural activities as a prototype of the non-economic commodity; it was non-reproducible and non-substitutable’. Greffe recommends four key questions which need to be addressed in relation to analysing the ‘economic knowledge of heritage’. These are:
What are the bases of the economic value of Heritage, i.e. what are the reasons for the individual and social demand for Heritage?
Greffe sees heritage as a source of economic activity since it creates some utilities, direct or indirect, individual or collective. These are artistic and aesthetic values related to feelings and knowledge and are linked to tourism. Greffe also refers to ‘educational value’ resulting in the education and training of young people in heritage studies. Greffe observes that the progression of multimedia ‘has allowed to deliver new tools and products which increase the quantity and quality of this potential training through heritage. Further the clustering of information, archive and research services is noted as economic activities. Greffe also says that households, companies and local authorities may also be linked with housing and real estate services.
What are the economic limits of Heritage, in terms of content and development?
Further heritage links are connected with cultural tourism. The cultural heritage may change over periods of time leading to the need to clarify the criteria for defining cultural activity. The communication criterion is Greffe’s first suggestion in that it creates a strong meaning for the society. The ‘scientific’ criterion recognises scientific or artistic value and destruction would be considered as a loss. Finally the ‘economic criterion’ refers to the high cost of replacing a heritage asset.
Further expected benefits of heritage can be understood in terms of ‘the expenditure or income multiplier’, ‘the employer multiplier’ and the ‘input-output multiplier’ or the Leontief multiplier.
Greffe next addresses ‘the optimal Heritage investment’ and asks ‘what are the optimal investments in heritage conservation’? Three different kinds of investment are proposed, supported by mathematical equations to express the relationships between costs, values, inputs and outputs:
‘The re-utilisation’ factor where an owner changes the use of the heritage.
‘The renovation or rehabilitation’ where the owner maintains the state of the heritage without considering the use that can be realised.
‘The conservation’ factor, private or public, where the owner of the heritage asset intends not only to maintain his heritage but also to create new user or non-user values.
The relevance and importance of the Economics of New Heritage
Returning to the economics of the ‘new heritage’, are the above considerations relevant or even important? They are relevant even if so to some extent. The above analysis of Greffe’s work may present avenues for investigating the economic potential of the new heritage assets.
Are the tools of analysis proposed by Greffe important for the study of new heritage of minority communities in the UK? Greffe proposes the following reasons for the implementation of his analysis and, some of it is applicable to the new heritage of the UK:
The owners of the new heritage may not have assessed the interest of their heritage assets.
The owners may have identified the right indicators to assess the value of demand for the assets
The owners of the assets may be unable to organise new services required by different consumer groups
How can the positive expected effects of heritage be materialised? It must be remembered that Greffe’s questions apply to the more general and traditional sources of heritage, which may have greater connections with tourism. The main outcome of interest is the use of multipliers. This will be considered in greater detail based on the key outcomes:
1. The owners of heritage own the assets; the users demand only services.
2. There may be a need to reduce the cost of heritage services.
3. The owners need to develop marketing and sale promotional skills if they are exploit new heritage assets.
4. There may also be a need to develop non-profit organisations with a specialisation in t e development of heritage assets.
5. There may be a need to develop a public policy to manage public collective goods which many new heritage assets may become over time.
The above factors merit further consideration in the future. The work of Xavier Greffe has potentially helped to identify a number of pathways for future exploration of the economics of new heritage in the UK. I also hope to take a few leaps and look at situations in US, Canada and Europe.
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