At Arm’s Length: The Relationship between Research and Policy in Arts and Culture, 1992–2007

Many countries have moved towards promoting the practice of evidence-based policy-making, While there has been considerable work on the research–policy nexus elsewhere, very little work has looked specifically at developing countries. Specifically, there has been little attention paid to understanding the relationship between research and policy in the field of arts and culture in developing countries. This paper examines the various ways in which the South African Department of Arts and Culture and some of its provincial counterparts, have conceived of and used research in the formulation of arts and culture policy in South Africa since 1994.