Performance assessment in cultural institutions

There is no reason not to evaluate cultural institutions, even though they are frequently non-profit organizations or public entities that provide goods and services that are difficult to objectivize in the market. The justifications for evaluating are that they consume resources which entail opportunity costs and pursue different purposes, with great success or little success, to which is added an increasing demand for greater public accountability. Therefore, with regard to cultural institutions, our aim is first to clarify what is being evaluated and why. Second, we review the main assessment tools and techniques available, and we report some representative case studies and point out the usefulness of these applications. Finally, we provide some resources for teaching purposes in this subject.