Redefining Revenue in Arts Enterprises through Social Value Measurement: A Social Cost Savings Perspective

This study reconceptualizes arts enterprises and redefines their revenue logic, shifting from conventional market-oriented models to resilience-oriented frameworks that center on social outcomes. In the post-COVID context, worldwide policy demands for arts-based solutions to social problems have catalyzed new forms of arts enterprises. To ground funding decisions, we argue for assessing their performance through social value measurement so as to justify public subsidies and external financing. Methodologically, the study traces the intellectual history of efforts since the 1990s to evidence the social impact of the arts, organizing key debates and limitations. It then adapts social value measurement approaches used in health and nonprofit management to the cultural sector and illustrates feasible applications. We advance a redefinition of return on investment (ROI) to include reductions in social costs and improvements in individual and community well-being. We also examine Social Return on Investment (SROI) and related methodologies, evaluating their applicability and constraints in arts settings. Taken together, the study offers a framework for positioning post-pandemic arts enterprises as agents of sustainable and inclusive social transformation and for aligning “revenue” with measurable social cost savings.