The visual arts sector generates significant economic, social and cultural value, yet too often that value remains invisible in the data and evidence used to inform policy, investment and public debate. The report, Towards a Data Observatory for the Visual Arts: A Scoping Study to Identify Sector Data Needs, explores why data matters to the visual arts sector, maps the diverse datasets that already exist, and identifies the opportunities and challenges involved in creating a shared evidence infrastructure. Drawing on insights from visual arts stakeholders, policymakers, researchers and sector partners, it sets out recommendations for how a Visual Arts Data Observatory could strengthen advocacy, inform policy, and better demonstrate the sector’s economic, social and cultural value.

The reports features the work of Dr Susan Jones's research, from the Artists' lives: ecologies for resilience report, which was produced for Creative Land Trust and follows fourteen artists over time. Its findings are now being recognised more widely. The 2026 CVAN report on a data observatory for the visual arts names her longitudinal, qualitative approach as good practice.