Assessment

Turn a complex challenge into clear priorities 

Many institutions already have valuable records, established curatorial practices and experienced teams. The challenge is that these capabilities may be fragmented across departments, systems, locations and areas of responsibility.  

The Cultural Asset Governance Self-Assessment gives you a structured way to: 

• Understand your institution’s current governance maturity 

• Review performance across five interconnected pillars 

• Identify your strongest governance area 

• Identify the pillar requiring the most immediate attention 

• Receive three practical priority actions 

• Establish a clearer starting point for improvement 

The assessment is designed to provide an immediate on-screen result followed by a personalised PDF report. 

Federico Passi, Unsplash

Documentation 

Maintain complete, structured, and current information about cultural assets. 

Safeguarding 

Track, protect, and manage risks relating to cultural assets. 

Immediate insight. Practical next steps. 

Once you have completed the assessment and supplied your report-delivery details, you will receive your immediate result with a concise on-screen result presenting your maturity level across all five pillars, overall governance position, strongest pillar, priority pillar, a key governance insight, and three recommended actions.

Your personalised assessment report will include a branded PDF report containing: 

• An executive overview of your result 

• Your complete five-pillar maturity profile 

• An interpretation of each pillar 

• A key relationship insight 

• Three priority actions 

• An improvement path 

• An overview of the Cultural Asset Governance Framework 

• A recommended next step 

The report is generated from controlled, approved content modules so that equivalent responses produce consistent results and wording. 

A maturity profile, not a pass or fail 

The assessment is intended to help your institution understand its current position and identify practical opportunities for improvement. 

A lower maturity result does not imply institutional failure. Many institutions are not starting from zero. They are starting from fragmented records, processes, responsibilities, or infrastructure.  Similarly, a higher maturity result does not represent certification, legal assurance, or independent verification. It indicates how your institution’s self-reported practices align with the assessment’s maturity model. 

Your result should be used as: 

• A starting point for internal discussion 

• A way to identify governance priorities 

• An input into planning and resource allocation 

• A basis for developing a practical governance roadmap 

• A guide for further review or consultation 

Accountability 

Establish clear ownership, responsibilities, policies and oversight. 

Accessibility 

Provide controlled, structured access to cultural asset information. 

Activation 

Use cultural assets to generate cultural and institutional value. 

Activation considers how assets can contribute to engagement, research, education, reputation and broader institutional strategy. 

These pillars reflect the minimum governance capabilities identified in the Cultural Asset Governance approach. 

A structured institutional diagnostic 

The assessment consists of 27 scored multiple-choice questions across the five governance pillars, followed by one supplementary confidence question.  

Your answers are used to calculate a maturity level for each pillar: 

• Fragmented 

• Organised 

• Managed 

• Integrated 

• Strategic 

Your overall position is based on the maturity profile across all five pillars. The assessment also identifies your strongest pillar, your priority pillar and relevant relationships or imbalances between governance areas.  

The assessment is completed one pillar at a time, with a visible progress indicator. 

Designed for institutions responsible for cultural assets 

The assessment is relevant to organisations that hold or manage artworks, collections, archives, heritage objects or related information, including: 

• Banks and financial institutions 

• Corporate collections 

• Foundations and trusts 

• Universities and research institutions 

• Museums 

• Government and public institutions 

• Healthcare institutions 

• Archives, libraries and heritage organisations 

Cultural assets can exist across offices, storage facilities, departments and geographies, making coordinated governance especially important for institutions with distributed collections. 

Ready to understand your current position? 

Complete the Cultural Asset Governance Self-Assessment to identify your institution’s strengths, governance gaps, and immediate priorities. After completing the questions, you will be asked for the minimum information needed to personalise and deliver your report. 

Take the Assessment 

Assessment notice 

The Cultural Asset Governance Self-Assessment is a diagnostic tool based on information provided by the respondent. 

Results are intended to support internal reflection, planning and discussion. They do not constitute an audit, certification, legal opinion, regulatory assessment, assurance engagement or independent verification of the institution’s governance practices. 

Recommendations should be considered in the context of the institution’s own governance requirements, policies, risk environment and professional advice. 

FAQs

What are cultural assets? 

For the purposes of this assessment, cultural assets are artworks, collections, archives, heritage objects and related information.  

What does the assessment measure? 

The assessment measures self-reported maturity across Documentation, Accountability, Safeguarding, Accessibility and Activation.  

Is this an audit or certification? 

No. The assessment is a self-reported diagnostic. It does not constitute an audit, legal opinion, certification, independent verification or peer benchmark. 

Why do you require my work email? 

Your work email is required to personalise and deliver your Cultural Asset Governance Assessment Report. We are compliant with GDPR, POPIA, DPA, and ISO27001. Your work email will only be used for the purposes of this assessment and the report.  

What is Cultural Asset Governance? 

Cultural Asset Governance is the structured management, documentation, safeguarding, and activation of cultural assets within an institutional framework of accountability and oversight. It complements curatorial expertise by providing a structure through which cultural stewardship can operate at institutional scale. 

What will I receive? 

You will receive an immediate on-screen result and a personalised PDF assessment report. The report includes your overall maturity position, five-pillar profile, strongest and priority pillars, key insight, three recommended actions, and an improvement path.

How is my result calculated? 

Each scored answer contributes to one of the five governance pillars. Pillar scores are translated into maturity levels, and the full maturity profile is used to identify the strongest pillar, priority pillar and overall governance position. The assessment uses normalised percentages when comparing pillars because the Accountability pillar contains more questions than the other pillars.    

Will my result be benchmarked against other institutions? 

As this is a new field, benchmarking will be added at a future stage when a sufficient dataset is available.