The exploratory stage of this project took place 2006/2007 with a mission to examine the feasibility of producting reliable international comparative measures of the culture sector.
This phase also included assembling initial comparable measures for a sample of five countries and four cities.  The tables can be found in the final report available at the link below.
Final report (draft report of this paper was circulated in August 2006)

Update of ISCO
Part of the Project involved preparing a submission on culture-related occupations ot the International Labour Office as part of the update process for the 1988 version of the International Standard for the Classification of Occupations (ISCO).  The OECD Secretariat worked with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and many other groups and individuals to prepare a submission to the ILO.
ISCO submission

Survey of national practices in culture statistics
The project carried out a short survey of the practices of OECD member countries in the area of culture statistics.  The link to the results follows:
Survey of national practices in culture statistics - ZIP document (updated on 31st January 2007)

Future work
The exploration phase of the Project was successful and a workplan was developed to implement an ongoing programme to publish international comparative measures of the culture sector.  The project is currently seeking funding to carry out this work.

For further information, please write to [email protected] or [email protected].

International Workshop
The project held a workshop of international experts in Paris in December 2006.  A list of the workshop participants, a summary of the discussions and a detailled agenda with presentation material is available below:

List of participants (updated on 1st February 2007)

Discussion. Summary and recommendations (posted on 9 March 2007):  International Measurement of the Economic and Social Importance of Culture (pdf) - Discussion Summary and Recommendations

Agenda
La Muette - Room D

1. Welcome and Introduction:  Culture within the Wellbeing Framework of the OECD (Enrico Giovannini, OECD Chief Statistician)

2. Review of Work to Date and in Progress (Chair, Enrico Giovannini, OECD)
    2.1 Statistics on culture in the European Union (Marta Beck-Domzalska, Education, Science and Culture Statistics, EU Commission/Eurostat) (powerpoint)
   2.2 The global view of culture (Simon Ellis, Head, Science Culture & Communications, UNESCO Institute for Statistics) (powerpoint)
    2.3 The OECD project on international measurement of culture and workshop overview (John Gordon, OECD) (English) (powerpoint)
    2.4 The OECD 2006 draft report: comparative data (Helen Beilby-Orrin, OECD) (English) (powerpoint)
    2.5 Discussion: Introduced by Ed Pickering, Statistician, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, United Kingdom)

3. Non-Economic Indicators (Chair, Edna dos Santos-Duisenberg, Chief, Creative Industries Programmes, UNCTAD)
 Counting culture in Quebec: a system of indicators for culture and communications (Benoit Allaire, Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec) - Room document (English  - French)
    3.1 Economic & social implications in international cultural indicators (Drs. Elisabetta Lazzaro, Researcher and lecturer in cultural economics, Department of Economics "Marco Fanno", University of Padova) (powerpoint)
    3.2 The impact of culture on social development and general well-being: Is it quantifiable?: the Audiovisual sector as an example (Thomas Heskia, Senior lecturer in Economics & Finance, International Centre for Culture and Management, Austria) (powerpoint)
    3.3 Measuring diversity in the recording industry: an international comparison (Heritiana Ranaivoson, Maison des Sciences Economiques, Université Paris 1, France) (powerpoint)
    3.4 Discussion: Introduced by John Gordon, OECD

4. Industry Data and Classification Systems (Chair, John Gordon, OECD)
    4.1 An economic classification for the culture sector:  The Quebec experience. (Christine Routhier, Observatoire de la culture et des communications, Institut de la statistique du Québec) (English - French) (powerpoint)    
    4.2 UK work to date and the use of allocation factors:  The problems of mixed classes in economic classifications (Ed Pickering, Statistician, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, United Kingdom) (powerpoint)
    4.3 Culture classes in Emtak (the Estonian version of nomenclature générale des Activités économiques dans les Communautés Européennes): The experiences of building a new system for cultural statistics in a small country (Yngve Rosenblad, Leading Statistician, Social Statistics Department, Statistics Estonia) (English) (powerpoint)
    4.4 Discussion

Tuesday 5 December (starting time 09:30)

5. Trade Data and Diversity (Chair, Simon Ellis, UNESCO Institute for Statistics)
    5.1 Measurement cultural trade:  the Canadian case for including craft and Interactive digital media, and for identifying domestic content (Hugh Scheuerman, Strategic Policy, Planning and International and Intergovernmental Affairs and Sport, Department of Canadian Heritage) (English) (powerpoint)
    5.2 Capturing the creative economy in developing countries (Edna Dos Santos, Chief, Creative Industries Programme, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) (powerpoint)
    5.3 Measuring the elusive diversity of cultural expressions:  UNESCO's experiences with cross-border trade data (Guiomar Alonso Cano, Cultural Enterprise and Copyright Section, UNESCO) (powerpoint)   
5.4 Discussion

6. Public Expenditure Data and Classification Systems (Chair, Simon Ellis, UNESCO Institute for Statistics)
    6.1 The measurement of public expenditures on culture:  the EU experience (Carla Bodo, Associazione per l'Economia della Cultura, Italy with Jean-Cédric Delvainquière, Département des études de la prospective et des statistiques, Délégation au Développement et aux Affaires Internationales, Ministère de la culture et de la communication, France) (powerpoint)
    6.2 Discussion

7. Updating International Standard for the Classification of Occupations (Chair, John Gordon, OECD)
    7.1 Discussion: proposed changes and formation of expert group to finalize submission of recommendations to the International Labour Office (John Gordon with Helen Beilby-Orrin, OECD)  - room document (English)

8. Culture Satellite Accounts (Chair, John Gordon, OECD)
    8.1 Finland’s Experiences in Developing a Satellite Account for Culture (Aku Alanen, GDP Department, Statistics Finland) (English) (powerpoint)
    8.2 The Value of a Satellite Account for Culture: a policy perspective (Kimmo Aulake, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland) (powerpoint)
    8.3 Discussion of possibility of creating an international group of experts on the creation of satellite accounts for culture.

9. Concluding Session (Chair, Francois Lequiller, OECD)
    9.1 Workshop recommendations for OECD's future work on culture (John Gordon) (powerpoint)