Australia’s regional arts are achieving important outcomes for communities. They’re inspiring creativity, fostering innovative cultural practice, connecting people and promoting positive health and wellbeing; however these things often go unmeasured.
We’re increasingly asked how regional arts organisations can measure their success. Regional arts leaders want to tell a holistic story of the impact they create for their communities. There is a strong desire to move beyond focusing and reporting exclusively on the number of people who attended or engaged.
To answer these questions and help regional organisations build stronger cases for their impact Culture Counts team members, Alison Lasek and Monika Bognar will present a practical session at Artlands Victoria. Celebrating twenty years in 2018, Artlands is a biennial conference that shines a national spotlight on Australia’s regional arts. Artlands Victoria will be held from 10-14 October 2018 in Bendigo and Castlemaine.
The Culture Counts session will help participating organisations learn how to design a meaningful evaluation strategy by first considering what to measure in line with strategic objectives. It will discuss ways to improve data collection practices, including setting up evaluation plans and selecting appropriate survey distribution methods.
Knowing how to use the results is an equally important part of the process. The session will include a focus on effective reporting, benchmarking with the sector, correlating with external data sources and celebrating social, civic, cultural and economic impacts. With relevant examples featuring successful regionally-based cultural organisations DanceNorth and TheatreiNQ, attendees will gain insight into methodologies for effectively measuring outcomes relating to their activities.
In addition, Culture Counts will be providing evaluation services to Artlands Victoria. Conference attendees will experience our survey tools when offering feedback on the extent to which the conference challenged them to think in a different way, connected them to others in the field and was well thought through and put together.
Culture Counts will be presenting on Friday 12th October at 12.00 pm until 1.00 pm in the Banquet Room, at The Capital Theatre. For more information and to book your place at Artlands Victoria, visit: https://artlands.com.au
