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Measuring Arts Impact

Measuring the Impact Initiative Background

In the mid-2000s, leaders from ArtsWave (formerly the Fine Arts Fund) embarked on a strategic journey designed to create more broadly shared public responsibility for arts and culture in greater Cincinnati.

In late 2008, ArtsWave commissioned a research initiative designed to develop an inclusive public conversation about the arts in our region.

Based on hundreds of conversations, interviews, and focus groups with area residents, one key idea emerged – a thriving arts sector creates “ripple effects” of benefits throughout our community that touch citizen and participant alike.

Two key “ripple effect” benefits emerged as especially valued by the citizens of our region:

1) that the arts create a vibrant, thriving economy: neighborhoods are more lively, communities are revitalized, tourists are attracted to the area, etc…and
2) that the arts create a more connected community: diverse groups share common experiences, hear new perspectives, understand each other better.

Leveraging the learnings from the Ripple Effect research, ArtsWave created a task force on Community Investments which subsequently proposed a new framework for funding arts & culture activities based upon the ability of organizations to create vibrancy and connect people in our region. As part of a new mulit-tiered change strategy, ArtsWave has now commissioned the Measuring the Impact project to help define key measures of success.

The purpose of ArtsWave’s Measuring the Impact project is to define, in collaboration with the arts sector:

1) an objective set of measurements that demonstrate the sector’s contribution to driving the key impacts identified above (the “impact agenda”) and
2) a fair and understandable means of measuring the contribution of individual arts organizations in driving that impact agenda.

We need to maintain and strengthen the diversified funding sources for the arts going forward. The research suggests that changing the conversation with citizens to focus on the role the arts play in creating community will motivate action by the public and lead to increased shared responsibility and broader support for the arts. Objective, quantifiable evidence will assist in demonstrating and validating the impact and play an important role in changing that conversation with our region’s citizens.

Measuring the Impact Team Interim Report

This report to the community summarizes the work of the Team, including a program theory for impact of the arts, guiding principles for developing measures, a draft Arts Impact Agenda - including outcomes and measures, and draft funding criteria for ArtsWave.

Evaluation and Data Collection Basics for the Arts

This presentation provides information on the new ArtsWave Impact Agenda, measuring outcomes and impacts, the difference between outcomes and outputs, evaluation and survey development, research design, collecting media mentions, data sources - internal and secondary, the difference between correlation and causation, and more.