Many art programs and projects exist because they seem like good ideas — some because they made good use of an existing space, others because they have good intentions to draw attention to or even solve a community problem. As an example, I present the missions of two now-defunct Baltimore projects:
- Operation: Storefront: To match landlords of vacant spaces with tenants to fill space and create life on the street.
- Black Male Identity Project (BMI): [To serve] as a catalyst for a national campaign to build, celebrate, and accentuate positive, authentic images and narratives of black cultural identity.
Both of these projects had laudable goals. But there can be substantial difficulty in evaluating the successes and failures in achieving such goals. What does it mean to be a catalyst on a national level or for there to be “life” on a street? Furthermore, how should these things be measured? What can they be compared to?
Evaluations such as this are often considered as an afterthought and usually as an angst-inducing or frustrating rite of passage to receive funding. Clayworks’ founder, Deborah Bedwell, once wrote:
…when I would see the words ‘measurable outcomes’ on a grant proposal, I would experience a wave of nausea and anxiety. I would be required, the grant stated, to prove to the prospective funder that our programs and activities had created a better life for those who touched clay and for the rest of the city — and maybe the rest of humanity.
So, just as an organization or project’s mission and goals can be far reaching and even dramatically overstated, the bar for measurement can also seem impossibly high. In an effort to create one-size-fits-all metrics, some have focused on the most obvious and simple things to identify and measure — such as attendance or economic impact. For some organizations and projects, even these metrics can be challenging. For example, how should the attendance to a mural or other public work of art be estimated? Some sites are using QR codes to track visits, but the necessity of smartphones is an obvious limitation to the resulting data. Some funders have developed their own gauges, such as ArtPlace’s vibrancy indicators, in an effort to create a level playing field among grantseekers and with a hope to create a more useful and larger pool of results data from their activities.
In the case of Clayworks, Bedwell was interested in capturing and communicating something beyond raw numbers about participation in their community arts program and saw the need to “figure out how to evaluate joy, how to measure creativity, and how to quantify that ‘I get it!’ moment that makes weeks of hard work worth the effort.” While many might give up before they started on such an effort, Clayworks received assistance from the Maryland Association of Nonprofits in tackling their evaluation dilemma; they adopted a model used by The Kellogg Foundation, which Bedwell described enthusiastically in an article for the NEA’s web site (Note: This article is no longer online, but is available as a PDF download. All Bedwell’s quotes are originally from this article.).
So, if one can measure the joy found in creating, then it is likely also possible to measure — with adequate thought and planning — the “life” or vibrancy of a street or neighborhood, the changes in attitudes inspired by a photograph or a lecture. It’s important for these challenging metrics to be tackled and shared, not just so funders can identify return on investment, but so artists and communities can benefit, be able to point to their successes, to know which efforts are worth continuing and repeating.
I plan on diving into this in even greater detail in future posts, as well as continuing to highlight existing art projects and their impact. If you want to share some insights about your organization or project, I invite you to join me in the comments or to reach out to me via Twitter or email.
Noteworthy:
If you are inspired by or involved in the intersection of arts, culture and community, these upcoming events may be worth your time to check out:
- Placemaking and Belonging conference call on February 13th.
- PNC Transformative Art Project (deadline to apply) on February 15th.
- CreateBaltimore on February 16th.
PHOTO CREDIT. Photo of entrance to the Franklin Building in Chicago by Flickr user Terence Faircloth/Atelier Teee.
