Part 1: Assessing Social Impact: Practical Insights from Tucson

What has the Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC) learned through four studies and three reports on its PLACE Initiative? Nationally recognized, PLACE (People, Land, Arts, Culture, and Engagement), has supported individuals and organizations who implement arts-based civic engagement projects that address critical community issues in the southwest. Learn about what kind of framework cultural workers are creating to assess work that engages community constituents as essential collaborators, and "place makers", not solely as audience members.

Presented by: Leia Maahs, Grants and Community Cultural Development Manager, Tucson Pima Arts Council; Roberto Bedoya, Executive Director, Tucson Pima Arts Council; Maria Rosario Jackson, Research Advisor; Dr. James Roebuck. Co-Director of ERAD, University of Arizona

Recorded April 2, 2014

Part 2: Collecting Evidence of Outcomes and Impact

To capture what you need to know, you need to know what to look for! Indicators are evidence of specific changes that can be seen, heard or read to show progress on or demonstrate that an outcome is being met. Indicators are key to know what to measure and what data to collect. This webinar walks you through two ways to zoom in on indicators and then collect relevant data for creative change projects. The featured project is the Worcester (MA) Wayfinding Project, planned as a Creative System for Understanding and Navigating Worcester including signage, destination identifiers, public art, and information kiosks capable of guiding Worcester visitors to their destinations. In a lively real-time exercise, Arnold Aprill will guide Erin Williams in creating a rubric that specifies levels of change around such project outcomes as increasing community spirit, developing awareness of history, or others. Barbara Schaffer Bacon and Pam Korza will drill down into Animating Democracy's Continuum of Impact to show how it can help specify outcomes and indicators. Both presentations point to doable data collection strategies!

Presented by: Arnold Aprill, founder, Radical Compliance Arts and Learning Laboratory and Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE); Erin Williams, cultural development officer, City of Worcester (MA); Barbara Schaffer Bacon and Pam Korza, co-directors, Animating

Recorded May 7, 2014

Part 3: Art-Based Evaluation Methods

Don't leave your creativity at the evaluation door. Story, poetry, mapping, movement... these and more creative expressions are the work of art but can also elicit information and data useful to assessment and evaluation. This webinar looks at ways to integrate creativity and art making into all stages of evaluation process, from being a method of data collection to a means for sharing findings that make intangible outcomes visible and meaningful.

Presented by: Alissa Schwartz, PhD, Founder and Principal at Solid Fire Consulting; Rita Fierro, Principal Consultant at Fierro Consulting, LLC; Barbara Schaffer Bacon and Pam Korza, Co-Directors of Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for the Arts

Recorded May 28, 2014