Participatory evaluation for large-scale arts programmes: challenges, adaptations and unexpected shifts in culture

Nicola Gratton,Jackie Reynolds

doi:10.14324/rfa.06.1.01

Abstract

Researchers at Staffordshire University have a long history of undertaking community-based research in and with communities in Stoke-on-Trent. Commitment to the principles and practice of participatory research by the university’s Creative Communities Unit (CCU) team led to an approach to participatory action research called Get Talking. This article highlights the use of Get Talking to evaluate Appetite, an Arts Council England Creative People and Places project in Stoke-on-Trent. Staffordshire University conducted a participatory evaluation using Get Talking for the three years of the programme’s first phase. As well as reflecting on the strengths of the approach, we also discuss the ways in which the approach was adapted in order to address some of the key challenges that were encountered, and the impact of taking a participatory approach to the evaluation on the programme’s culture in relation to community engagement and co-production.

Highlights

Get Talking is an approach to participatory action research (PAR) developed and adopted by Staffordshire University’s Creative Communities Unit (CCU) in collaboration with Kate Gant of Creative Health CIC (Emadi-Coffin, 2008; Gratton and Beddows, 2018)
Commitment to the principles and practice of participatory research by the university’s Creative Communities Unit (CCU) team led to an approach to participatory action research called Get Talking
Get Talking is an approach to participatory action research (PAR) developed and adopted by Staffordshire University’s Creative Communities Unit (CCU) in collaboration with Kate Gant of Creative Health CIC (Emadi-Coffin, 2008; Gratton and Beddows, 2018)

Summary

Introduction

Get Talking is an approach to participatory action research (PAR) developed and adopted by Staffordshire University’s Creative Communities Unit (CCU) in collaboration with Kate Gant of Creative Health CIC (Emadi-Coffin, 2008; Gratton and Beddows, 2018). Creative consultation techniques became a recognisable and attractive feature of the Taster Menu evaluation, with audience members seeking out the wish tree and other tools to offer their feedback These challenges (and opportunities) led to discussion and critical reflection among the evaluation team at the end of Year 1 of the Appetite evaluation. During Year 2, the evaluation team introduced pragmatic adaptations to all three of the Get Talking elements – principles, process and creative techniques – driven by the need to deliver an evaluation that meets the needs of the funders, the programme staff and the communities engaged with Appetite. Refocusing the evaluation methodology on the creative engagement techniques, and bringing in artists to deliver that element of the work, provided the research team with additional capacity to introduce more traditional research methods, including online surveys and focus groups, increasing the sample size as required by the programme and funders (Figure 4). This model of co-production is firmly embedded into Appetite, and it has been used to attract funding for expansion of the programme into an adjacent area of low arts engagement

Reflection and conclusion

Declarations and conflicts of interest