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Evaluating AND Encouraging Innovation, Creativity, and Adaptability: Lessons From a Theatre Company
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| Presenter(s):
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| Tamara Walser,
University of North Carolina, Wilmington,
walsert@uncw.edu
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| Keith Bridges,
Charter Theatre,
kbridges@chartertheatre.org
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| Kate Mattingly,
Windwalker Corporation,
kate.mattingly@windwalker.com
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| Abstract:
The purpose of this presentation is to share an evaluation process that informs development and improvement while encouraging innovation, creativity, and adaptability; and to propose applications of this process to educational evaluation.
Charter Theatre is a small professional theatre in Washington, DC. Its mission is to develop and produce new plays—Charter seeks out new plays, works with the playwrights to clarify their 'esthetic intention, develops the play into the strongest script it can be, and then produces those plays. The issue of “how do you evaluate a play without sucking all the life from it,” is a common issue all evaluators face. This presentation will describe Charter Theatre's evaluation process, and how it can be applied in educational settings where innovation, creativity, and adaptability are too often sacrificed in the name of evaluation and accountability. This presentation reinforces the conference theme, evaluation and learning, as it focuses on evaluation for learning, discovery, and growth.
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Evaluating Arts Exhibitions: A Constructivist Insight
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| Presenter(s):
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| Annabel Jackson,
Annabel Jackson Associates,
ajataja@aol.com
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| Abstract:
In 2006-07 Annabel Jackson Associates carried out three evaluations of arts exhibitions as part of the process of piloting new methods of social and economic impact analysis for the Arts and Humanities Research Council. These used a constructivist methodology in particular, Personal Construct Theory and Repertory Grid, in order to identify conscious and subconscious outcomes from the artists and curators. The outcomes were translated into a logic model, which suggested lines of argument around the value of the arts as a way of thinking, and also around its contribution to innovation and social capital. The logic model was used to formulate precise outcome questions which were applied in visitors' surveys. The results make a strong case for the three exhibitions evaluated and suggest a way forward in defining precise outcomes for hard to measure items. Equally important to the evaluator, the work was well received by the artists and curators involved.
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What Makes Opera Thrive: Learning From Evaluation in the Performing Arts
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| Presenter(s):
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| Paul Lorton Jr,
University of San Francisco,
lorton@usfca.edu
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| Abstract:
For not-for-profit cultural enterprises to survive, they need to learn what makes them worthy of their community's support for not-for-profit enterprises must secure contributions in addition to the revenues they may generate from their services. This discussion will examine the information contained in the some 500 IRS Form 990 (Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax) report from organizations that classify their activity as “Opera” and present a matrix of goals, achievement and income mixes to build on earlier efforts at defining success for Opera companies. By systematically exploring what the criteria are, how activity is measured against those criteria and the effect of evaluation on the organization, we expect to help those who wish opera to continue to be performed in learning how a process of consequence of evaluation can do just that.
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