How do you involve artists and other stakeholders in the artist development evaluation process?

1 Define your goals and indicators

Before you start any evaluation, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. What are the specific goals and objectives of your artist development program or project? What are the expected outcomes and outputs for the artists and other stakeholders? How will you know if you have met them or not? These are some of the questions you need to answer to define your goals and indicators. Goals are the broad and long-term changes you want to see, while indicators are the specific and measurable signs of progress or success. For example, a goal could be to increase the artistic quality and diversity of your local scene, while an indicator could be the number of new genres or styles introduced by your artists.

2 Choose your methods and tools

Once you have your goals and indicators, you need to decide how you will collect and analyze the data to evaluate them. There are many methods and tools you can use, depending on your resources, time, and context. Some of the most common ones are surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, portfolios, testimonials, and case studies. You can also use quantitative or qualitative data, or a mix of both, depending on your needs and preferences. Quantitative data are numerical and can be easily summarized and compared, while qualitative data are descriptive and can provide more depth and insight. For example, you can use a survey to measure the satisfaction and feedback of your artists, and an interview to explore their stories and experiences.

3 Involve artists and other stakeholders

One of the most important aspects of any evaluation is to involve artists and other stakeholders in the process. This means that you should not only collect data from them, but also engage them in defining, designing, implementing, and interpreting the evaluation. This way, you can ensure that your evaluation is relevant, respectful, and responsive to their needs, expectations, and perspectives. You can also enhance their ownership, participation, and learning from the evaluation. For example, you can invite artists and other stakeholders to co-create the goals and indicators, co-facilitate the data collection methods, co-analyze the data, and co-share the results and recommendations.

4 Communicate your results and recommendations

After you have collected and analyzed the data, you need to communicate your results and recommendations to artists and other stakeholders. This means that you should not only report what you have found, but also explain why it matters and what it implies for your artist development practice. You should also provide actionable and realistic suggestions on how to improve or sustain your artist development efforts. For example, you can use a report, a presentation, a newsletter, or a blog post to share your findings and recommendations, and use visuals, stories, quotes, or examples to illustrate them.

5 Use your evaluation for learning and improvement

The final step of any evaluation is to use it for learning and improvement. This means that you should not only communicate your results and recommendations, but also act on them and monitor their effects. You should also reflect on your evaluation process and identify what worked well and what could be improved. This way, you can enhance your artist development practice and make it more effective and meaningful for artists and other stakeholders. For example, you can use a feedback form, a debrief session, or a follow-up meeting to review your evaluation process and outcomes, and use a plan, a checklist, or a timeline to implement your recommendations and track their impact.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?