Culture Counts and the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC) have released an updated Evaluation Snapshot that summarises the aggregate data collected by organisations funded through DLGSC’s Arts Organisations Investment Program (AOIP), from 2020 to 2023.
In 2014, the WA Government committed to providing a public account of the quality, reach, impact and value of its investment in the arts and cultural sector through the implementation of its Public Value Measurement Framework.
In the previous two funding periods – running from 2016 to 2019 and 2020 to 2023 – AOIP organisations and WA Major Performing Arts Companies received access to the Culture Counts Evaluation Platform to collect public feedback on the quality and value of the work they produced.
This Snapshot provides benchmark data for organisations in Western Australia to evaluate and assess the unique impact they deliver for their communities.
Benchmark outcomes data from 22,594 respondents across 363 surveys.Read Snapshot
Requirements
In 2011, the WA Department of Arts & Culture required a policy framework that could articulate the benefits and qualities inherent to its investment in arts and cultural activities. Working with Pracsys Economics, the renamed Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC) developed a policy referred to as the Public Value Measurement Framework (PVMF).
As part of the third phase of the PVMF development, a prototype software tool was developed that could be used to implement a component of the PVMF; that being a standardised feedback collection mechanism that could collect data in a consistent, and therefore, comparable manner. Culture Counts was later independently established to continue the development of this software (now known as Culture Counts) and maintain its intellectual property, with a license granted to the Department and key organisations it supports.
Approach
The consultant team worked with DLGSC to identify the key outputs, outcomes and values created through public investment in arts and culture. This led to modelling the links between the investment policy and the measurement framework proposed. The resulting measurement framework was benchmarked against contemporary research into the ways public funders might measure the tangible and intangible values of their investments. This ensured that the measurement framework DLGSC employed would reflect best practice understanding of benefit definitions and measurement techniques.
Metrics linked to government policy objectives were co-developed and tested through extensive consultation with the cultural sector and academic partners.
As a consequence of this approach, the proposed measurement framework had two important users – firstly, DLGSC, as it attempts to harness the measurement framework for its investment activities, and secondly, the broader arts and cultural sector, in their efforts to measure and articulate the value of their work to the public at large.
Outcomes
The project resulted in the implementation of the public value measurement framework (PVMF) which included standardised metrics and definitions that could be used to measure outcomes of the funded activity. The PVMF metrics and evaluation methodology are integrated into the Culture Counts Evaluation Platform. Organisations supported by DLGSC during the 2016 to 2019 funding period received access to the platform and used it voluntarily over this period. Data collected by organisations was anonymised, aggregated and analysed by Culture Counts.
Evaluation requirements were made mandatory by DLGSC for AOIP organisations supported during the 2020 to 2023 funding period. The current funding program commenced in 2023 (for organisations running on a financial year schedule) running until 2027, the current cohort continues to use the Culture Counts platform to evaluate its activities.
References
Image attribution: Revealed 2021 Exhibition Opening, Fremantle Arts Centre. Photo by: Pixel Poetry.
