Evaluation reports in the cultural sector can be packed full of learning. Emma McDowell explores how we might unearth this existing knowledge.
When it comes to evaluation, it’s easy to be drawn to the next new thing. Or to feel like what you’re already doing is not good enough. But the arts, culture and heritage sector is brimming with examples of good practice. So why do we hear so little about them?
In a 2020 study conducted by the Centre for Cultural Value (the Centre), we found that only 18% of cultural organisations routinely share their evaluations beyond the inner circle of their immediate funders and stakeholders.... more
14 May 2024
Feature
After a recent appearance before Wales’s Culture Committee, Charlotte Faucher has been rethinking our new relationship with Europe.
13 May 2024
Feature
Long-term Heart of Glass collaborator Chrissie Tiller reflects on working with the Merseyside-based NPO and how, by building deeper relationships with communities, the arts can create fairer futures.
09 May 2024
Feature
Evaluation reports in the cultural sector can be packed full of learning. Emma McDowell explores how we might unearth this existing knowledge.
09 May 2024
Feature
You may not have met a philanthropy advisor before, but it is a growing profession, so be ready. Emma Beeston, who’s been one for ten years, explains how they work and why they can be helpful for your organisation.
08 May 2024
Feature
Introducing an ambitious initiative at a time when subsidised arts organisations are being asked to do less seems like madness. But for Slung Low it is a natural next step in their exploration of where civic responsibility meets cultural capital, writes Rachel Perry.
07 May 2024
Feature
Northcott Theatre in Exeter has said it will advertise at least one creative role on every production. Creative Director Martin Berry explains the thinking behind it.
02 May 2024
Feature
In the first of our series looking at the role of philanthropy in arts funding, Caroline McCormick of the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation argues that the financial plight of our cultural institutions is undermining their huge impact.
01 May 2024
Opinion
The decimation of arts education has hit the music sector particularly hard. Deborah Annetts of the Independent Society of Musicians calls on government departments to work together to stop the decline.
30 Apr 2024
Feature
As activity this year gathers pace, Michelle Wright explores the many quandaries arts organisations have to navigate in deciding where to focus their fundraising efforts.
29 Apr 2024
Case study
Welcome to Metroland. We are in Brent, London’s fifth largest borough, an urban sprawl and home to 340,000 people. But, as Lois Stonock shares, the cultural infrastructure needs support.
26 Apr 2024
Opinion
To mark World Intellectual Property Day, Adele Morse thinks it’s time the UK caught up with other countries in paying its artists fairly.
24 Apr 2024
Opinion
Co-Founder of Freedom in the Arts, Rosie Kay, thinks the arts in the UK have strayed into a culture of intolerance, which has led to cancellation and a climate of self-censorship that has to be addressed.
24 Apr 2024
Opinion
Voters across England go to the polls next week (2 May) to elect many thousands of new councillors and 10 metro mayors – one of them being the Mayor of London. Phoebe Gardiner outlines what mayoral hopefuls need to understand about the capital’s culture.
23 Apr 2024
Feature
As global politics become increasingly polarised, the right to freedom of expression is under threat in many countries, including the European Union, writes Johanna Bankston.
22 Apr 2024
Feature
Responding to Arts Professional’s coverage of ACE’s political statements policy in February, Lauren James explains why defending free speech is so important to those working in the sector’s ‘engine rooms’.