Intrinsic Impacts Study
The eight LARC members are currently embarking on an exciting and progressive study, which aims to define and measure how audiences and visitors are transformed by their cultural experiences. The study is intended to help LARC partners articulate the true impact of engaging with a cultural experience and to find another way of defining ‘success’ in addition to quantitative indicators such as revenue and attendance figures. Background In July 2008, several marketing managers from Liverpool arts organisations attended a presentation by Alan Brown at the Arts Marketing Association conference. He described an impact study that was carried out in 2006 amongst a group of university arts presenters in the United States. This sparked an interest in the organisations to develop a similar project in Liverpool The LARC marketing group are interested in discovering whether intrinsic impacts can be measured, to see if different performances/exhibitions would generate different impacts and whether or not an individual’s ‘readiness to receive’ (for example attending a pre concert talk or educational experience, or reading/listening in advance to what they would experience) would influence the nature and extent of the impact. The study will help the organisations involved to articulate the true impact of engaging with a cultural experience – the more clearly cultural organisations can communicate what art means to their audiences, the better they can help others gain a clearer sense of why they should support the cultural sector. The study will also help the marketing teams to better define and articulate the experience that non-consumers are missing. Next steps A team of uniquely qualified individuals and firms are working together to deliver the Intrinsic Impacts Study. It is being managed by Baker Richards Consulting (Tim Baker, Director and Research Manager for this study) in partnership with the U.S.-based firm of WolfBrown (Alan Brown, Principal and Lead Investigator). Both Tim Baker and Alan Brown are integrally involved in this project. The team will build on the work in the U.S. to help evaluate how LARC’s programmes benefit their audiences, Liverpool and the city region. An impact study of selected performances/exhibitions is taking place in Liverpool during the 2009/10 programme season. It will investigate a range of reactions to the specific performance or visual experience, including captivation, intellectual stimulation, emotional resonance, spiritual value, aesthetic growth and social bonding. The main output of the study, a report that paints an in-depth picture of the impacts of the LARC organisations, will be delivered early 2011...
Read MoreDeveloping a Civic Leadership Role
LARC’s civic leadership work will focus on three core activities: delivery of an advocacy campaign to promote the role of culture within regeneration; a research programme to support the campaign; and work to help deliver continuous professional development across the cultural sector. Advocacy campaign LARC’s Thrive advocacy campaign will focus on promoting the public value and impact of the cultural sector on Merseyside. It includes a high level annual seminar led by an international speaker and is targeted at leading figures from the public , community, business and faith sectors in the city region. The campaign is also building a new dialogue between cultural organisations and higher education institutions and with the health sector, aiming to establish joint planning mechanisms and secure the funds needed to test out new ways of working together. Research Programme The research programme gives the campaign a solid evidential base and also aims to build research capacity in the cultural sector. The programme is supported through a research partnership with Impacts 08 – the Liverpool University/LJMU research programme set up to establish the social, economic and cultural impact of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year. Our work will include the collection of key statistics about the LARC partners; mapping activities to chart the engagement of cultural organisations with other sectors such as health or higher education; and a series of research projects to look at the intrinsic (i.e. emotional and intellectual), social and economic impact of culture. Continuous professional development (CPD) LARC is developing a strategic approach to tackling a range of CPD issues across the city’s cultural sector – from programmes at entry level to address the lack of diversity in the workplace to support for emerging leaders and senior management. Organisational development Part of the work of Thrive is to develop LARC as a consortium, creating and supporting a series of working groups and regular network meetings at different levels in the organisations. We will also be considering how we can develop shared services both between LARC partners and more widely in the cultural...
Read MoreOpen City
This is a new audiences project which supports groups who do not normally attend the arts to become confident in accessing and engaging with the arts. It is led by Gin Jacobucci a co-ordinator who is based at FACT in Liverpool for part of the week. The co-ordinator recruits and trains volunteers, then pairs them with community groups. The volunteers then guide their group on a journey of the local cultural scene over a six month period. The emphasis is on developing the programme of arts experiences in response to the group’s needs and interests, challenging perceived barriers, and growing a relationship between the groups and the arts organisations. The long-term aspiration is to build a larger pool of culturally aware and engaged residents in Merseyside. During the first year of the project, it has worked with a range of community groups, with a number of mental health and Dads’ groups joining the scheme. The project is embarking upon its 2nd year currently. open.city@factcentre.co.uk or gin.jacobucci@factcentre.co.uk or on 0151 707...
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