S2 Ep 4: Learning through crisis

We’re returning to season 3 of our podcast, Reflecting Value: Evaluation Principles in Practice, for a bonus episode! In season 3, we’ve been exploring our co-created Evaluation Principles. Throughout the season, we’ve been checking in with cultural sector professionals, evaluators and academics about their experiences of using the Principles in their work, both as reflective prompts and practical tools. In this bonus episode, we’re discussing transparency. How can we be open with our learning and acknowledge its limitations? Should our evaluations be made available publicly rather than just to the stakeholders we originally had in mind? And who is transparency for? Can we really expect smaller, less powerful cultural organisations to be totally candid with their work in the face of the demands placed on them by funders and stakeholders? In a conversation facilitated by freelance evaluator Dawn Cameron, we ask what it means to be truly transparent.  Featuring Stella Kanu (CEO at Shakespeare’s Globe) and Ben Walmsley (Director of the Centre for Cultural Value), this episode explores the risks and benefits of sharing evaluations and talking openly about our work. You can listen to Reflecting Value at Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you find your podcasts and don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe. Referenced in this episode: Impact 08 – Examining Liverpool’s experience as Capital of Culture Dear Work, we need to talk by Jo Verrent Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Paul Hamlyn Foundation Here to Stay (evaluation report) and All Of Us (campaign) Read a transcript of this episode here.

Hosted by Chuck Blue Lowry, this episode of Reflecting Value: Evaluation Principles in Practice explores rigour. Keeping our evaluations rigorous is crucial if we want our findings to be accurate, giving us the best chance of learning from our activity and making meaningful changes to it. But how do we make our evaluation rigorous? How do we identify the appropriate methods for our work, and apply them properly? How do we balance pure numbers with the human stories that come out of evaluation? Join us as we ask our guests about identifying methods, sticking to the evidence and balancing analysis with description. We'll wade into the age old debate - "quantitative or qualitative data?" - and discuss how the two can be properly combined into a mixed methods approach. You can listen to Reflecting Value at Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you find your podcasts and don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe.

Hosted by Chuck Blue Lowry, this episode of Reflecting Value: Evaluation Principles in Practice explores proportionality. Proportionality involves doing less - and doing it better. It involves editing yourself down and knowing what you need out of an evaluation, and what you don’t. And it also involves being selective and saying no when you might not be best placed to do an evaluation. In this episode, we also find out that proportionality is really hard to implement. To be proportionate, we have to think about our own role in an evaluation - whether we are a cultural manager, practitioner, evaluator or funder. Join us as we talk about overkill, adapting methods in face of changing circumstances and regenerative practice. You can listen to Reflecting Value at Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you find your podcasts and don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe.

Hosted by Stephen Welsh, this episode of Reflecting Value: Evaluation Principles in Practice explores the role of empathy in evaluation. One of the 'people-centred' Evaluation Principles, empathy can be elusive. It can be hard to talk about it practically. But if we want to make evaluation count, we have to make it count for everyone. What steps can we take to be more understanding evaluators? How can we create a safe evaluation environment - one that can bring in missing voices with unique opinions? And how can we overcome our own expectations of an evaluation so that it really gives back to our audiences and participants? Join us as we discuss listening, failure and 'hanging out' - and what they all have to do with empathy in evaluation. This episode features conversations with Alex de Little (http://www.alexdelittle.com/), Morvern Cunningham (https://twitter.com/morvc) and Rising Arts Agency (https://rising.org.uk/). Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to Reflecting Value, wherever you get your podcasts. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.culturalvalue.org.uk/signup/

It's been two years since the Centre for Cultural Value launched the co-created Evaluation Principles – responding to industry-wide demand for support with evaluation in the cultural sector. So we wanted to check in. The third season of the Centre for Cultural Value's podcast, Reflecting Value: Evaluation Principles in Practice, features three new episodes exploring the ways cultural sector professionals have applied the Evaluation Principles. Hosted by Stephen Welsh and Chuck Blue Lowry, we'll be discussing how the Principles can be used across the cultural sector in practical and beneficial ways.  We'll also talk to our guests about the challenges of evaluation - and the ways the Principles can provide a practical lens for learning and implementing change. Join us for season three of Reflecting Value, releasing weekly in July 2023. To find out more about Reflecting Value: Evaluation Principles in Practice, visit: https://www.culturalvalue.org.uk/reflecting-value/ Edited in house by Robin Smith

Created in partnership with National Theatre of Scotland This episode is hosted by Lewis Hetherington of National Theatre of Scotland who brings together six people who have been participants in creative work during the pandemic. The group explores their experiences of taking part in creative activity during the pandemic, and the positive impacts it had on them while in lockdown. Guests Lewis Hetherington (National Theatre of Scotland) – host Stewart Gow and Carrie Bates – Coming Back Out Ball Charlotte Armitage and Kenneth Murray – Holding, Holding On Jaqui Smyth and Peter Sproul – Non Optimum With thanks to National Theatre of Scotland partners: Coming Back Out Ball A National Theatre of Scotland and All The Queens Men co-production, in partnership with Eden Court and Luminate in association with Glasgow City Council.  Holding/ Holding On Presented by National Theatre of Scotland as part of Care in Contemporary Scotland – A Creative Enquiry, written by Nicola McCartney  Non Optimum: When It’s Safe To Do So Presented by National Theatre of Scotland as part of Care in Contemporary Scotland – A Creative Enquiry, created by Lucy Gaizely/21Common  We would love to hear what you thought about the episode – please share your thoughts on Twitter using #ReflectingValue You can listen to Reflecting Value at Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you find your podcasts and don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe. Subscribe to our newsletter Connect with us on LinkedIn Connect with us on Twitter Get in touch at [email protected]

This episode is hosted by Anna Woolf from London Arts Health Forum who explores the impacts of the pandemic on practitioners and the people they work with. Daniel Regan and Bablu Miah join Anna to reflect on their pandemic experiences, discussing what they will take forwards in their practice and what they will leave in the pre-pandemic world. Guests Anna Woolf (London Arts Health) hosts the conversation focused on changing practice and learning through crisis Daniel Regan (Arts Health Hub) on the impacts of covid on freelance artists and cultural practitioners. Bablu Miah (Trapped in Zone One) on how practice with young people changed as a result of the pandemic We would love to hear what you thought about the episode – please share your thoughts on Twitter using #ReflectingValue You can listen to Reflecting Value at Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you find your podcasts and don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe. Subscribe to our newsletter Connect with us on LinkedIn Connect with us on Twitter Get in touch at [email protected]

This episode explores the cultural experiences people have through playing video and board games. We talk to experts about the social value of gaming and the ways in which gaming design and culture can lead different communities to feel excluded. Guests Marie Foulston on the ways games interact with our everyday lives, and how gaming is positioned in the wider cultural landscape [02:38 – 09:18] Dr Michael Heron (University of Gothenberg) on the accessibility of video and board games, and the [10:26 – 18:20] Stephanie Ijoma (Founder of NNESAGA) on creating safe spaces for marginalised gamers, and the ways the industry needs to change to support inclusive gaming. [19:17 – 26:53] To find out more about each episode as well as transcripts, guest bios and resources, visit: culturalvalue.org.uk/reflecting-value You can listen to Reflecting Value at Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you find your podcasts and don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe. #ReflectingValue Subscribe to our newsletter Connect with us on LinkedIn Connect with us on Twitter Get in touch at [email protected]

This episode explores the power dynamics that underpin cultural participation and research. We discuss how where you live can impact on how you engage with culture and how authentic participatory research can help bring to the fore the voices of people who have previously gone unheard. Guests Avant Cymru on the challenges of telling stories from the Welsh Valleys and the power dynamics at play in funding decision-making. [01:31 – 10:39] Dr Sylvan Baker (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama) on what it means to do authentic co-research with care experienced young people. [11:16 – 21:17] Dr Helen Graham (University of Leeds) on opening up ‘glass cases’ in museums to enable communities to interact more closely with material culture [22:09 – 31:40] Resources referenced in this episode Above the Noise To find out more about each episode as well as transcripts, guest bios and resources, visit: culturalvalue.org.uk/reflecting-value You can listen to Reflecting Value at Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you find your podcasts and don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe. #ReflectingValue Subscribe to our newsletter Connect with us on LinkedIn Connect with us on Twitter Get in touch at [email protected]

This episode explores the different ways that cultural organisations and practitioners use the digital to engage with audiences. We explore the role of Tik-Tok in growing engaged audiences; how the digital can help build connections with communities at a hyper-local level; and the ways in which African communities are taking back ownership of their heritage through the process of digitization. Guests Rebecca Black (Royal Opera House) on the ways in which the Royal Opera House uses TikTok to be more playful with its audiences. [02:20 – 07:53] Dr Harry Weeks (University of Newcastle) on the impacts of COVID-19 on museums and how the digital is helping them to connect with communities at a hyper-local level [08:38 – 17:12] Chao Tayiana (African digital heritage specialist) [18:09 – 28:00] Resources referenced in this episode Royal Opera House’s TikTok page – https://www.museumofbritishcolonialism.org/ Harry Weeks’s piece in Arts Professional - https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/why-digital-isnt-enough Chao’s Museum of British Colonialism - https://www.museumofbritishcolonialism.org/ To find out more about each episode as well as transcripts, guest bios and resources, visit: culturalvalue.org.uk/reflecting-value You can listen to Reflecting Value at Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you find your podcasts and don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe. #ReflectingValue Subscribe to our newsletter Connect with us on LinkedIn Connect with us on Twitter Get in touch at [email protected]