HOW TO REGISTERFOR THE ARTS COUNCIL ENGLANDIMPACT & INSIGHT TOOLKIT

The Impact & Insight Toolkit is a new resource to help Arts Council England’s funded organisations to evaluate the impact of their work on the people who experience it. The Toolkit uses a standard set of metrics to explore what audiences and peers think about a performance, exhibition, event or project. Organisations can use the Toolkit to compare the responses of audiences and peers with their original objectives for the work. By providing the Toolkit for all its National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) to use on an ongoing basis, the Arts Council aims to:

• help arts and cultural organisations to understand people’s perceptions of their work and how are well this aligns with their creative intentions• inform and enrich the conversation between the Arts Council and NPOs about the impact of funded work• create a large-scale dataset that builds shared understanding of the value of cultural experiences.

Counting What Counts Ltd has been commissioned by the Arts Council to develop the Impact & Insight Toolkit and make it available to all NPOs across the 2018-22 investment period.

We are asking all Band 2 and Band 3 NPOs to register for the Impact & Insight Toolkit by November 12th 2018. Band 1 organisations that are keen to use the Toolkit are also welcome to register by this date (there will be other opportunities over the next two years for Band 1 NPOs to sign up for the Toolkit).

HOW NPOS CAN BE INVOLVED IN DESIGNING AND IMPROVING THE TOOLKIT

When you register for the Impact & Insight Toolkit, your organisation will automatically become a Core User of the system. The Impact & Insight Toolkit is ready to use now, but knowledge about how to evaluate cultural activity grows all the time and we expect to improve and expand the Toolkit significantly over the next three years. We are inviting all NPOs to help us with design anddevelopment work and there are different ways in which your organisation canget involved, detailed on the next page.

Options for involvement with the Impact & Insight Toolkit are presented on the following pages.

Organisations signing up to this strand will be invited to join a Strategic Development cluster.(Depending on numbers, there are likely to be two clusters, one based in the north of England andone in the south). Each cluster will meet four times between December 2018 and September 2019 to:

• review and refine the current metrics used by the Impact & Insight Toolkit• improve and expand the peer review element• experiment with event evaluations and report back on results• discuss what the data means and how it can be used by NPOs, the Arts Council and the wider sector

The Artform and Participatory Metric Strand will run from September 2019 to September 2020. Organisations signing up to this strand will work in artform and museum clusters to develop, test and validate metrics for evaluating specific artforms and types of cultural experience; one cluster will work on metrics for evaluating participatory arts. This option is less intensive than the Strategic Development Strand, involving two meetings over the course of the year. Once validated, the metrics developed by the clusters will be incorporated within the Impact & Insight Toolkit for use by all NPOs.

OPTION 2CORE USER

PLUS STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

STRAND

OPTION 3CORE USER

PLUS ARTFORM AND PARTICIPATORY

METRIC STRAND

Organisations that select both strands will shape the development of the Impact & Insight Toolkit over two years, with options to help lead and facilitate artform clusters in 2019-20.

OPTION 4CORE USER

PLUS STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

PLUS ARTFORM AND PARTICIPATORY

METRIC STRANDS

Core Users of the Impact & Insight Toolkit will receive an induction pack and a login to an online evaluation platform. They will be invited to attend a face-to-face induction session and a rolling programme of online training, and can access support materials and a telephone helpline.

OPTION 1CORE USER ONLY

OPTION WHEN MAIN RESPONSIBILITY

RECOMMENDED FOR

MEETING ATTENDANCE

CORE USER ONLY

CORE USER + STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT STRAND

CORE USER + ARTFORM ANDPARTICIPATORY METRIC STRAND

CORE USER + STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT STRAND + ARTFORM AND PARTICIPATORY METRIC STRAND

November 2018

to September 2021

December 2018

to September 2019

September 2019

to September 2020

December 2018

to September 2020

Becoming a confident and

competent user of the Impact

& Insight Toolkit

Developing key aspects of

the Impact & Insight Toolkit to

ensure it meets the needs of the

arts and cultural sector

Bringing specialist expertise to

develop metrics for evaluating

artforms and specific types of

cultural experience

As above – and, if able, helping

to lead and facilitate the

development of artform and

participatory metrics

General induction Online training Cluster meetings

One meeting to be attended by

your organisation’s

Impact & Insight

Toolkit lead

Unlimitedcan be attended as

required by anyone in your

organisation who uses the

Toolkit

None

Four Meetingsto be attended by a

senior strategic or

creative staff member

Two Meetingsto be attended by a

senior strategic or

creative staff member

Six Meetingsto be attended by a

senior strategic or

creative staff member

ALL NPOSMandatory for Band 2

and Band 3 NPOs

BAND 3 NPOsBand 2 and Band 1 NPOs

with a strong interest

in evaluation

BAND 3 AND BAND 2 NPOsBand 1 NPOs with an

interest in evaluation

NPOS

THAT WISH TO PLAY

A LEADERSHIP ROLE

IN EVALUATION

One meeting to be attended by

your organisation’s

Impact & Insight

Toolkit lead

One meeting to be attended by

your organisation’s

Impact & Insight

Toolkit lead

One meeting to be attended by

your organisation’s

Impact & Insight

Toolkit lead

Unlimitedcan be attended as

required by anyone in

your organisation who

uses the Toolkit

Unlimitedcan be attended as

required by anyone in

your organisation who

uses the Toolkit

Unlimitedcan be attended as

required by anyone in

your organisation who

uses the Toolkit

Once your organisation has decided how it would like to be involved with the Impact & Insight Toolkit, you are ready to register by visiting www.impactandinsight.co.uk.

When you visit the site, you will be asked to provide three types of information. First, we will collect some basic information such as the name of your organisation and the person who will act as first point of contact for the Toolkit. Second, we will ask which induction session you would like to attend (please have your diary to hand) and whether your organisation would like to join the Strategic Development and/or Artform and Participatory Metric Strands. Finally, we will ask a couple of questions to gauge your current feelings about evaluation and the Impact & Insight Toolkit. The registration process should take no more than five minutes.

Please note that we will do our best to accommodate your preferences but if demand for the Toolkit is high then we may need to engage organisations in stages. In this case, we may contact you to discuss the nature and timing of your involvement.

If you have any questions about the Impact &

Insight Toolkit or how to register, please contact

support@countingwhatcounts.co.uk01223 656 255

HOW TO REGISTERFOR THE ARTS COUNCIL ENGLANDIMPACT & INSIGHT TOOLKIT