Evaluating the Impact of Arts Programming
with Recreate Place and the Koffler Centre of the Arts
How does participation in enriched arts experiences contribute to children’s overall connections, emotional wellbeing and feelings of confidence? The Young Changemakers program, a three year initiative of the Koffler Centre of the Arts and Recreate Place, offered arts-based programs to students aged 8-12 in high needs communities.
As lead researcher and evaluator, I worked closely with collaborators to develop an evaluation approach, using a Theory of Change framework and based in relevant research. I created a multi-pronged and creative approach to evaluation, including “collage chats”, debrief activities, ethnographic observations, child-friendly surveys and documentation. Materials for students were carefully designed to incorporate cultural, emotional and language considerations, relying on playfulness and pictography. At the close of each program year, a dynamic report was shared with partners, incorporating program documentation, student and teacher feedback and evaluation insights. In Year Three, I explored new evaluation strategies with teachers to round out the learning, and a summative Impact Report told the full story over the program.
Over the three years, this evaluation approach was able to clearly demonstrate positive impact towards the intended outcomes, while also recognizing the limitations of evaluation on this level. Partners and collaborators were thrilled to see this impact through the reports and we look forward to building from here in the future.