our final report
We have now finished the final report of the project. We hope to be back in touch with partners soonish to see how we can advance our joint ideas further. … Continue reading
our first report to AHRC
We have now written our report to the AHRC and the draft is available here as a pdf file: Performing Impact discussion paper. We found that the blog helped enormously … Continue reading
evaluating artistic and social outcomes
We began our project knowing that much of the summative evaluation that was conducted on the impact of community theatre focused on social outcomes. We knew that artistic outcomes were … Continue reading
evaluation as accountability
As practising arts and humanities and social sciences researchers ourselves in the middle of writing up ‘Impact Case Studies’ for the forthcoming national Research Excellence Framework exercise (REF 2014), we … Continue reading
is enjoyment a criteria for evaluation?
One issue which came up unexpectedly but informatively at the Performing Impact workshop was that of “enjoyment”. Whilst discussing the ways in which the focus of evaluation might be directed … Continue reading
our first workshop
On the 27th and 28th September we will be hosting a two day workshop with our partners. We will be talking about their current evaluation practices and also working with … Continue reading
the university and its regional communities: our project in context
Part of why as a project team we were drawn to this scoping study in the first place is our joint interest in and commitment to exploring the positive role … Continue reading
how about authenticity and truth?
Leading on from thinking about representation, we’ve been discussing the issues around authenticity and truth in community theatre performances. When talking about how realistic a performance is, we might want … Continue reading
questions of representation
Closely related to the issue of recognition, which we have outlined on this blog, is the question of representation. Where recognition deals with the ways in which people may see … Continue reading
the performance and the ‘audience’
Building from the definition we offered of community theatre as “theatre made by, and intended for, members of a community”, there are questions to be raised about the dynamic between … Continue reading
is ‘recognition’ a useful idea for community theatre?
We have observed and documented the ways in which community members make decisions during conversations with community theatre practitioners about how much they should say about their lives, how much … Continue reading
archives, documents, artefacts and material
As new modes of documenting and archiving performance have been made available to us in the Web 2.0 era, a key discussion point for any project, production or, indeed, company, … Continue reading
thinking about impact on feelings and bodies
This post will explore ideas of affect and embodiment, and how they might relate to the kind of work undertaken by community theatre practitioners. To quickly introduce the terms: Affect: … Continue reading
community memory
Memory studies has been a potent strand of work in a number of academic disciplines ranging across the arts and social sciences of late. It is worth pausing to consider … Continue reading
is this a possible evaluation framing?
As we have been thinking about potential ways of reframing evaluation we have thought about some of our own research and things that we found of use. The Signature Pedagogies … Continue reading
site/space/place: where and when does community arts happen?
We find ourselves at a time when ‘site-specific theatre’ has rarely had greater currency. The ‘immersive’ theatre experiences of companies like Punchdrunk sell out runs within minutes of being advertised … Continue reading
can community theatre ‘empower’?
The idea of empowerment is often used in conjunction with community arts. This post is concerned with both the multiple meanings attached to the term ‘empowerment’, and with its actual … Continue reading
problems with current evaluation models
Most community arts practitioners that we know and have conducted research with are concerned by the kinds of evaluations that they are asked to do because: Evaluations are based on … Continue reading
what the research says about community arts and its impact
There is widespread agreement among researchers that community arts have a range of benefits (1-3). In this post we look at what the research says, and what some people now … Continue reading
what is ‘community theatre’?
We might define community theatre as theatre made by and intended for, members of a community. Of course the ways it is made, and the ways the community have input, … Continue reading
performing impact 