You're Already Evaluating Your Work
Cold Data and Warm Data
Thank you to everyone who subscribed for your patience. It has taken some time for me to find the time to write. I do sincerely hope these posts are useful to artists, arts managers, funders and non-arts evaluators. This post makes a simple claim, which is that there is unacknowledged evaluation that takes place in every art organisation.
If you find this work useful, please consider sharing and subscribing.
When I work with arts organisations, one of the first things we work on together is an audit of the evaluation already taking place in the organisation. When I ask to see their evaluation data, I’m usually confronted with an array of spreadsheets and surveys. I often end up feeling like I’m looking at a NASA dashboard.
‘Evaluation’ is assumed by many arts organisations to mean ‘that information which we provide as part of our acquittals process.’ That information is often quite cold and lifeless, and so it doesn’t find much use internally. Trying to understand an organisation through this ‘cold data’ is like trying to appreciate the taste of a good meal by reading the nutrition labels on all the ingredients.
‘Evaluation’ is assumed by most arts organisations to mean ‘that information which we provide as part of our acquittals process.’
Most organisations conclude that they’re not really doing evaluation, that it’s really just a compliance activity. They’re often just following the requirements of funders and crossing their fingers that the data is good enough for another round of investment.
However, every arts organisation is doing evaluation. They just don’t know it.
This evaluation is mostly with ‘warm data’ Warm data is a vivid, post-show conversation with an audience member, a heartfelt testimonial in our inbox the next morning, or a considered reflection from an artist. When we decide which of this information to share with our colleagues or capture as a social media quote, we’re evaluating. When we plan a new production, presentation or workshop and reflect on our earlier efforts, we’re evaluating. Any time we care about our work and we want to do it better, we’re evaluating.
One of the secrets to good evaluation is giving this data the respect it deserves. Building some simple systems around ‘warm data’ can be an easy place for arts organisations to start doing evaluation which actually tells a story.
This is very useful, especially in mind of having run both a T'ai Chi school and a record label / band at times. We were constantly receiving and evaluating warm data, not always effectively... Will you be writing about ways of working with this? I feel it is just as important now to my writing, teaching and art 'lives'. Many thanks, Caro.