Images courtesy of : V Roy, Paul Machacek

“I’m very glad we worked with Earthen Lamp on rolling out the economic impact toolkit. They were able to overcome organisations’ initial anxiety about using the toolkit because they understood their concerns, have a good approach to supporting and training people in this kind of activity and were able to reassure organisations and us that the process was being undertaking with integrity and accuracy. I’d work with Earthen Lamp again – and am already doing so!”

Paul Kaynes, Chief Executive National Dance Theatre Wales, formerly Creative Programmer for the Cultural Olympiad in the West Midlands.

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ACE Economic Impact Toolkit
Case Studies

About

Arts Council England is a government-funded body dedicated to promoting the performing, visual and literary arts in England. Arts Council England West Midlands was responsible for The West Midlands Cultural Olympiad, a programme of themed arts / sports activities, festivals and events that took place in the region from 2009 as part of the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games.

Type of work

Feasibility study

Product development

Date

February 2012

The brief

West Midlands Cultural Olympiad team wanted to enrich their Economic Impact Toolkit.

This included making contact and recruiting six different types of organisations to test the toolkit. Testing the usability of the toolkit with the organisation and assisting them through their first impact assessment. After testing, feedback was required on how the toolkit and resources could be improved based on the tests. Six case studies needed to be devised to illustrate the experience of the new users/organisations.

The activity

We worked with six organisations to test the Economic Impact Toolkit and documented their experience. The results were compiled in the form of accessible case studies, which were uploaded to the toolkit website to illustrate how the toolkit and the results can be used by various organisations. The case studies can be seen here.

The outcome

As a result of working with Earthen Lamp, the Cultural Olympiad team was able to ‘get the ball rolling’ and create an initial cohort of organisations who could understand the process, uses and benefits of undertaking rigorous economic impact measurement. Organisations who were anxious about using the toolkit were shown the ease with which it could be used, and handheld through the process, leading to a more confident and informed group.

Do you have a similar project coming up? Why not give us a call to chat about your requirements.