Expression of Interest

Queensland Culture Counts pilot 2016

Culture Counts is an Australian measurement platform that captures artist, peer and public feedback on the quality and reach of arts and cultural events, with a focus on both intrinsic and instrumental value. The platform is being trialled and implemented with arts and cultural organisations in Australia and overseas.

Through its Arts Acumen initiative, Arts Queensland aims to strengthen the sustainability of individuals and organisations across the state’s arts and cultural sector by providing resources, information and opportunities to foster knowledge growth, connections and access to industry intelligence.

Arts Queensland recognises that public and peer feedback is critical to ongoing artistic and business development, but that the implementation of robust systems for collecting this type of data can be challenging.To assist in addressing this, Arts Queensland invitesQueensland artists and arts and cultural organisationsto express interest in participating ina second pilot of Culture Counts which will run betweenMarch and October 2016. This pilot will be fully subsidised by Arts Queensland andbuilds on the learnings from the 2015 Queensland pilot of Culture Counts.

For more information about Culture Counts visit Also refer to the Frequently Asked Questions at the end of this document.

Eligibility

Individuals or organisationsawarded Arts Queenslandfunding via Organisations Fund, Queensland Arts Showcase Program, Projects and Programs Fund, Playing Queensland Fund or Arts Leverage Fundsince January 2014are eligible to apply.

Organisations that were supported by Arts Queensland to participate in the 2015 Queensland pilot of Culture Counts are not eligible to apply.

Inclusions

The 2016 Culture Counts pilot is fully subsidised by Arts Queenslandand includes the following:

  • comprehensive support from the Culture Counts team to set up surveys and undertake analysis and reporting for one event or activity between March and October 2016(note: participants are required to use the system for a minimum of two events or activities within the pilot period).
  • access to self-guided use of Culture Counts until February 2017, with standard technical support for use atadditional events (including the second event that must be evaluated within the pilot period).
  • an opportunity at the end of the pilot to share learnings with other participants and discuss interpretation of results.
  • an opportunity to benchmark with like-organisations in other jurisdictions (optional).

Benefits

Arts Queensland anticipates the following overall benefits for pilot participants:

  • gain a deeper understanding of the public value generated from arts and cultural events and activities delivered, including detailed data to inform future artistic and business planning.
  • strengthen peer networks both within and outside Queensland.
  • develop evaluation skills including survey design, administration and analysis.

Expectations

Successful pilot participants must:

  • use the Culture Counts system for a minimum of two events or activities between March and October 2016, which will involve organisation/artist self-assessment and the collection of public and peer feedback (note: comprehensive support will be provided by Culture Counts for evaluation of the first nominated event, with participants expected to use Culture Counts in a more self-guided way for at least one additional event within the pilot period).
  • work with Culture Counts to determine survey questions and distribution methods.
  • participate in a trial of new Culture Counts metrics as they are developed in 2016, if relevant to the event or activity being evaluated (e.g. social or economic value metrics).
  • agree to data collected through Culture Counts being shared with Arts Queensland.
  • agree to data collected through Culture Counts during the pilot being shared by Arts Queensland with arts agencies in other jurisdictions as part of benchmarking.
  • agree to includethree core questions in public surveys and one core question in peer surveys as stipulated by Arts Queensland, in line with existing outcome report measures for Arts Queensland investment[1].
  • agree to provide feedback to Arts Queensland and the Culture Counts team at the end of the pilot about experiences of the platform.
  • share learnings from the Culture Counts pilot more broadly as requested by Arts Queensland – e.g. at a sector event organised by Arts Queensland.

Assessmentprocess

Up to eightparticipants will be selected by Arts Queensland, with expressions of interest (EOI)assessed against the following criteria:

  • Relevance: Events and activities confirmed for 2016 with sufficient number of attendees and/or participants anticipated to ensure meaningful data collection (As a guide, Culture Counts recommends aiming for a minimum of 100 attendee responses to the public survey for large events. It is recognised respondent numbers will be lower for many participative activities such as workshops).
  • Value: Clear understanding of how Culture Counts will add value to artistic and/or business development in the short and longer term.
  • Capacity: Capacity to manage participation in the pilot, including staff available for initial consultation with Culture Counts and staff or volunteers to undertake survey collection as part of event roll-out.

Where possible, Arts Queensland will aim to ensure diversity within the pool of participants selected for the pilot (e.g. with respect to business size, art formand event type) to maximise learnings about the application of Culture Counts.

How to apply

To express interest in participating in the pilot, please provide short responses to the three questions below.

Expressions of interest are due by 5pmFriday5 February 2016. Please email to:

Arts Queensland will notifyapplicants of selection outcomes inFebruary 2016.

Culture Counts will establish agreements directly with successful applicants to cover involvement in the pilot.

If you have any questions, please contact Arts Queensland at or on +617 3034 4076.

Questions

To express your interest, please provide short responses to the following.

  1. What are your two proposed eventsor activities to evaluate during the pilot? (both events/activities must occur between March and October 2016)

Name:
Date:
Location:
Brief description (max. 100 words):
Anticipated number of attendees/participants:
Name:
Date:
Location:
Brief description (max. 100 words):
Anticipated number of attendees/participants:
  1. What value do you think Culture Counts will add to these events and activities, and to your artistic and/or business practices? How do you anticipate using the results from the process? (max. 150 words)
  1. What resources do you have to support your participation in the Culture Counts pilot? (e.g. staff member to work with Culture Counts to establish processes; staff or volunteers to administer public survey if required; databases of attendees and peers as possible method of survey distribution etc.) (max. 150 words)

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is Culture Counts?

Culture Counts is an intrinsic and instrumental value measurement platform that captures artist, peer and public feedback on the quality and reach of arts and cultural events and activities. It was developed by Pracsys Economics, a consultancy firm based in Western Australia (WA), with support from the WA Department of Culture and the Arts.

The Culture Counts platform enablesusers to create surveys based on a set of core dimensions that have been confirmed through international testing as key components of intrinsic and instrumental value – e.g. relevance, captivation, local impact, belonging, skills etc. Survey questions are designed to capture these dimensions – for instance, relevance is tested by people rating the extent to which an event ‘had something relevant to say about today’s world’, or captivation by the extent to which it ‘was absorbing and held my attention’. Users can also add their own custom designed questions into the survey if they wish to gather additional data, for example related to marketing or reputation.

The feedback gathered through public, peer and artist surveys, as well as other data imported into the platform such as ticket sales or revenue, are transformed into real-time, meaningful reports that assist in tracking performance over the long term. Users can also choose to share their reports with other Culture Counts subscribers to enable benchmarking.

Visit the Culture Counts website at

Read about the outcomes of the 2015 pilot of Culture Counts at

Where else is Culture Counts being used?

Culture Counts is also being trialled and/or implemented in Western Australia, Victoria and England. It was used to evaluate the cultural program at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

What business resources are needed to implement Culture Counts?

While the Culture Counts platform aims to make event evaluation as simple and time-efficient as possible, some dedicated resources are required to ensure the process runs smoothly and that sufficient data is collected to produce meaningful insights. A key learning from the 2015 Queensland pilot of Culture Counts was that the value participants derived from the platform was commensurate with the amount of effort they put in to managing the process, gathering feedback and reflecting on data findings.

Business resources required to derive maximum benefit from Culture Counts include:

  • a person to act as a contact point to manage the process internally, including receiving training on how to use the Culture Counts platform (provided in a meeting with a Culture Counts team member) andallocating time to survey creation, coordination of data collection and engagement with findings to consider impacts for artistic and business planning.
  • if survey responses are to be collected face-to-face, a sufficient number ofstaff or volunteers to approach people to complete the survey directly following an event or activity.
  • if surveys are to be distributed via email, a ticketing or registration database containing email addresses of attendees or participants.

Arts Queensland has purchased six tablet computers that can be loaned to participants in the 2016 pilot for face-to-face survey administration.

What is the ongoing cost of using Culture Counts, beyond the pilot period?

Participation in the 2016 pilot for successful expressions of interest is fully subsidised by Arts Queensland. For those interested in purchasing membership after the pilot, the currentcost of an annual Culture Counts licence is $4788.

Who owns the data collected through Culture Counts?

Individuals and organisations participating in the pilot retain ownership of all data collected for their events or activities. In conducting the surveys, the participant grants a limited licence to Culture Counts to perform analysis specifically for the purpose of reporting on cultural value at an individual/organisational and aggregate basis. All public and peer data capture is anonymous, with no personal information attached to responses.

Some data that identifies pilot participants will be shared with other pilot participants as part of an overall insights report. As a condition of the pilot, participants agree to data collected through Culture Counts being shared with Arts Queensland.

Participants also agree to Arts Queensland sharing data from the pilot with other jurisdictions as part of arts agency benchmarking. However, no data will be used by or released to any other third parties.

Data may also be analysed in aggregate form to generate big data insights for the arts sector. This data will not identify individuals, organisations or events and will be made available to the sector in non-identified form only.

Please refer to the Privacy Policy on the Culture Counts website for more details.

How does Culture Counts data relate to Arts Queensland’s acquittal/outcome reporting?

Arts Queensland’s acquittal/outcome reports ask funding recipients to provide data about the quality and reach of their work, including gathering feedback from the public as well as peers (optional).As noted in the ‘participant expectations’ section above, the Culture Counts surveys created for this pilot will include some additional core questions related to overall satisfaction and new attendances – for those participants in the pilot with acquittals yet to be submitted, data gathered from these questions can be directly transferred into outcome reports. Other data gathered through Culture Counts related to quality and reach can also be used to respond to open-ended questions, providing a more fine-grained analysis of outcomes.

How else can participants use Culture Counts data?

Participants in the 2015 Queenslandpilot of Culture Counts used the data they gathered in a range of ways such as; to communicate with boards, staff and the public about event outcomes, inform ongoing artistic and business planning, promote or market product, pitch for new work, and report to funders and supporters.

How is Culture Counts being developed in 2016?

Culture Counts began as an intrinsic measurement tool focused on events that attracted attendees (e.g. people who watch a performance or visit an exhibition).

In 2015, new sets of metrics were developed that focused on participatory activities (e.g. workshops and other engagement activities) and initiatives targeting children and young people. These will be available for use as part of the 2016 pilot.

Culture Counts is also expanding into instrumental value measurement, with metrics focused on social and economic dimensions currently under development. These metrics will also be available for use as part of the 2016 pilot.

[1]Core public survey questions: overall rating question for event; new attendees for your organisation; new attendees for your event/art form type. Core peer survey question: overall rating question for event.