3rd ENCATC Working Group on Evaluation

Resulting in this working session, it was highlighted that often in project design, the evaluation processes were thought of very late - mostly once the project is near completion. It will be a process to change attitudes, mindsets, and professional planning to introduce questions, methodologies, tools, and practice on monitoring and evaluation earlier into the project lifecycle. Despite the issues brought to light, it was a  useful assessment building on the discussions and outcomes of previous Working Group meetings in October 2016  and April 2017 in Brussels.

The Working Group was held during the 7th edition of the European Lab Forum 2017. ENCATC and the Working Group participants were received for its opening at the CNSMD – National Conservatoire of Music and Dance – in Lyon.  

The results of the Working Group meetings will also feed into the preparation and design of a Workshop on Evaluation to take place on 29 September during the ENCATC Congress on Cultural Management and Policy (27-30 September 2017 in Brussels, Belgium).

Key questions:

• What are their objectives as professional actors in a sector?
• Which indicators do they use?
• What are their evaluation practices?

Participants:
Public officials (local, regional, European), ENCATC members, Working Group members, heads of networks, and professional union representatives. 

Several members of ENCATC are involved in the evaluation of European projects subsidized by Creative Europe, Erasmus+, Horizon 2020 or other transnational programmes of the European Commission. They have to develop methodologies to help arts and cultural managers to implement the evaluation process. 

In October 2015, ENCATC members gathered in Lecce, Italy at the occasion of the 23rd General Assembly during which a workshop was held on “Monitoring and Evaluation” on international and European projects and on indicators for the evaluation of the impact of European networks. This new working group answers to the request of these ENCATC members to set up a working group to have the possibility to continue the discussions and exchanges on methods and good practices. 

Following the call for applications launched to members and followers on 25 May 2016, 40 applicants expressed their wish to be part of the working group. Led by ENCATC member, Pascale Bonniel Chalier from the University Lyon II in France, the aim is to gather academics, researchers, and cultural practitioners. This strong diversity of disciplines and backgrounds profiles enriches the group’s work as evaluation becomes more and more a crucial matter for public authorities and professionals in cultural field. 

On 25 October 2016 in Brussels, ENCATC held the group's kick-off meeting gathering 16 invited guests from higher education, cultural organisations and EU institutions to: (1) better understand the priorities of the Creative Europe programme in relation to the evaluation of both transnational cultural projects and European networks; (2) share evaluation experiences of transnational cultural projects subsidized by EU (Creative Europe programme and Eramsus +); (3) improve our current evaluation methodologies for International / European cultural projects and networks; and (4) identify rigorous indicators for successful cooperation and share them with EU and international institutions.