Outcomes and the Arts

As part of its work to take forward the legacy of Project Oracle, the Centre is beginning new work with Local Cultural Education Partnerships (LCEPs) in the North West. Over the next few months, we’ll be working with five Merseyside LCEPs to support them in developing an LCEP-wide theory of change and a common outcomes framework that will enable them to gather and use evidence collectively. This work is being jointly funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Curious Minds, the Arts Bridge organisation in the Northwest.

The creation of LCEPs coincides with a push for more rigour around understanding impact in the cultural education sector. A key challenge for the voluntary and community sector, in particular small organisations, is developing their role in the partnerships and meeting the challenge of providing robust but proportionate evidence of the change they are making.
 
Curious Minds believes there is value in co-producing a theory of change for each of the LCEPs. This can set them up to provide more robust evidence of the change that is occurring as a result of the partnership activities. Ensuring that representatives of the voluntary and community sector in each area are a key part of the process can strengthen their involvement in the LCEPs and, at the same time, build the capacity of organisations across the North West. This potentially can be a model for developing these partnerships in other areas.
 
We hope that through this new project, members of the partnership will be able to recognise how they can contribute to a growing body of evidence about cultural education in a meaningful way. If you would like to learn more about this, get in touch with Mary McKaskill.