Over the last year, five research teams from different parts of the country have been brought together to conduct on-the-ground research towards the creation of qualitative arts impact frameworks. Since 2021, the researchers have been working closely (in residence) with arts organizations.
As the Residency component of the Research in Residence: Arts’ Civic Impact initiative winds down, preparations for the Knowledge Mobilization component gear up.
In March 2022, Mass Culture hosted an online Play-Go-Round event, having the five research teams interview one another sharing their processes, curiosities, and thinking on how to develop qualitative impact frameworks. Harmeet Rehal artistically documented the event.
On May 10th and 11th, the researchers, project collaborators and initiative evaluators convened in Ottawa, marking the first time in the project’s year- long span that the researchers and the initiative’s advisory gathered together in person. This two-day event was held at the Élisabeth-Bruyère School of Social Innovation and featured workshops to support the researchers in preparing their findings for the public. It was an opportunity for the researchers and representatives from the initiative’s advisory to learn about strategies for sharing research with different audiences, such as the arts sector, academia and the government. This provided multiple opportunities for the researchers to discuss their work in the midst of generating their research. Workshop sessions included approaches for simplifying messaging, creative prototyping, and academic journal writing. Time was also taken to evaluate the initiative.
The initiative’s knowledge products will be shared with the arts community later this summer and fall, and will include the following:
- Research summaries and methods used
- Qualitative Arts Impact Frameworks
- Research in Residence: Arts’ Civic Impact’s Evaluation Report
What's next?
Knowledge Mobilization Phase: Through the continued support of the initiative’s funders advisory, as well as confirmed funding through a SSHRC Connections grant, five roundtable events will take place across Canada to share the researchers’ Qualitative Arts Impact Frameworks with the arts community in fall 2022. A podcast series by Shawn Newman sharing the experiences of those who contributed to the Research in Residence initiative will also be released during that time. Stay tuned for release dates and additional events and activities. Updates will be shared through Mass Culture’s newsletter.
The Research in Residence: Arts’ Civic Impact initiative is a collaboration between Mass Culture, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Policy Research Group (Federal-Provincial-Territorial Culture and Heritage Table), the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and Toronto Arts Foundation.
