Data Summer School
Mass Culture’s Data Summer School is a practical workshop series that demystifies data and empowers arts organizations to clean up their spreadsheets, define meaningful metrics, and confidently use data to tell their story.
UPCOMING
Join us for Mass Culture’s 2026 Data Summer School as we explore the origins, evolution, and ongoing use of economic impact modelling in the arts and culture sector.
Making Sense of Economic Impact in the Arts:
A history and practical guide to economic modelling
2026
Session Outline
Making Sense of Economic Impact in the Arts
This interactive workshop is a history and practical guide to economic modelling.
The session will begin with a historical overview from Elena Bird (Ontario Arts Council), tracing how economic impact studies became a widely used tool for understanding and communicating the value of arts and culture.
We’ll then move into an interactive demonstration of Mass Culture’s newest dashboard within the DNA Platform, where participants will learn how to estimate and explore the economic impact of an individual arts organization, a municipality, or a group of arts organizations.
We’ll show you how the dashboard unpacks the methodology behind the model, sharing the calculations that determine results so participants can better understand both the opportunities and limitations of economic impact analysis.
- LENGTH
90-minute interative workshop
- DATES
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
1-2:30pm EST
- COST
Free to attend
- CONTACT
info@massculture.ca
Elena Bird
Elena Bird is Associate Director of Research and Analysis at the Ontario Arts Council and an award-winning leader in cultural research, policy, and planning. For more than twenty years, she has helped governments, funders, and cultural organizations turn evidence into action, shaping initiatives that strengthen communities and support the arts. Previously, Elena held research and policy leadership roles with the City of Toronto, where she contributed to major research and policy projects in cultural planning, economic development, and the public funding for the arts. She holds graduate degrees from the University of Waterloo and Erasmus University Rotterdam, is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and received the 2018 Creative City Network of Canada Cultural Leadership Award.
Previous Data Summer School Programming
2025
Session Outline
Data 101 & Data 102
Arts organizations often collect rich data, but without a consistent structure, it’s hard to use. Data Summer School is here to help.
This two-part workshop series is designed to guide arts organizations from messy spreadsheets to confident data storytelling.
- Structure your data with consistency and clarity
- Plan for dashboards and future CRM adoption
- Define key indicators that matter to your mission
- Build low-cost, sustainable tools to track and communicate your impact
Whether you’re just starting or ready to visualize, there’s a session for you. Taught by Maia Pelletier, Data Scientist at Purpose Analytics, this summer school blends teaching, hands-on exercises, templates, and office hours to support your data journey.
Presented in collaboration with Purpose Analytics.
- LENGTH
Data 101: Data storage, integrity, and introduction to CRM evaluation.
– 3 workshops, 4.5 hours
Data 102: Indicators, narratives, dashboards, wireframes and analysis.
– 3 workshops, 7 hours
- DATES
Data 101: July 17, 1-2:30pm EST; July 24, 1-2:30pm EST; July 31, 1-2;30pm
Data 102: August 21, 1-3pm EST; August 28, 1-4pm EST; September 4, 1-3pm EST
- COST
Data 101: $200 + HST per organization
Data 102: $200 + HST per organization
(up to 3 staff members and/or volunteers can attend)
Maia Pelletier
Maia is a Data Scientist at Purpose Analytics, where she enjoys putting her knowledge and passion for data visualization and information design to work on projects like Mass Culture's Data Narratives for the Arts Dashboards. They previously worked as a data analyst and data visualization developer at Statistics Canada, where they worked on dashboard and data visualization development, and automation and modernization solutions. They hold a B.Sc. in Statistics from the University of Ottawa and are passionate about telling stories with data enhanced by data visualization and design.
Through the DNA Platform and accompanying learning tools, DNA will empower the arts sector with a data-driven mindset, showcasing the genuine value and immense impact this sector brings to society. Thank you to our partners and funders for supporting this vital initiative.
If you believe in the power of data- and research-driven work, donate to Mass Culture today!
This initiative is made possible through the support of the following
