Building an Arts Impact Community
Phase 3: Datathon & Learning Series
From March 28 through March 30 2022, Mass Culture and the Association for Opera in Canada co-hosted a datathon to collect resources related to measuring arts’ impact.
Read the full press release here.
You can check out the resources collected below!
Additionally, Mass Culture sat down with a number of thought leaders to discuss the importance of measuring arts’ impact. Find these below!
Dr Gladys Rowe on ensuring that different values and viewpoints are included when assessing arts value
Gladys Rowe, she/her, is a Swampy Cree scholar and a member of Fox Lake Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Gladys has expertise in Indigenist research, arts-based and participatory methodologies, and Indigenous innovation and evaluation.
Jessa Agilo on the challenges that limit a shared understanding of arts' impact
Jessa Agilo is the Founder and CEO of ArtsPond. The mandate of ArtsPond is to nurture healthy ecosystems of care that support equity-seeking groups in Canadian arts and culture.
Judith Marcuse on the importance of assessing the arts' impact on society
Judith has had an extensive career as a dancer, choreographer, director, producer, teacher, writer, consultant, and lecturer in Canada as well as abroad. She is the Founder and Artistic Producer of Judith Marcuse Projects and the Founder and Director of the International Centre of Art for Social Change.




Phase 2: Conference
What would an Arts Impact Community look like? What would it need to gain buy-in and be shaped by its users, to be an equitable learning resource and system of support, to have a culture of open-ness, to be innovative, exploratory, and scalable?
This conference was designed as a catalyst for Building an Arts Impact Community.
On June 23, 2021, Mass Culture and the Association for Opera in Canada hosted an event entitled Building an Arts Impact Community. The event included a visual database, designed for delegates to explore on their own time prior to the event as well during the event itself.
The event began with an address from Senator Patricia Bovey, looking at art and its impact on society, followed by presentations and learnings from a number of amazing individuals.
Christina Loewen of Association for Opera in Canada shared their 5 year journey to the creation of an Opera Civic Impact Framework and Platform with an invitation for a grassroots exploration of what a broader Arts Impact Community and Approach might look like.
Dr. Gladys Rowe set the stage for decolonized community-building, as the event broke down into Action Tables led by Lynda Rey, Meghan Lindsay, Meredith Davis and Jonathan Lapalme.
Christina’s discussion combined with Dr. Gladys Rowe’s piece provided participants with the background, knowledge and inspiration to take part in Action Tables (breakout sessions) that covered the following topics:
Community Building
Discovering the Commonalities
The Learning Centre
Creating Space for Experimentation
Created for the event, this Miro continues to be accessible to anyone who’s interested in building an arts impact community. You can check it out here.
Senator Patricia Bovey speaks at Building an Arts Impact Community
Christina Loewen Speaks at Building an Arts Impact Community
An Event Brought to You By




Phase 1: Study Date

An Event Brought to You By


