Current Research | La recherche actuelle
Research in Residence
Mass Culture, in collaboration with its partners in this project, provides three exciting new qualitative arts impact frameworks to the arts sector. These new arts impact measurement tools are gamechangers. The result of two years of research, the frameworks provide innovative, effective ways of measuring the impact of the arts in communities and society. They all use methods rooted in respect for a multitude of ways of researching, knowing, being, and creating lasting, meaningful impact.
Recherche en résidence
Mobilisation culturelle, en collaboration avec les partenaires du projet, présenter trois nouveaux cadres très prometteurs sur les répercussions qualitatives des arts. Ces nouveaux outils de mesure des répercussions des arts changeront la donne. Fruit de deux ans de recherche, ces cadres détaillent des façons efficaces et innovantes de mesurer les répercussions des arts dans les communautés et la société. Ils sont d’ailleurs fondés sur le respect des différentes façons d’effectuer des recherches, de savoir, d’être et de créer un effet durable et constructif.
React, Recreate, Revision
ReAct, ReCreate, ReVision is a SSHRC-funded research project employing arts-based research methodologies to surface and amplify marginalized and suppressed knowledges and resistances. It will explore cultural policymaking gaps and processes with young 2SLBGTQI+ and BIPOC artists as co-researchers, to increase their access and opportunities to make critical contributions to policies that affect them. Together, partners and researchers will mobilize diverse experiences and knowledges to co-create and impact processes of change towards community arts, and social justice informed policymaking. The project is facilitated by a team of artists and researchers from partner organizations including The Institute (a project of Sketch Working Arts), Mass Culture, and OCAD University. The project is coordinated by Dr. Alia Weston and Charlotte Lombardo.
Trajectories of Now Exhibition
On June 7, 2024 at Trajectories of Now Exhibition, FLIP and Mass Culture co-produced a day of conversation. 45 participants gathered, listened, and contributed to dialogue for shaping our collective path forward. The attendance included cross-sectoral and industry individuals including Artists, Leaders, Funders, Investors/Donors, Financial Advisors, Arts Organizations, Researchers and Government.
After listening to artists telling their stories and participating in discussions of FLIP principles and practices participants contributed their thoughts and reflections on dozens of sticky notes.
We gathered these participants to nourish the power of collaboration, in the strength of diverse voices converging towards a common goal. The following summary attempts to make sense of the variety and richness of these valuable contributions.
Staging Better Futures
SBF/MSMA is a cross-sectoral partnership mandated to enact decolonial, anti-racist, and intersectional feminist change in post-secondary theatre education across Canada. With a Partnership SSHRC grant (budget of $5.5 million over seven years) SBF/MSMA brings together 120 official partners to address the barriers to DC/AR/EDI in the post-secondary theatre sector. Mass Culture’s involvement in this research project is to lead the project’s governance study.
The Arts Impact Partnership (TAIP)
The Canadian arts sector and university arts programs share a common challenge: how can we better understand, document, and communicate the impact of the arts on society? While data analytics and advanced computing offer new ways to measure the value of the arts, this focus on data has often overlooked the unique and fleeting nature of artistic activities that deeply connect with communities.
Arts organizations struggle to demonstrate their true impact to donors, funders, and the public, often relying on basic metrics like ticket sales or jobs created, which don’t capture the full richness of their contributions. Similarly, arts research at universities is difficult to quantify with traditional academic metrics. To truly appreciate and promote the arts, we need to engage with data in new ways and collaborate to develop innovative methods to document and share the arts’ impact.
The Arts Impact Partnership (TAIP) at The Creative School of Toronto Metropolitan University, in collaboration with Mass Culture and other partners, aims to tackle this challenge. TAIP brings together a vast network of researchers, organizations, and partners from Canada, the US, and internationally to better measure and communicate the impact of the arts. Our goals are:
- Build a Collaborative Network: Create a pan-Canadian and international partnership to enhance how we measure and recognize the impact of the arts.
- Develop Frameworks: Design new ways to understand and communicate the arts’ impact on equity, migration, the environment, and health.
- Create Better Data Systems: Develop data systems that make arts-related information easy to find, use, and share.
Over the next seven years, TAIP will work to provide better evidence of the arts’ value, help arts organizations and universities share their contributions more effectively, and train over 170 experts in arts impact documentation. This partnership will also support broader movements for better research metrics and open access to information in Canada and beyond.
To explore Mass Culture’s current and past arts impact initiatives, visit:
