ACSJN is seeking feedback on two evaluation frameworks for arts and social justice work that are coming out of the work of the Evaluation Learning Lab (ELL), an Aesthetic Framework for Social Justice-Oriented Art and an Values Guide to Evaluating Arts & Social Change Work.
We value your perspective and invite you to participate in a 60-minute feedback phone call on Tuesday, December 1st at 4pm EST.
To RSVP please click here.
The two frameworks are:
Aesthetic Framework for Social Justice-Oriented Art addresses the challenge that conventional framing of standards/criteria used to describe aesthetics/artistic values/artistic qualities are not well suited to discussing work that is at the intersection of art and social justice. The lack of common language to discuss the artistic values of such work has unfortunate consequences, including assumptions that the artistic quality doesn’t meet rigorous standards. Generated by artists and an evaluator in the ELL, the framework offers ways to frame aesthetic qualities relevant to arts and social justice work and questions for consideration that enrich the discussion and focus assessment of aesthetics of this work. The framework may provide artists, partners, cultural writers and critics, and others with language for talking about the work, assist funders in assessing aesthetics at various stages of the grantmaking cycle, and evaluators and others in assessing the artistic dimensions of the work.
Values Guide to Evaluating Arts & Social Change Work suggests a set of values congruent with the values that underpin arts and social justice work and related indicators that would give evidence that such values are present and guiding responsible evaluation. This framework aims to help arts practitioners, evaluators, and funders plan and implement responsible and ethical evaluation.
We look forward to advancing these and other frameworks and getting the ideas and values behind them out into the field as useful tools.
You must RSVP to get access to the draft frameworks.
Many thanks from the Evaluation Action team!
Participants in the Evaluation Learning Lab include: Kiley Arroyo,* Cultural Strategies Council and Slover Linett Audience Research; Andrea Assaf, artist, Art2Action; John Borstel,** artist; Denise Brown,** Leeway Foundation; Chris Dwyer,** RMC Research; Rahwa Ghirmatzion, PUSH Buffalo; James Kass, YouthSpeaks; Maurine Knighton, The Nathan Cummings Foundation; Lisa Yun Lee, University of Chicago and Imagining America; Jose Serrano McClain, Queens Museum; Stephanie McKee,* Junebug Productions; Wendy Morris, Intermedia Arts; Judy Nemzoff, San Francisco Arts Commission; Lisa Marie Pickens,* evaluation consultant; Erin Potts, RPM; Nick Slie, Mondo Bizarro; Jessica Solomon, Art in Praxis; Carlton Turner and Keryl McCord, Alternate ROOTS;Mark Valdez,** theater artist; Rise Wilson, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; Pam Korza and Barbara Schaffer Bacon, Animating Democracy/Americans for the Arts
* Drafters of A Values Guide to Evaluating Arts & Social Justice Work
** Drafters of Aesthetics Framework