Measuring impact

Measuring impact

Explore the strategy

In Let’s Create, we made a commitment to develop a set of performance measures that will set out how we will track and report on progress in achieving our Outcomes, as well as the work set out in each of our Delivery Plans. We also promised to provide a clearer account of the impact we, those we invest in, and the wider cultural sector make.

We have developed an Impact Framework to help us do this. It sets out the measures we will use over the lifetime of Let’s Create to assess progress towards our three long-term Outcomes – Creative People, Cultural Communities, and A Creative and Cultural Country.

The framework also sets out the measures we will use to demonstrate progress on each of the five Themes in this Delivery Plan and how our delivery against these Themes contributes to the long-term changes set out in Let’s Create.

As an arm’s-length body we have also agreed a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) with our sponsor department DCMS. They create a link between Let’s Create, our Delivery Plan Themes and the government’s priorities to which our work contributes.

We know that our activity is only part of the picture, and that the support, partnership and actions of individuals and organisations across the cultural sector and beyond will play the largest part in the delivery of Let’s Create. Our Impact Framework seeks to measure both the direct achievement of our work as a development agency and the wider societal change that we are contributing to.

We recognise that capturing data on the impact of our work is challenging and we will refine and improve our approach as we learn from our experience. However, we also recognise that this work is essential if we are to demonstrate effectively how we invest public money for public benefit.

You can read about our progress on this Delivery Plan in our Annual Report and Accounts.

The framework is simple; we see it as a pyramid

At the bottom, the Actions are the foundations – the progress we are making in delivering the list of Actions that we have set out under each of the Themes in this Delivery Plan. We will use these to help us refresh our Delivery Plan.

In the middle section, the Themes set out the progress we are making against each of the Themes in this Delivery Plan as well as how we are performing against our DCMS KPIs. They provide early information on whether we are on track towards delivering our three Outcomes and embedding our Investment Principles. We will report on these annually via the annual updates to the Delivery Plan.

At the top, the Outcomes set out the progress we are making against the three Outcomes and the long-term change set out in Let’s Create. We will report on these every three years.

In order to gather the evidence to report against this Impact Framework, we will invest in new data collection surveys including a large-scale national Creative and Cultural Lives Survey and a survey of individual creative and cultural practitioners. We will also review and refresh how we gather data from our National Portfolio and other grant recipients, with a focus on improving the quality, timeliness and relevance of that data.

2020-30

Outcomes

Assessment of the progress against the long-term change envisioned by Let’s Create’s three Outcomes.

Themes

Assessment of the progress against the Delivery Plan themes and DCMS KPIs.

Actions

Assessment of progress against each of the Actions set out in the Delivery Plan.

Our impact framework

We have identified a set of key indicators that we will use to track the long-term impact of our work in delivering Let’s Create. They will help us to account for our contribution and track the cumulative impact of work across the sector to deliver our ambitions by 2030.

  • Let's Create The change we want to see. The indicators of change.

    Creative People

    Everyone can develop and express creativity throughout their life.

    • A broader range of people are participating in creative activity, eg playing an instrument, creative writing, etc.
    • More children and young people from all backgrounds participate and progress in developing their creativity.

    Cultural Communities

    Villages, towns and cities thrive through a collaborative approach to culture.

    • Community engagement in local culture is broad and representative of the local population.
    • Communities engage in and shape cultural provision so that it is more relevant to the community.
    • Communities value culture for the social and economic benefits it brings.

    A Creative and Cultural Country

    England’s cultural sector is innovative, collaborative and international.

    • The workforce of the creative and cultural sector reflects the diversity of England.
    • Pathways into careers in the creative and cultural sectors exist and are accessible to children and young people regardless of background.
    • Cultural organisations are collaborative, sharing resources, learning from each other and establishing new partnerships in the education, technology and charitable sectors and with the commercial sector.
    • The cultural sector contributes to England’s international reputation for creativity and builds sustainable international partnerships.

  • Let's Create The data and evidence

    Creative People

    • Demographic picture of individuals participating in creative activity in England by age, gender, ethnicity, disability and socio-economic breakdown.
    • What do they do? How do they participate?
    • Who with? How often?
    • More children and young people are able to progress in their creative lives.

    Drawn from our new Creative and Cultural Lives Survey, Music Education Hub data and individual programme evaluations.

    Cultural Communities

    • Geographic and demographic picture of individuals engaging in culture in local areas and our priority places.
    • Partnership working between arts organisations, museums and libraries and local communities and other local partners.
    • Extent to which people feel that culture contributes to their sense of belonging – wellbeing, relief from loneliness, community cohesion.
    • Economic value of the local cultural sector, for example number and distribution of jobs, GVA, tourism.

    Drawn from bespoke economic research reports on National Portfolio and Project Grant data, and our Creative and Cultural Lives Survey.

    A Creative and Cultural Country

    • Profile of individual creative and cultural practitioners.
    • National Portfolio workforce and leadership breakdown by age, gender, ethnicity, disability, socio-economic background:
      • demographic profile of new entrants to workforce and leadership
      • career progression of workforce from protected characteristics groups
    • Number of active formal partnerships in place between National Portfolio Organisations and:
      • community partners
      • higher/further education
      • commercial partners
      • international partners
    • Creative industries and cultural sector exports and imports.

    Drawn from Participation Survey (formerly referred to as the Creative and Cultural Lives Survey)[SM1] , National Portfolio, Music Education Hubs and government data, and Arts Council England freelancer survey.

Delivering change through our Delivery Plans

For each of the Delivery Plans we will follow during the lifetime of Let’s Create, we will set out key measures against which we will track our activities and evidence the changes they are designed to produce.

For this first Delivery Plan we have set key measures for each of the five Themes and our Equality Objectives. The DCMS KPIs act as a complementary set of measures that will also allow us to track progress against each Theme.

In addition to these measures, we will continue to use case studies to help tell the stories of the organisations and individuals our investment supports.

  • BUILDING A ‘FIT FOR THE FUTURE’ CULTURAL SECTOR

    • Take up and use of the Investment Principles tools and resources (engagement with online resources + participation on development programme).
    • National Portfolio Organisations in the 2023+ portfolio that have committed to develop a net zero carbon pathway within their environmental action plan.
    • Number of organisations responding to the Environmental Responsibility Investment Principle in National Lottery Project Grants.

    DCMS Framework Agreement KPIs

    Opening up access

    Percentages for each protected characteristic (Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, LGBTQ+, female, disabled, age) and a breakdown by socio-economic background:

    • National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) board membership
    • NPO leadership
    • NPO workforce
    • NPO audiences

    Resilience & Dynamism

    Contributed and earned income in National Portfolio Organisations:

    • Increases in percentage of contributed/earned income.
    • Breakdown by five Arts Council Areas.

    The number of organisations and individuals engaging with the Digital Culture Network:

    Breakdown by five Arts Council Areas.

  • INCREASING OUR SUPPORT FOR INDIVIDUALS

    • Increased financial support for individual creative and cultural practitioners (first-time funding recipients and demographic data by age, ethnicity, disability, gender, socio-economic background).
    • Number and profile of individuals accessing training and development opportunities.

  • STRENGTHENING OUR PLACE-BASED APPROACH AND CONTRIBUTING TO LEVELLING-UP

    • Increase in investment in Priority Places 2021-24.
    • Percentage of Arts Council funding spent in Priority Places.
    • Percentage increase in the number of library and museum National Lottery Project Grants applications, success rate and percentage increase in overall funding.       

    Levelling up

    Percentage of overall Arts Council funding spent in areas of low cultural engagement as defined by the Active Lives Survey.

    Youth

    The total number of children and young people attending events and activities provided by Arts Council National Portfolio Organisations in areas of low cultural engagement as defined by the Active Lives Survey.

  • HELPING THE CULTURAL SECTOR TO WORK INTERNATIONALLY

    • Number and profile of individuals/organisations reached as a result of collaborative work between the four nations’ Arts Councils (number of unique website visitors to Arts Infopoint UK and number of grant awards from joint programmes).  

    International

    • Number of international engagements undertaken by National Portfolio Organisations, broken down by live and digital, international region/country, and size of organisation.

  • HOW THE ARTS COUNCIL WILL CHANGE

    • Data on geographic location of Arts Council staff.
    • Progress by the Arts Council on its net zero carbon pathway.
    • Progress on the implementation of new data strategy’s milestones.   
    • Opening up access.

    Percentages for each protected characteristic (Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, LGBTQ+, female, disabled, age) and a breakdown by socio- economic background):

    • Arts Council board membership
    • Arts Council leadership
    • Arts Council workforce

    Cultural property

    Report against key DCMS targets:

    • Export licences issued within five working days of the Arts Council receiving the application (unless information is missing from the application, the application needs to be referred to an Expert Adviser, or further enquiries need to be made in respect of the object’s provenance).

    Delivery Plan Theme        

    Delivery Plan Measures    

    DCMS Framework Agreement KPIs

    • Report to DCMS on the applications considered at each Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) meeting within two weeks of the meeting.
    • Government Indemnity Scheme claims with recommendation submitted to DCMS within two weeks of receipt of all paperwork.

    Equality Objectives

    (In addition to the measures already referred to under the Themes above)       

    • Data on National Portfolio 2023+: analysis of leadership by disability, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and socio-economic background (number of National Portfolio Organisations and percentage of total investment).
    • Data on National Lottery Project Grants awards made to organisations with Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, disabled, female and LGBT leadership (number of awards and percentage of total investment).
    • Data on Developing Your Creative Practice awards made to Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, disabled, female and LGBT applicants (number of awards and percentage of total investment). 

  • EQUALITY OBJECTIVES (IN ADDITION TO THE MEASURES ALREADY REFERRED TO UNDER THE THEMES ABOVE)

    • Data on NPO 2023+: analysis of leadership by disability, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and socio-economic background (number of NPOs and percentage of total investment)
    • Data on NLPG awards made to organisations with Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, disabled, female and LGBT leadership (number of awards and % of total investment)
    • Data on DYCP awards made to Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, disabled, female and LGBT applicants (number of awards and percentage of total investment)