We celebrate the Reimagining Evaluation day at Infinito Delicias

A meeting to share methodologies for the evaluation of cultural projects

If we conceive of culture as an essential right, it is because it has a direct impact on individuals, communities and the environment around us. Participation in culture and art implies transformations at the symbolic and emotional level, as well as at the relational and social level. Hence the importance of evaluation, as it allows us to recognise, validate and understand impacts that are not always visible or measurable in traditional terms. Without evaluation, these effects remain invisible, which weakens the recognition of the real value of artistic and community work, both socially and institutionally. 

With the Reimagining Evaluation Conference to be held at Infinito Delicias (Calle Juana Doña, Madrid) on 12 February, we propose to open a space for collective debate in which to ask ourselves how we can generate evaluation mechanisms that go beyond the final results. And we hope that among all the participants we can improve the ways of evaluating and measuring impacts.

Since last year, Concomitentes has opened a process of improvement in the evaluation of its impacts, with the development of an Evaluation Plan, which will analyse at least five dimensions (Participatory, Innovative, Aesthetic, Ecosocial, Citizen Agency) of the impacts of the entity. 

At the meeting, the main lines of the work being done by the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation will be presented by Iñigo Eguia, Head of Accompaniment and Impact Measurement of the FDNC and Alicia Ruiz, Head of Programmes of Concomitentes, with the accompaniment of Chema Segovia and Sendy Ghirardi, from Culturalink, the entity that is developing the evaluation strategy of Concomitentes. 

Culturalink will also run the workshop Evaluation doesn't bite: myths, cracks and key issues alternatives The aim, through a practical approach, is to shift the focus from evaluation as an external obligation or control exercise to evaluation as a working tool that clarifies value criteria, improves decision-making, strengthens the public legitimacy of the culture and generates useful knowledge based on experience.

The conference will be attended by the director of Infinito Delicias, Javier Martín-Jiménez, as well as Lucía Casani from the Carasso Foundation and the Director General of Cultural Rights, Jazmin Beirak, an area of the Ministry of Culture responsible for the Grants for cultural projects with a special social impact, which finances this conference.

Participation is open through this form and places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis until full capacity is reached.

PROGRAMME

11:00 - 11:15 Presentation by Fran Quiroga (Concomitentes) and Javier Martín-Jiménez (Infinito Delicias)

11:15 - 11:30 Measuring impacts, a first approximation by Iñigo Eguia (Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation)

11:30 - 11:45 The evaluation route in Concomitentes by Alicia Ruiz Concomitentes and Culturalink

11:45 - 12:00 Discussion 

12:15 - 13:45 Workshop Evaluation doesn't bite: myths, fissures and key alternatives by Chema Segovia and Sendy Ghirardi (Culturalink)

13:45 - 14:00 Conclusions and closing remarks by Lucia Casani (Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation) and Jazmín Beirak (Ministry of Culture).