Meaningful Evaluation in Arts, Culture and Health

Culture Counts are partners in a new online FutureLearn course called “Meaningful Evaluation in Arts, Culture and Health”. Kathryn Welch, Director - Network, Projects and Partnerships, was interviewed in the week 2 module called “Why sharing stories matters in evaluation”.

About the course

Evaluating impact in arts, culture and health settings can be challenging. How do you capture relationships, creativity, emotion and lived experience in ways that feel ethical, useful and authentic? Traditional approaches often focus on measurable outcomes, overlooking the complexity of human experience and leaving many practitioners searching for approaches that better reflect the realities of their work. 

Meaningful Evaluation in Arts, Culture and Health is a new two-week online course for researchers, practitioners, students and professionals who want to rethink how impact is understood and communicated. Through practical activities, reflection and real-world case studies, including Scottish Ballet and Music in Hospitals & Care, you’ll explore creative and people-focused ways of gathering, interpreting and sharing evidence. 

Led by experts across these sectors, the course introduces practical and theoretical approaches to evaluation across arts, culture and health settings. You’ll learn how observation, listening, stories, conversations and artworks can contribute to understanding impact alongside more traditional forms of evidence. 

By the end of the course, you’ll be better equipped to articulate the value of your work, collaborate across disciplines, and develop evaluation approaches that are thoughtful, inclusive and grounded in lived experience – and that contribute to real change. 

Meaningful evaluation starts with people. Enrol today: https://edin.ac/4v6ynXY