Artistic vibrancy resources

The Australia Council has developed a set of resources on artistic vibrancy and how to measure it.  This fills the gap in the research into artistic vibrancy and real-world tests of performance measurement in the arts. 

The resources define artistic vibrancy, create new case studies for how arts organisations currently assess their own artistic vibrancy, and provide tools for how to measure it. These include suggestions on how to measure the various dimensions of artistic vibrancy, including an arts company’s community relevance, audience engagement and stimulation, excellence of craft, the freshness of an arts organisation’s approach to the preservation or development of the artform and the development of artists.

The resources provide tools to arts organisations and their boards struggling to find meaningful ways to evaluate their artistic impact, and to funding agencies looking for ways of assessing arts organisations’ artistic merit which go beyond box ticking.

Alan Brown, principal of the international arts consultancy WolfBrown and recent keynote speaker at the 2009 Australian Performing Arts Centre Association Conference, had this to say about the resources:

“I loved the papers on artistic vibrancy, and have been telling people about them ever since I got back from Australia.  It’s probably the most important discussion we can have.”

The resources are:

•    Defining artistic vibrancy: a discussion paper: a look at what artistic vibrancy means, and the traits of an artistically vibrant company

•     “Tell me honestly…”: good practice case studies of artistic self-assessment in performing arts organisations: a set of Australian and international examples of companies that have made artistic self-assessment a meaningful and useful process, and how they did it

•    Artistic vibrancy: self-reflection tool: a set of questions and tools to help performing arts organisations and their boards evaluate their own artistic vibrancy

•    Meaningful measurement: a review of the literature about measuring artistic vibrancy: for research enthusiasts, a comprehensive literature review of the academic research in this area

We welcome comments and feedback on the resources.  Please contact Jackie Bailey on j.bailey@australiacouncil.gov.au or Ph: 02 9215 9000 or Toll free: 1800 226 912.