S3 Ep 2: Proportionality

Hosted by Chuck Blue Lowry, this episode of Reflecting Value: Evaluation Principles in Practice explores proportionality.

Proportionality involves doing less – and doing it better. It involves editing yourself down and knowing what you need out of an evaluation, and what you don’t. And it also involves being selective and saying no when you might not be best placed to do an evaluation.

In this episode, we also find out that proportionality is really hard to implement. It involves thinking about our own role in an evaluation, whether we are a cultural manager, practitioner, evaluator or funder.

Join us as we talk about overkill, adapting methods in face of changing circumstances and regenerative practice.

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Transcript of this episode's audio

Guest biographies

Dawn Cameron

Dawn is a self-employed researcher, project manager and evaluator working primarily in the creative arts and cultural sectors. She works mainly in the arts, heritage and cultural sectors as a director of her own company, Cameron& Ltd. Her recent work includes the completion of a piece of thematic research entitled ‘How diverse are we, really?’ for Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places programme; evaluation of the Royal Literary Fund’s Writing for Life programme; evaluation of Opera North’s Orpheus Reimagined; evaluation of Jamaica Society Leeds’ Eulogy and Out of Many Festival programmes; and evaluation of Opal 22’s Casta: the origins of caste exhibition.

Over the past 16 years Dawn has been engaged by clients to carry out several research and evaluation assignments. She has a particular interest in storytelling approaches and in interrogating the ways in which notions of co-production are operationalised in project delivery. She is interested in working on projects which seek to deliver social and cultural change and which enable individuals to engage in creative practice.

Emma McDowell

Emma synthesises and summarises relevant research for the Centre, and helps to make it as accessible as possible to the cultural sector. Their current work includes a review of the lifelong value of cultural engagement and the development of a digital evaluation resource platform funded by the Esmée Fairbairn.

In 2022, Emma completed their PhD ‘From transaction to enaction: reframing theatre marketing’ exploring the processes of participatory sense-making in marketing and theatre-making. They are a LAHRI Fellow, have expertise in research design, qualitative and participatory co-research and their recently published ‘Mixing Methods in Audience Research Practice’ was shortlisted for TaPRA’s 2023 ECR Prize. Emma is also social media editor for policy journal Cultural Trends, and Co-Chair of Leeds-based theatre company Red Ladder.

Holly Donagh

Holly Donagh joined Paul Hamlyn Foundation as Director of Strategic Learning, Insight and Influence in June 2020. As Deputy Chief Executive at A New Direction, where she worked for nine years, Holly led the commissioning of research into cultural education as well as building partnerships with key agencies and stakeholders.

Holly also worked for Arts Council England for ten years as a national director leading on resource development. Holly has a MSc in Voluntary Sector Management from Cass Business School where she developed her interest in learning organisations and the use of research within the third sector.

Chuck Blue Lowry

Chuck Blue Lowry is an artist, filmmaker and facilitator. She specialises in art as social practice, with a particular focus on intergenerational exchange and storytelling. She is interested in making work that platforms the voices of those who are often under or misrepresented. She is an associate artist with Magic Me and a lecturer at Central School of Speech and Drama and Central Saint Martins.

Chuck’s work has been presented at Tate Modern, BFI, WOW Festival, LSFF, Battersea Arts Centre and Whitechapel Gallery. She has been commissioned by Clean Break, Cardboard Citizens, METAL, The Yard Theatre and The Barbican.