FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2015, Kingston, ON – The Canadian Network for Arts & Learning / Le Réseau pour les arts et l’apprentissage (CNAL/RCAA) has released an assessment handbook to support teachers, artist-educators, arts organizations, community arts centres and other practitioners when evaluating arts programming. Having learned through previous research that the sector was in need of a practical guide for assessment, CNAL/RCAA undertook more than a year of consultations with arts and learning practitioners in order to produce Creative Insights: A Handbook for Assessing the Impacts of Arts and Learning, thanks to a 2014 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario. The handbook is now available on the resources page of their website at www.eduarts.ca.
Assessing arts learning activities is a crucial step for arts education practitioners to determine the value of their programming, as well as to discover the best way to improve or develop programming. The CNAL handbook addresses the need for gathering a range of information in assessments, from anecdotal evidence to numerical data, in order to contribute to a broader discussion on the importance arts learning to individuals, communities, and society as a whole.
“It’s inspiring to know this handbook will help educators and those working in the arts community to better assess and evaluate their programs. In fact, this approach aligns with OTF’s new outcomes-based granting model. By understanding the impact of arts programming, we can invest in arts, cultural and heritage projects that build healthy and vibrant communities,” said Andrea Cohen Barrack, CEO of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
The techniques, resources and guidelines included in the handbook are applicable to both school and community arts and learning activities, and emphasize the principle of inclusivity in programming and assessing. The handbook provides guidance on when, why and how to assess. It also describes the wide range of instruments available to assessors, provides techniques on how to conduct interviews, create questionnaires, analyse and report the finding, and outlines methods for measuring engagement. The assessment approaches can be adapted to all art forms in a wide variety of contexts.
“We created this handbook through extensive research consultations with individuals and organizations providing learning in, through, and about the arts in Canada,” said Dr. Ann Patteson, lead researcher. “Our wish is that the handbook both promotes the assessment of arts and learning experiences, and provides assistance in how to do it.”
The consultations took place one-on-one and in group settings facilitated by CNAL/RCAA through their Eduarts Networking Hub series which took place throughout the province, as well as at a national conference in Toronto in March 2015. The Creative Insights Handbook was designed to be a living document. It is meant to be a forum to which the arts and learning community can contribute exemplary experiences, practices, and reports. In this way, the handbook will help to build an aggregate, up-to-date picture of the Canadian sector and facilitate the process of sharing best practices in a field.
To learn more about CNAL/RCAA, including the handbook, membership and other research projects, please visit http://eduarts.ca/
The Canadian Network for Arts & Learning/le Réseau canadien des arts et de l’apprentissage (CNAL/RCAA) was established as a direct response to the first UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education in Lisbon, Portugal in 2006, and was formally established in 2009. CNAL/RCAA is a dynamic non-profit that envisions a world in which the arts and creativity are recognized as integral to the learning process, both at school and throughout life. Its mission is to unite local, regional and national arts and learning communities in a network for exchange, research and collaboration, cultivating a more creative, innovative and prosperous Canada.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation: A leading grantmaking foundation in Canada, the Ontario Trillium Foundation strengthens the capacity of the voluntary sector through investment in community-based initiatives. An agency of the Government of Ontario, OTF builds healthy and vibrant communities. Please visit: www.otf.ca