Featuring Alternate ROOTS, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, and The Theater Offensive, this rich and rigorous publication examines the contours, possibilities and limitations of adaptive change for three arts and social justice organizations participating in EmcArts Innovation Labs for the Arts. These organizations have social justice missions and mandates, and are deeply connected to histories of social movements in their respective communities. In the Lab, they negotiated the productive messiness of adaptive change in ways that impacted their artistic practices and positioning, community and

This 33-page document calls itself a study but can serve as a guide to indicator development. Though done in 1996, it an extremely thorough, thoughtful overview of indicator consideration and development. It defines indicators, gives examples of types, and talks of the challenges of measuring difficult areas such as political development. It discusses issues related to indicators in governmental agencies versus NGOs. Most importantly, it makes distinctions between qualitative and quantitative indicators, and highlights the role of what it calls participatory indicators (which are developed by

Written for evaluators, this 17-page report is a very nice guide to communicating about culture in evaluation practices and may be used as a reference in data collection. The report emphasizes that cross-cultural competency is a necessary skill for evaluators to have. The author encourages evaluators to think of culture as a factor to be considered as much as sampling and measurement. In addition to the introduction and conclusion, the paper has three main sections: culture, social identity and group membership, and privilege and power. The first section speaks to the nature and definition of

FSG and Knight Foundation's IMPACT: A Practical Guide to Evaluating Community Information Projects aims to help organizations collect useful information about the impact of their community information projects. Community information projects incorporate media, news, and online and digital communication to build knowledge and engagement capacities in community. These projects can have various focuses, including strengthening existing professional news sources, giving voice to diverse groups of community members, building capacity to address information accessibility and digital gaps, and

How to Tell a Story with Data provides five journalistic strategies on telling a good story that apply to data visualizations. Visual systems are challenging to navigate, particularly with complex data sets. Jim Stikeleather walks the reader through the numerous complexities of data visualization. As he describes, data visualization is most helpful in conveying complex research findings as a story. Data visualization can create a narrative for data sets, making it easier for a reader to make sense of and glean information from. But, perfecting the practice can be a challenge. In this Harvard

Animating Democracy held its second Evaluators Circle (E-Circle) at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, inviting Los Angeles-based cultural leaders, researchers, and evaluators to share evaluation projects, findings and learning.  It was a rich and hearty exchange.  With support from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and help in organizing from Kamella Tate, independent evaluator and former director of research and evaluation at The Music Center of Los Angeles County, our L.A. Evaluators Circle offered an opportunity to explore ways that data analysis and evaluation are informing

An outstanding piece, this 51-page handbook presents a great discussion of outcomes as they relate to policy and advocacy. Intended for grantmakers but useful for nonprofits as well, it encourages users to think about measurement of advocacy and policy efforts toward social change. It offers outcomes lists, examples of data collection tools, and many sample instruments from which users may benefit. It is designed in five main sections: measuring core outcome areas, tools and methods for other evaluation designs, evaluation of strategic progress, measuring short-term incremental objectives, and

Created by the Georgia Council for the Arts, this guide provides a useful entry for local and state arts agencies and arts organizations newly interested in evaluation.  The guide is designed not only as an introduction to evaluation, but to demonstrate how evaluation can be used as an internal learning tool within an organization to help manage programs, spend funds wisely, and assist constituents and potential investors to better understand their work.

"Connecting Californians" reports on a research project completed in 2000, that explored story as a powerful means of building community. The project conducted a search in each of California's 58 counties to find projects that engaged residents in a public performance or story about local history and life. Maps were created to represent the various projects. It is a helpful model for collaborative planning and discussion regarding the arts, culture, and civil society. Although it does not offer frameworks or tools, it is a useful report sample and resource for arts and civic engagement

The strength of Counting New Beans is in its impressive list of contributors.  Through interviews, artistic leaders engage in conversation about audience, community, and the value of art.  Beyond these thoughtful essays, the book includes the results of a two-year study titled, Understanding the Intrinsic Impact of Live Theatre.  This study, composed of patterns of audience feedback in 18 theaters and 58 productions, was commissioned by Clayton Lord of Theatre Bay Area and was completed by Alan Brown and Rebecca Ratzkin of WolfBrown.   In the first chapter, Clayton Lord, sets the stage with