Arts and Culture Funders Forum – Rethinking Impact in Arts and Culture Philanthropy: From Measurement to Meaning
The Arts and Culture Funders Forum will host “Rethinking Impact in Arts and Culture Philanthropy: From Measurement to Meaning” in Paris on 21-23 October.
Foundations are under growing pressure to “prove impact”. Too often that distorts artistic intentions, or narrows practice into pre-defined, measurable outputs. Project leads feel it from the other side too. They need evaluation methods that capture what is specific to artistic work: the role of process, the subtleties of learning, and the forms of change that emerge through relationships and collective experience.
So how is philanthropy recognising the value of arts and culture beyond quantitative indicators? What kinds of evidence let us understand artistic and social transformation without reducing it to numbers? And how do funders avoid placing partners in the impossible position of predicting effects that are, by their nature, uncertain, situated and non-linear?
This event will combine keynotes, practitioner testimonies, collective intelligence workshops and a field visit to clarify tensions, strengthen existing practice and articulate shared principles for evaluation and organisational learning that stay meaningful in the cultural domain. The session will distinguish monitoring from impact, foreground the qualitative and relational dimensions, and reflect on the safeguards needed to protect artistic freedom and the integrity of cultural ecosystems.
This event aims to position foundations as learning organisations, capable of evolving with the ecosystems they support, and thanks to them. And it asks: how can foundations embed learning at every level, from teams and governance to portfolios and partnerships, to respond more effectively to today’s cultural and societal challenges?
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