Patternmakers 20/4/19 Patternmakers 20/4/19

What career advice would you give your younger self?

In March 2019, our Founder Tandi Palmer Williams joined a panel at a KYHO Networking event called ‘Breaking the Mould’, held at UTS Startups. In this post, she shares her experience of imposter syndrome, burnout and entrepreneur lessons, in case it helps anyone out there embarking on a journey of their own.

I recently had the honour of speaking at a KYHO Networking event called ‘Breaking the Mould’, held at UTS Startups. It was a great conversation, covering imposter syndrome, mentoring, burnout and entrepreneur lessons. I thought I’d share my responses to some of the facilitators questions, in case this helps anyone out there embarking on a journey of their own.

Can you describe what your career path has looked like from graduating university to where you are now?

I spent the first seven years of my career at professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Firstly graduating as a Chartered Accountant, I then retrained as an Economics and Policy consultant and helped organisations conduct economic analysis to inform their strategy. It was a real thrill seeing my work leading to regulatory change, major investment and international partnerships - and I learned a lot from some talented economists.

But in all honesty, I was miserable. I was working late into the night, sometimes on jobs not aligned with my values, and my health was starting to be affected.

I could see that some things that we innately know are important, like cultural expression, sense of community and social bonding – aren’t easily measured in dollars and cents. I was working my butt off, but it wasn’t for what I believed really mattered.

I became fascinated with fields like cultural economics, triple bottom line accounting and social return on investment, and eventually followed my passion into the cultural sector and worked for three years in Research & Strategic Analysis at the Australia Council, the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body.

After falling in love with my (now) husband, I moved to the UK and worked for two years at Nesta, managing the research elements of the $5m Digital R&D Fund for the Arts. I’m grateful for that experience seeing the inside of an innovation lab and having opportunities to work with some of the world’s most iconic institutions like the Royal Opera House.

I started Patternmakers back in Australia in 2016 after I had been freelancing for one year full time. Today I lead our brilliant team of four researchers, and a network of contractors and advisors across Australia and internationally.

At what moment did you decide it was right for you to start Patternmakers? What has the reception been like, and how did that feel?

From Covent Garden to Colac (VIC), I began to realise that many arts organisations and cultural institutions were experiencing similar issues: trying to grow audiences, secure funding and deliver greater impact.

I’ve now worked with organisations of all different structures and sizes and I’ve seen how some organisations grow and really make a difference, even in hard times when there’s an economic downturn, or public funding is declining.

They do it by becoming insightful institutions. It’s not about counting dollars and cents. If you’re an impact-driven organisation you need to be adopting the practises of research and insight to reach more people, secure funding and deliver even more good in the world.

Today, Patternmakers supports cultural organisations to become more insightful and impactful. With my team of researchers and strategists, we help cultural leaders collect data, create experiences people love, evaluate their impact, build compelling business cases and share their knowledge to grow the sector and change the world.

We’ve now been operating for two and a half years, and demand for our services has led to us to grow really strongly. It’s been a real rollercoaster.

But my reasons were also somewhat selfish… When my husband and I started planning a family, I started thinking about how I could grow a great business that could allow me to work flexibly.

I’m really pleased that I can now support other parents the same opportunity to balance work and family.

Have you ever felt imposter syndrome? If so, how have you broken out of that thinking?

Of course. We all live in fear that someone will find out that we’re not good enough to be doing what we do.

But I try and channel it into self improvement and professional development. I can recommend the book ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’.

Do not let imposter syndrome stop you doing things. Just make a commitment to yourself that fear and self doubt and insecurity is not going to be the driver of what you do & don’t do.

What advice would you have to young women who are entering the workforce and are feeling like a fraud or an imposter?

What I’m learning about tackling imposter syndrome is that it can help to identify and articulate the value that we bring to any conversation. Saying ‘I’m only this’ or ‘I’m just that...’ is not helping anyone. Even the youngest person in the room has something that no one else has: the perspective of youth and everyone wants to tap into that.

A colleague of mine Kathryn Geels, who now leads the Engaged Journalism Accelerator, recently shared with me the value of taking time out to reflect on your work, roles, track record and really articulate what your unique perspective is.

So for me, it’s that I understand the language of both art and maths. And it’s not until my 30s that I could see the patterns and connections and the narrative of my career, but looking back, it was always there.

How should a young person starting out go about accessing mentorship or acquiring a mentor?

Getting good guidance is critical. And there are actually three types of mentors I have accessed at different times: a great boss, a coach, and several mentors.

I’ve been lucky to have several great bosses in my journey, such as Bridget Jones, who taught me about the value of quality research closely linked with strategy. We were joint recipients of the Award for Collaboration at the Australia Council which was a great honour.

It definitely pays to seek out jobs with someone amazing to report to. You can even do reverse checks on them!

A great coach is also gold. I’ve worked with Monica Davidson from Creative Plus Business for the past three years and it has been partially subsidised by the NSW Government through Business Connect. So valuable.

A mentor, or in my opinion several mentors also play an important role. And as my co-panellist, career coach Rebecca McFarland, pointed out. It’s perfectly fine to have mentors that don’t know you are their mentor!

What has been the biggest challenge in your career to date?

In the early part of my career it was managing burnout and navigating organisational dynamics. As an ambitious, self-motivated employee there are times when bureaucracy can slow things down and it can grate when you hit certain roadblock. But there are many things to be learned in such situations too.

Since starting Patternmakers, the challenges are many, but so are the rewards! Producing work that is very high quality, while balancing the books does lead to many late nights, very few true holidays and worryingly blurred boundaries between work and everything else.

They say the entrepreneurs journey is a financial one and I tend to agree. There is a lot to learn about managing cash flow, assessing profitability and getting to know your business model inside out, and with every recruit, it can change. There have been months when I’ve wondered how we will make payroll, but it is a great discipline in becoming very, very resourceful.

In the next five years an area that will be demanding for me is HR and recruitment. Because for a business at this particular stage (and frankly, life generally) it’s all about surrounding yourself with the right people.

Did you receive a piece of advice when you were starting out that was particularly influential?

Don’t hesitate to put yourself forward. A good friend of mine, Morwenna Collett, encouraged me to apply for the Australia Council’s Arts Leaders Program. At the last minute, I put in an application. It was successful and it ended up being a pivotal experience that has shaped my world ever since.

If someone asks for a volunteer, put your hand up. If you see an award category that’s relevant to you, put an application in! You’ll be surprised how often you get further than you think. And building a great track record is the best thing you can do for your career.

What advice would you have liked to have heard?

Trust your instincts. I’ve taken on projects that I knew weren’t the right fit - and learned my lesson the hard way. More and more, I want to be selective about the people, projects and ideas that I let into my life.

And enjoy the journey! Research is the most exciting, enriching, fulfilling career. Being in the field, meeting people, hearing about their lives is such an honour and it’s so important to love what you do each day.

About the Author

Tandi Palmer Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

Between 2013 and 2015, she was Research Manager for the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts, based at Nesta in London.

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Patternmakers 13/3/19 Patternmakers 13/3/19

BlakDance launches its impact survey

BlakDance has recently launched an impact survey to gather feedback from its stakeholders. The aim is to build an evidence base that both BlakDance, and its stakeholders, can rely on for planning and advocacy work now and into the future.

What is the impact of BlakDance, and what should it prioritise in 2020 and beyond?

Patternmakers is working with BlakDance to seek feedback on its work, and gather input from stakeholders to inform its new strategic plan.

We’ve recently launched an impact survey to gather feedback from BlakDance stakeholders.

The aim is to build an evidence base that both BlakDance, and the First Nations dance sector, can rely on for planning and advocacy work now and into the future.

Take the survey now!

In the survey, stakeholders will be asked questions about their past activities and experiences with BlakDance and the assistance they’ve received. They will also be invited to share their ideas for the future of BlakDance.

Why is this important?

This survey is part of a larger project aiming to catch and keep stories about First Nations Dance over the next three years.

Since the National Indigenous Dance Forum in 2017, BlakDance have been working with arts evaluation specialists Patternmakers on more effective and proactive ways to gather feedback from stakeholders.

The organisation has collaborated on development of a ‘program logic’ and an evaluation framework to help streamline what data is collected, from whom, how often.

Why a survey?

Patternmakers has been conducting a range of interviews and workshops with BlakDance and key stakeholders. These have been informative and helped the evaluators to build a picture of the organisation’s work.

The time is now right for a survey to help to measure and prioritise stakeholder views. Although surveys don’t work for everyone, many stakeholders are already accustomed to completing surveys about other issues, and so BlakDance will test the use of surveys with its stakeholders this year.

Tandi Palmer Williams, Managing Director at Patternmakers says, ‘Instead of sending surveys after every event and interaction, we have agreed to survey stakeholders once in 2019. This data can be used for multiple purposes, including to inform the development of a new strategic plan for the organisation’.

Merindah Donnelly says, ‘At BlakDance, remaining humble is core to our business and we value input to keep us accountable to our communities and sector.’

Image credit: BlakDance

About the Author

Dr Catherine Davis
Senior Research Analyst

Catherine has a passion for data storytelling and the arts. She has particular expertise in mixed methods research design as well as community sector research experience.

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Patternmakers 27/2/19 Patternmakers 27/2/19

How research can help you shape new products & services

Research processes that can help project managers shape products, reduce risk and optimise around user needs. This article covers three relatively simple research methods that can be done at your desk, and don’t require big budgets or advanced technical skills.

I’m often asked how research can be applied in organisations to shape new products and services, particularly technology projects. During my time as Research Manager for the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts at Nesta, I wrote about research processes that can help project managers shape products, reduce risk and optimise around user needs.

Below are three relatively simple research methods that can be done at your desk, and don’t require big budgets or advanced technical skills. You can make these as big or small as you need to, but it’s important to have a plan, be systematic, and maintain an open mind as you go.

Following these three steps can help you ensure your project is innovating on current practice. They can also help you to set achievable objectives and a realistic budget, and align your work with key communities and potential partners.

1. Analyse the competition

Ask yourself: What is already out there? How are we different?

Analysing the current ‘state of the art’ is a critical first step in determining if an idea has legs, and how it can innovate on what’s already out there. Before starting any development work, have a close look at what others are doing in this space - and how existing platforms could be repurposed. Take a look at organisations like yours in other countries, ask around, and try and identify comparable products or services in other industries.

It can be interesting to identify what ‘the competition’ are doing right – and what they could do better. Once again, it’s good to be systematic, and to try and get as much of the ‘inside scoop’ as possible (How much did it cost? What is their ‘niche’? How many people are actively using it?)

For example, the Royal Opera House conducted a ‘competitor audit’ to help them prioritise features for their mobile project, and what they liked about existing offerings that they wanted to build on.

Scanning the competition can help you refine and mould your concept, and identify exciting windows of opportunity. It can also help you identify useful platforms, software or channels that you could use, and people you could partner with.

2. Measure the potential

Ask yourself: Just how big is the opportunity? What can we realistically hope to achieve?

Before you start to work on detailed plans and budgets, it’s worth taking a step back to measure the potential, or if you are exploring a new business model, ‘size the market’.

From experience, I know how easy it is to over-estimate the potential user-base for a product or service, which can lead to disappointing project outcomes. If you’re building an app to promote concerts to young people in London, work out how many young people there are in London, what handsets they use and what disposable incomes they have. If you’re going to promote it through the e-newsletter, work out how many people open the newsletter to give a sense of how many people you could reach.

For instance, artsdepot are segmenting the 65+ market in particular catchment areas, and making assumptions about conversion rates and sales potential to estimate the market for their ‘Silver Service’ membership scheme.

Remember that apps require someone to be aware of them, want them, have the right phone, know how to download them, actually download them, create an account, etc.

By measuring the range of potential, you can then set achievable targets and work out how much you can afford to invest in development, and in acquiring customers. It can also help you make technical decisions that suit your target market, such as prioritising operating systems and designing key features.

3. Review the literature

Ask yourself: Has someone tried this before? Did it work? If not, why not?

By understanding other research in the field, you can clarify the key issues for your project and navigate through obstacles that others have stumbled on. It can also help you to build your credibility as an expert and innovator in the sector, which can be helpful when trying to attract partners, funding and media coverage.

Reviewing the literature helped Marcus Winter identify the key features of game design for the Museum of Design in Plastics, and enabled Roma Patel to quickly structure their user evaluation.

The University of Leicester has this great guide to Doing a Literature Review. There are also fantastic resources such as Kings College London’s CultureCase to help you make sense of complex academic papers.

It’s a great idea to document your literature review, but if you are stretched for time, the process can be as simple as sharing knowledge with clever colleagues around the coffee table. Whatever method you choose, try to be systematic, so you don’t miss anything, and ask yourself ‘so what?’ as you go, so you can distil the implications for your project.

Originally published by Nesta as ‘3 research methods to give R&D the best chance of success’

About the Author

Tandi Palmer Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

Between 2013 and 2015, she was Research Manager for the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts, based at Nesta in London.

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Patternmakers 25/1/19 Patternmakers 25/1/19

Power moves: How evaluation can help you prepare for multi-year funding applications

Are you applying for multi-year funding in 2019? Here are five things you can do to strengthen your work, consolidate impact and improve your chances of success in upcoming funding rounds.

Are you applying for multi-year funding in 2019? Then you need to get your evidence base sorted! And it’s not too late to start.

Here are five things you can do to strengthen your work, consolidate impact and put your best foot forward in upcoming funding rounds.

1. STRUCTURE: Ensure your evaluation framework is up to date

If you don’t already have an evaluation framework in place for the organisation, now is the time to map your program logic or theory of change, and identify some questions relating to your efficiency, effectiveness and ultimate impact. Depending on your size, you might think about this at the project, program or organisation level – or a combination.

There are a bunch of free guides and tools for this out there, but we think the one in the Program planning and evaluation guide from the Australian Institute of Family Studies has just the right amount of detail.

If you’ve already developed this (or there’s something similar buried in your share drive somewhere), dust it off at your next team meeting and do a quick discussion on what aspects might need to be refreshed. Appoint someone to lead the work of getting it up to date, approved and communicated to your board and staff.

2. GATHER: Analyse your reach and impact

Impact evaluations are fast becoming an essential management tool for arts and culture organisations. They assist teams to understand the extent to which they are having an impact in the world, what is working well, and what isn’t, and exactly what factors are delivering the best outcomes. They can also help teams to work out the gaps and opportunities in their current programs and clarify the best future direction.

For instance, the Australia Council’s funding guidelines assessment criteria talk about identifying impact and need, which can be demonstrated through evaluation.

You can evaluate your impact through qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research, depending on what is most appropriate to address the priority questions in your evaluation framework.

Some basic qualitative questions to ask are:

What was the best part about Program X?

What could we improve?

What have you taken away from your experience with Program X?

Some quantitative questions to ask are:

On a scale from 1 to 5, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with Program X?

On a scale from 1 to 5, how likely are you to recommend X to a friend or colleague?

You can also ask this last one on a scale from 0 to 10, and use the results to calculate a Net Promoter Score which can be benchmarked with other programs and events.

3. TEST: Gather evidence about what is needed in future

As a part of the strategic planning process, it can be helpful to gather hard data on what your community, participants and/or stakeholders want to see in future. This could include running a consultation process using interviews or focus groups, or running a survey of your stakeholders.

You can also prompt people with a list of potential new initiatives or priorities, and ask people to select their top three. Doing a temperature check like this can be enormously useful in helping you prioritise limited resources – and it gives you an evidence base to fall back on if people challenge your investments.

For example, Creative Plus Business conducted a survey to find out what people wanted from a creative business conference. Collecting data from their community gave them confidence that their plans were on track and is helping ensure the likelihood of a successful event.

As our colleague Bridget Jones at Wavelength said in a recent post, ‘One of the great things about planning is that it helps managers make the tough decisions about what to do - and what not to do - so they can be more successful.’ She also refers to some useful planning templates from Bridgespan to help you keep it real.

Your questions should partly be open ended, e.g.: ‘What would you like to see from us moving forward?’ or ‘What ideas can you share for our program in the next three years?’

4. SCAN: Analyse the case for investment

Before you lock down your strategic priorities, it’s important to conduct a scan of the wider environment. Analysing big picture statistical trends is an important step in prioritising initiatives and working out the case for investment.

You can do this by examining reliable sources such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics, thought leaders like Nesta (check out their predictions for 2019), data aggregators like Google Trends and academic research news articles like The Conversation.

Patternmakers also offer a series of short talks, designed for staff meetings, board meetings and strategic planning days (contact info@thepatternmakers.com.au for more information).

Your goal here is to look for alignment (or otherwise) between your plans, and where the world is heading in the next 1-5 years. For instance, topics like mental health are rising in importance, whereas some retail industries are under threat.

According to the Australia Council’s Strategic Plan Framework, you can consider producing a strategic/context analysis which summarises the strategic issues you expect your organisation to face over the next 3 years. This is often based on an assessment of your internal and external environments to identify the organisations strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and challenges. It is a distillation of analysis and research undertaken by your organisation to underpin the artistic choices you have made and the goals you have set.

5. PLAN: Work out how you’ll monitor and evaluate your progress

It’s good practice to set up your evaluation framework and methodology before you start a new funding period, new project or initiative. It doesn’t have to be super detailed, and things will undoubtedly change, but showing the assessment committee that you’ve thought about this in advance is just smart.

The key questions are basically what, when, how, why and who will be monitoring and evaluating your progress. How is the big one here, and specifically, how it will be resourced.

As a rule of thumb, I usually advise leaders in arts and culture organisations to set aside 3-5% of their resources for any given period or program for monitoring and evaluation. This doesn’t mean spending 5% on hiring a consultant, most of the work should be done internally, on things like the steps above. It’s also important to be growing your team’s skills – through things like training in research and evaluation.

___

So there you have it: Structure, Gather, Test, Scan & Plan. The geek’s guide to getting ready for your strongest application yet.

If this all sounds overwhelming, and you think there’s a case to invest in the help of a professional, you can get in touch to schedule your free consultation by emailing info@thepatternmakers.com.au. We can provide resources and templates to help you, recommend training that would suit your team, and scope out where you need professional support.

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Patternmakers 11/12/18 Patternmakers 11/12/18

Top 5 most clicked news items for 2018

The end of the year is a great time for reflection, and being the lovers of data that we are at Patternmakers, this means evaluating at our own activity. And so, here are the top five articles that you loved most from our 2018 Culture Insight & Innovation Updates.

The end of the year is a great time for reflection, and a great opportunity to take a look at what’s unfolded this year, what’s worked well and where to improve, before bracing for the next.

Being the lovers of data that we are at Patternmakers, this means evaluating at our own activity. And so, here are the top five articles that you loved most from our 2018 Culture Insight & Innovation Updates.

5. It’s Time for the Arts to Rally Around Standardised Outcomes Americans For The Arts

The arts struggle to reach consensus on impact measurement metrics. This article is a rally cry for the US arts sector agree on metrics to leverage commercial sector beliefs via evidence.

4. Beyond the Bio: Dr Catherine Davis Patternmakers

We were pleased to announce when sociologist Dr Catherine Davis joined our team as Senior Research Analyst. Join us as we take few moments to go beyond the bio and get to know our team's newest addition.

3. New ticket buying data for Australian electorates Australia Council for the Arts

Check out this spiffy new interactive resource which combines research on arts engagement, employment and ticketing trends in each of Australia’s 150 federal electorates. Nice work from the OzCo research team.

2. Australian arts & culture statistical snapshots Department of Communications & the Arts

Prepared by the ABS, the jurisdiction profiles provide a comprehensive overview of arts and culture at the national and state and territory level. A useful reference for advocacy work.

And our most popular article for the year was…

1. The economic value of cultural + creative activity Bureau of Communications & Arts Research

This new report (and nifty video) from the BCAR features time series analysis of the contribution of cultural and creative activity Australia’s economy. Interestingly, while the value has risen, the percentage of GDP has fallen.

If you want to get our Insight Updates direct to your inbox each month, sign up below and we’ll make sure you don’t miss any important new research.

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Patternmakers 11/12/18 Patternmakers 11/12/18

2018: a great big Patternmaking year

When Tandi decided to spend a few months freelancing as a culture researcher in 2016, I had very little idea of the learning curve ahead. In this post, our MD Tandi Palmer Williams shares the rewards and challenges of our biggest, best year yet.

When I decided to spend a few months freelancing as a research consultant in 2016, I could never have predicted the rollercoaster ride that lay ahead.

Three and a half years later, research agency Patternmakers is a thriving team of five. We’ve conducted research in five Australian States and Territories, the UK and in several Asian countries, helping culture professionals use evidence to grow their audiences, secure funding and amplify their impact.

Our monthly Culture Insight & Innovation Update, which started as an informal bulletin for a small network of colleagues, is now read by hundreds of culture professionals around the world each month.

Over the same timeframe, my team has delivered four new babies into the world! Needless to say, we are learning a lot about balance, prioritisation and perspective.

As 2018 draws to a finish, I thought I'd reflect on the successes and challenges of the year.

January: leadership program

In January I completed the final residency of the Arts Leaders Program, and returned to working four days a week after my baby break in 2017. It was an honour to participate in the program from 2015-2017 and learn from some of Australia's most exciting artists and arts managers. Particularly during a time when I was faced with a lot of choices to make about my career, family and lifestyle.

If you're considering applying to the program (or taking on any career challenge) while raising a family, I wholeheartedly encourage you to go for it! Do get in touch if I can help you in any way.

Arts Leaders Program participants in Hobart, January 2018

February: touring review

In February, Patternmakers was appointed by the Victorian Government to conduct a Review of Touring and Engagement, in partnership with Professor Peter Matthews. Travelling across Victoria throughout March, we held six open forums, conducted interviews and visited cultural sites - and saw with our own eyes the importance (and further potential) of a strong touring environment. A great chance to enjoy Victoria in all its autumnal magnificence!

The complexity of touring made this project enormously challenging, but it goes without saying that the chance to contribute to its future is rewarding. Having delivered our report, we are continuing to work with Creative Victoria to refine the recommendations and operational considerations ahead of further announcements in 2019.

April: impact partnership

In April we were appointed Impact Partner to BlakDance, and will be working alongside the organisation over the next three years to 'catch' and 'keep' stories about First Nations dance. I'm grateful for the opportunity to refine our practices with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues, I know we’ll learn a lot.

I’m really excited that it’s not just a one-off project, but a three year relationship. We'll be sharing our insights with you as this work unfolds.

May: presenting at Vivid Ideas

Vivid Sydney arrived in May 2018 and we were delighted to present a sold out discussion event, Data after Dark at the 107 rooftop in Redfern. It was a spectacular evening of wine, cheese and statistics (a match made in heaven!). Based on the success of the evening we will be expanding the event into a discussion series that will be touring Australia in 2019. Please get in touch if you think this sounds like something you need in your life!

Research Manager Brooke Boyce presenting at Data after Dark: Vivid Sydney

June: toolkit testing

Since mid-2017 we have been working with Creative Victoria to develop an Audience Research Toolkit for creative arts organisations. Based on interviews and a sector survey, the toolkit will provide practical guidance and tools to support research practices in small to medium creative arts organisations.

In June 2018 we piloted the tools with a number arts and culture organisations in Victoria, and it was fascinating to see how the tools measured up in practice! The finalised resources are due for launch by Creative Victoria in early 2019.

The team visiting Moyhu, Victoria as a part of the Review of Touring and Engagement

July: restructure

In July 2018 we restructured the business as a company, and welcomed ‘Patternmakers Pty Limited’ to the world. With this change came a new constitution, new accounting software, bank accounts and new employee agreements. Embedding new systems is always challenging (am I wrong?) but I'm confident this new structure is the right move for everyone. Thanks for your support throughout the transition!

August: regional roadtrip

In winter we travelled to Horsham, Colac and Castlemaine as a part of three Full House projects to develop evidence based audience development plans for regional arts facilities. In each location, we conducted interviews and focus groups with business leaders, artists, service providers and residents - exploring what is working well, and where there are opportunities to improve.

Regional work is demanding logistically - but we are addicted to getting out of our city lives and hearing about different ideas, lifestyles and values. We're really excited to see this evidence being applied to programming, marketing and venue management in each location - and following the journey of these communities over the next 3-5 years.

September: young people and the arts

In Spring we were delighted to explore results of two projects concerning young people. Firstly, working with the Museum of Contemporary Art, we surveyed 800 people under the age of 32 about their experiences of visual arts and the MCA GENEXT program. Stay tuned for the published report in early 2019.

Secondly, working with Barking Gecko Theatre Company, we explored the impact of its Ensembles Program and discovered very promising results for this emerging program, which is active in remote parts of the country like Karrutha, WA.

Working with young people makes me feel old, but fills me with such hope for the future that I know it will be an area we continue to investigate in years to come.

November: team changes

The team continues to grow with talented new researchers joining us, like sociologist Dr Catherine Davis. In November we farewelled Research Manager Brooke Boyce, as she prepares to welcome a new baby this month. It’s always hard farewelling close colleagues, but new people breathe new life into the team as well!

I should mention that we also officially welcomed Bianca Mulet to the team, after a three-month internship with Patternmakers. As a part of her capstone subject Social Inquiry at UTS, she investigated the role of evaluation for arts and culture organisations in Australia. I’m really proud of Bianca’s journey with us, and we'll shortly be releasing her report, which (of course) received a high distinction!

THANK YOU

Thank you to all our friends, colleagues, partners and clients for a wonderfully rich and rewarding year. We'll be taking some time out to reflect and recharge - and hope you too enjoy the break.

For any questions about the above projects, or to share your own news, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us at info@thepatternmakers.com.au

About the Author

Tandi Palmer Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 12/10/18 Patternmakers 12/10/18

Advancing dance through research

In 2017 Dr Anja Ali-Haapala worked with Queensland Ballet to lead Ballet Moves for Adult Creative Health, a project to investigate recreational ballet classes for active older adults. We spoke to Anja about her experiences working on the project.

In 2017, Dr Anja Ali-Haapala worked with Queensland Ballet to lead Ballet Moves for Adult Creative Health, a project to investigate recreational ballet classes for active older adults.

The 10 month project was supported by Queensland Government’s Advance Queensland initiative which supports innovation and collaboration in business, industry and research.

We spoke to Anja about her experiences working on the project.

How did the project come about?

The project was sparked by Queensland Ballet (QB) who have a growing portfolio of engagement activities with communities across Queensland. Part of this engagement work is their Ballet for Seniors program, which sits within the seniors stream of their weekly public dance classes. The company wanted to understand this practice further and look for ways to expand this offering to people who are not able to attend classes at their company’s home, the Thomas Dixon Centre in West End, Brisbane.

What did the project involve?

There were two main components. Firstly, it was about undertaking empirical research to better understand dance practice. This meant investigating the motivations and wellbeing outcomes experienced by participants of the seniors ballet classes, as well as understanding which teaching approaches worked best for this type of dance class. Since QB already had their Ballet for Seniors classes running, it made sense to incorporate this particular program within action research cycles and to include teacher and class participant perspectives within the research design.

The second component was the consideration of the potential business applications of the knowledge gained from the research project. As a state level arts organisation, QB looks to engage all of Queensland, so this component of the project sought to determine how QB might be able to provide access to Ballet for Seniors classes across the state. This involved mapping seniors ballet offerings in Australia and overseas, as well as considering various business models within the context of QB.

What came out of it?

Recommendations for the two main components of the research we were undertaking. Firstly, for teaching practice. And secondly, for QB’s next steps for pursuing a farther-reaching seniors ballet program…which the company is already looking into!

I am also really pleased that we were able to publish a report that outlines the participant motivation and wellbeing findings. Ballet had previously received very little attention from researchers interested in dance’s health and wellbeing outcomes, so the ability to identify and share these findings was an important contribution to the field of research and well as a useful document for industry.

An unexpected outcome was the significant level of global media attention that the report received, and the consequential media it initiated. For a couple of months, the Ballet for Seniors program had news crews in almost every week to report on the program and research findings. As word spread, demand for the Ballet for Seniors tripled and additional classes are now offered on a regular basis. For me, it is very cool to see such tangible research impact so quickly.

What did you learn from the process?

It was a good challenge to move my academic research skills and methods into an industry environment. There is a lot to be gained from university-industry collaboration and exchange, however it does require time and care to bring these two models of operating together.

I learned a lot about the business of ballet and the strategic thinking, conversations, and connections that support projects. As a result, I see a lot of potential for research thinking and approaches to be incorporated within everyday operations of arts organisations.

The project sat within Advance Queensland’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership category, which required three partners. Firstly, an industry organisation: QB. Secondly, a knowledge partner: Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Partnering with QUT enabled me to work with Professor Gene Moyle of the Creative Industries Faculty and Professor Graham Kerr of the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, both bringing a wealth of experience to the project. The third partner was a recent graduate of the knowledge partner (i.e., QUT): that would be me!

As a recent doctoral graduate (2016) whose research is within the dance field, this was a very unusual and exciting opportunity to undertake a substantial research project so soon after graduation. Also worth noting was that my PhD focused upon dance audiences, so to shift into pedagogical and health research was a whole new domain for me!

Any advice for others considering this kind of research partnership?

When reflecting upon the project retrospectively, a really important moment that became evident was the consideration regarding which elements of the research findings needed to be retained by the company for future business endeavours, and which elements could be shared with the broader community.

In academic contexts, sharing the complete set of research findings is the norm. This approach is paramount to the research field, as the more that is shared, the more a field of research can grow as researchers from across institutions and countries working on similar problems can learn from each other. Therefore, by sharing some of the QB project’s findings the results can inform and support other ballet practitioners and organisations working with older adults, particularly in providing support for advocacy for these types of programs. As mentioned earlier, the published findings have also led to tangible outcomes for QB, too.

To find out more about Ballet Moves for Adult Creative Health, please visit www.queenslandballet.com.au/learn/fitness-and-wellbeing/ballet-moves-for-adult-creative-health

About the Author

Dr Anja Ali-Haapala
Audience Researcher / Dance Practitioner

Anja is an Audience Researcher and Dance Practitioner based in based in Brisbane, QLD.

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Patternmakers 26/9/18 Patternmakers 26/9/18

Free 1-hour consultation on data, research & evaluation

Navigating the world of data and insights can be confusing. You don’t have to do it alone though, we are here to help.

Navigating the world of data and insights can be confusing.

There is more and more data out there, and we have less and less time to do anything meaningful with it.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to do alone. If you need help working out your priorities, or you have an idea that you want to discuss, we are here to help.

Our free one hour consultations are designed to give you that second opinion, and help you along your data journey.

What we can cover

In your one hour consultation, we can cover things like:

Diagnosing your organisation’s current strengths and weaknesses when it comes to research and evaluation
Identifying opportunities for you to become a thought leader through research
Designing the right methodology for your project
Finding suitable partners
Budgeting and resourcing research or evaluation
Getting started with free resources and tips
Identifying people to talk to, reports to read and things to think about.

What happens after that?

You will be under no obligation to work with us, and we do our best to point you in the direction of free or low-cost resources that can help.

Some of our consultations do end up as projects, and we can suggest a range of consultants to approach for quotes, if this is helpful.

Interested? We’d love to hear from you.

How it works

To book your session, contact the team at info@thepatternmakers.com.au

We will then get in touch to arrange the session at a time and location convenient for you. We often do these via Skype or over the phone.

We will also send you a short questionnaire to help us make the most of the time we have together.

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Patternmakers 23/9/18 Patternmakers 23/9/18

So, you collect postcodes. Now what?

Converting postcode data into meaningful insight can be complex, due to differing boundaries of postcodes, suburbs, Local Government Areas (LGAs), regions and States/Territories. For instance, one postcode can sit across two, three or more LGAs.

Many organisations collect postcodes from attendees and participants. But turning it into useful insight is not straightforward!

Knowing how many people came from postcode ‘2150’ is not as useful as knowing how many people came from the City of Parramatta Local Government Area, or the Western Sydney region.

But converting postcode data into meaningful insight is tricky, due to differing boundaries of postcodes, suburbs, Local Government Areas (LGAs), regions and States/Territories. For instance, one postcode can sit across two, three or more LGAs.

In this post, we share how you can map your postcode data to LGAs, to access more useful insights. We also share how we can help!

Using the ABS correspondences files

This is where the fun begins! If you’re handy with excel, and have a few days up your sleeve, you can set up your own mapping process in-house.

You can map postcodes to other geographic areas using the ABS correspondences files. These are a set of spreadsheets that list the corresponding LGA for every postcode in Australia. You can also access correspondence files for other geographic categories, like Statistical Areas 1-4.

Remember that the geographic boundaries do change from time to time, so be sure to make sure you have the latest files from the ABS (just give them a call if you’re not sure).

Steps in postcode mapping

Once you’ve located the right correspondences file, follow these steps to turn your postcodes into other geographic categories:

Clean your datafile so you have a list of attendances for each postcode (and check your file for erroneous codes and empty fields)
Download the ABS correspondences file, and insert a new column to the right of each postcode & corresponding LGA.
Use a VLOOKUP formula to add the attendances for each postcode into your correspondences worksheet
Multiply the number of attendances to the % of each postcode in each LGA
In a new sheet, sum the total number of attendances for each LGA (hint: the SUMIF formula can help with this)
Lastly, you can tabulate the total attendances by region (e.g. Western Sydney, West Melbourne) and by State/Territory.

Patternmakers Postcode Analysis package

For those short on time, fear not, we are here to help!

Our Postcode Analysis package delivers meaningful audience and visitor insights by converting postcode data to the regions most important to you and visualising that data using tables, charts and ‘choropleths’ (shaded maps).

This can help you understand your reach and identify ‘blackspots’ where you could grow engagement.

We can also measure how many people travelled from outside your area to experience your work. This can help with reporting your impact in terms of cultural tourism and economic impact.

For example, in 2017, Arts West (an alliance of arts organisations in Melbourne’s West) commissioned Patternmakers to undertake a postcode analysis project. This enabled them to measure their combined reach across Melbourne’s West, and identify opportunities to work together to engage with its diverse communities.

Why postcode mapping is valuable

Packages start at $1,200, depending on how many breakdowns you need, and how frequently you want to report.

This can be a worthwhile investment for some organisations, as it provides:

Provides useful insights for internal and external reporting
Demonstrates your reach across a region of interest, for reporting and advocacy work
Helps to develop campaigns targeted to particular areas and regions
Can free up your time to concentrate on other priorities, if you outsource this work.

You can download a sample report to see how it looks.

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Want to know more?

Click here to request a price list or find out more about DIY mapping.

About the Author

Brooke Boyce
Research Manager

Brooke is experienced in delivering complex quantitative and qualitative research projects, and is our in-house expert on all things methodological.

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Patternmakers 23/9/18 Patternmakers 23/9/18

Patternmakers: who are we?

Patternmakers is a research agency dedicated to culture, creativity and community. Here’s a bit more information about who we are and what we’re about.

Who are we?

Patternmakers is a research agency and insight service for creative businesses and cultural organisations.

Our vision is for a vibrant, creative, strong data culture in the creative industries. Every day, our team wakes up ready to build the evidence you need to lead your organisations to the next level. Through independent research, nuanced evaluation and clear analysis, we create insight you can rely on for strategic planning, marketing and investment.

It's our mission to inform, inspire and excite you with the possibilities of data, and ultimately to see creativity flourish.

Our approach

We create bespoke projects to suit the research needs of our clients. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative methods, and squeezing maximum insight from existing data, we design elegant solutions for complex topics. We’re methodology-agnostic, which means that we hand-pick the most appropriate tools for the project at hand.

Our methods are designed with reference to AMSRS guidelines and we’re QPMR-accredited. We also specialise in accessible research processes.

We take privacy seriously and design our processes to respect both research managers and participants.

Workshops

We offer training on research and evaluation, and we make it fun. Our past training partners include Creative Victoria and Creative Plus Business.

We also offer workshops to help you develop research frameworks and data roadmaps.

Our team

We're trained in research, economics and finance, so you don't have to worry about choosing the right consultant. We're also writers, facilitators and designers adept at collaborating, and building your capacity while we work.

We have a small core team and a network of trusted freelance associates and collaborators. We all work from home, travelling regularly around the country, and meeting for regular co-working sprints. This approach helps us to keep our overheads down, and our rates low; while offering specialist skills to add value at key points.

We stay up to date with the changes you need to know about, and give you the lowdown without the technical talk. We attend the methodology conferences and pay the membership fees. We know what ‘best practice’ looks like and how things work in reality.

We get it. We share your passion for cultural expression, vibrant neighbourhoods and meaningful creative experiences. Most importantly, we know how to do research and analysis in an engaging way to capture creative minds and respect the creative process.

Accessibility

At Patternmakers we strive to make our work as accessible as possible. We’re always thinking about how we can make other aspects of our work more accessible.

Here we share our intent for all future projects, and how we will consider accessibility and inclusion at every stage of our work.

Giving back

We strive to engage in relevant research to inform the arts and culture sector as a whole. By collaborating with us on your latest research project, you are helping provide valuable data and insights to creative industries.

We make data fun, and we’d love you to join us.

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them through to info@thepatternmakers.com.au

About the Author

Penny Cannan
Communications Business Administrator

Penny has a background in Art and Design, Communications, Brand Identity and Project Management.

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Patternmakers 4/9/18 Patternmakers 4/9/18

The role of evaluation: a Patternmakers internship

As part of her internship with Patternmakers, Bianca Mulet is undertaking a research project into the role of evaluation in the arts and culture sector. Bianca is a UTS student studying a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a major in Social Inquiry (Social and political sciences).

This winter we have hosted our first intern, Bianca Mulet. Bianca is a talented UTS student studying a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a major in Social Inquiry (Social and political sciences). As part of her internship with us she is undertaking a research project into the role of evaluation in the arts and culture sector.

Her project involves a series of interviews with arts sector leaders, policy makers and researchers. She'll be publishing the results on this website before the end of 2018 (sign up to the newsletter below to make sure you hear about the findings).

The project

Bianca aims to investigate to what extent evaluation is impacting the arts and culture sector, and how it can strengthen the work of an arts organisation.

Her research will also provide an evaluation of Patternmakers’ work with past clients like the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australian Theatre for Young People and the Australia Council for the Arts.

Background

Data is now regarded as this century’s driving commodity, generating enormous shifts in science, business, economics, media and politics. While data and technological advancements have made us fluent in online shopping, social networking and entertainment, Bianca's interest lies in how data is reshaping the way we access, interact with and make meaning out of art and culture.

Methodology

The primary research method Bianca will employ is one-on-one interviews with arts leaders, researchers and policy makers.

Bianca is exploring the following questions in her interviews:

What is the impact of engaging in research, data analysis and evaluation?
How has Patternmakers’ process of research and evaluation aided in meeting the outcomes of creative projects?
What social, cultural or political issues have arisen from the gathering, interpreting and recording of data? How does this have the potential to inform policy making?

Background research on the topic will inform the interview questions and provide the groundwork for eventual thematic analysis. Bianca will gather secondary data from news outlets, industry publications, blogs and academic dissertations to broaden my understanding of the issue through economic, political, social and/or cultural frameworks.

Stay tuned

We're excited to be hosting Bianca and supporting her research on this important topic. We look forward to sharing the results of Bianca's research project once complete.

About the Author

Penny Cannan
Communications and Business Administrator

Penny has a background in Art and Design, Communications, Brand Identity and Project Management.

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Patternmakers 31/8/18 Patternmakers 31/8/18

Are we ready for Generation Alpha?

Lately I’ve been thinking hard about how young people engage with art, culture and creativity. As mother of a one year old, my life (and arts participation patterns) have changed dramatically in the past year. Late nights at the theatre and gigs have been replaced with mornings at the museum, reading stories and pushing a pram through community festivals.

Late nights at the theatre and gigs have been replaced with mornings at the museum, reading stories and pushing a pram through community festivals.

Leo loved the immersive sound and animation in Ryoji Ikeda’s immersive exhibition Micro | Macro at Carriageworks. He enjoyed touching (and drooling all over) the art blanket at the MCA’s Art Baby class for mums and bubs. And the whole family enjoyed a trip to Mona Foma, the summertime festival of Tasmania’s excellent Museum of Old and New Art with food, drink and music aplenty.

What will engage the next generation?

It got me thinking about the kinds of experiences that kids of his generation will have access to.

Will they be in theatres, shopping malls, schools or virtual worlds? Will he be a viewer, a player, a protagonist or a performer?

What kinds of experiences will bring him to tears, send goosebumps down his spine and help him make sense of the worlds he inhabits?

New research in the UK with almost 2,000 young people suggests that today’s young people recognise quite different definitions to previous generations.

Arts Connect, Morris Hargreaves McIntyre and We are Frilly found that young people associate 'art' with visual arts but arts also includes graffiti, fashion, animation, and tattooing/piercing - all of which were more widely defined as art than novels, poetry and opera.

Culture, they found, is a broader concept for them, which includes identity. They do relate to sector recognised forms such as festivals, historic sites, carnivals and museums, but also wider forms such as fashion and TV, learning a language and food.

The Australia Council's arts participation research indicates one of the biggest trends is the rise of creative participation, relative to receptive participation as an audience member.

More and more, young people want to express their own creativity, learn new skills and access immersive experiences, and the trajectory is not slowing down.

Are we ready?

So how are our artists, organisations and major institutions adapting to these changes?

I suspect we could be doing more.

Research is one of the best ways for us to identify trends and anticipate the changes that will be needed. But we also need to be testing new concepts and experimenting with new forms of engagement.

One great creative industries example I saw recently is PlayingField, a 'game jam' where teams of professional game developers are paired with young people aged 10 to 13 and tasked with realising their game idea.

The two-day experience has been designed to educate young people about the wide variety of roles available in the industry, whilst giving the young participants a chance to devise a game idea and see it brought to life in the hands of inspiring role models.

The impact of programs like this could be profound.

Research with young people

This year we are lucky to be working with The MCA to evaluate their GENEXT program for 12-18 year olds, working with the MCAs youth committee to design & deliver the a methodology that will trace what ideas past participants have taken into their adult lives.

We are working with Barking Gecko Theatre Company to explore the impact of their Ensembles program for 5 to 17 year olds on things like confidence, empathy and relationships.

We are also lucky to be again working with UTS, Australia’s #1 young university to explore the role of art on campus, and how it can support reflection, knowledge sharing and debate among students, researchers and the public.

I can’t wait to see what we find out about how young people want to engage with the arts now, and where things are headed next.

Maybe now I've got a vested interest!

If you have an idea about how research and evaluation can help unearth new possibilities for young people and the arts, get in touch with the team at info@thepatternmakers.com.au.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 24/8/18 Patternmakers 24/8/18

Beyond the Bio: Dr Catherine Davis

The Patternmakers team is expanding - meet Catherine Davis! Join us as we take few moments to go beyond the bio and get to know our team's newest addition.

The Patternmakers team is expanding - meet Dr Catherine Davis! Join us as we take few moments to go beyond the bio and get to know our team's newest addition.

What is your role at Patternmakers?

I’m Patternmakers’ Senior Research Analyst which essentially means I spend most of my time analysing data and turning the findings into meaningful insights!

What does your average day look like?

My days are wonderfully varied. I might spend several hours in the morning analysing qualitative or quantitative data for a program evaluation and then start doing the fieldwork for an audience research project in the afternoon.

What do you love about your job?

Although I’ve only been working at Patternmakers for a month, I love waking up every day knowing that the research we’re conducting can help strengthen the arts and creative industries in Australia, and providing evidence of the importance of the arts in society.

What is your favourite type of cultural experience and why?

How do I choose just one!? Well, firstly I would say the theatre. My dad is a theatre studies professor, so while most of my childhood friends would be taken to the park after school, my younger sister and I were dragged to watch the latest Shakespearean play. I remember being delighted and enthralled as I watched the characters come to life before my eyes. I also love visiting art galleries. The first time art really moved me was when I went into the Rothko room at the Tate Modern in London and became instantly tearful. As Rothko himself once said: ‘A painting is not a picture of an experience; it is an experience.’ I love how art has the power to transport us through time and space, to challenge us, and to engender change in social, political and cultural issues.

What are some of your non-work-related goals for the rest of 2018?

I’d love to start learning a new language – possibly Japanese. I also want to take up a ceramics or painting course. I’d like to read more fiction books. Recently I’ve found myself reading mostly non-fiction. For example, right now I’m reading ‘Curing Affluenza: How to Buy Less Stuff and Save the World’ by Richard Denniss. It’s such a vital book for our times but not exactly a light read before bed.

Favourite city of the most interesting place you've visited or travelled?

One of the most interesting places I’ve ever visited was the Northern Territory, in particular the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Waking up at dawn to watch the sun come up over Uluru was truly one of the most magical and spiritual experiences I’ve ever had.

What is your greatest personal achievement or something you feel truly proud of?

My greatest achievement is probably completing my PhD last year. I used a mixed methods research design to uncover the role that online communities play in the lives of new Italian migrants in Australia.

It was such a roller-coaster ride requiring diligence, unrelenting commitment and endless cups of tea! But I finished my thesis on time and along the way I learnt so much about research inquiry and about myself too.

About the Author

Penny Cannan
Business Administrator

Penny has a background in Art and Design, Communications, Brand Identity and Project Management.

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Patternmakers 22/7/18 Patternmakers 22/7/18

Patternmakers access statement

We recently worked with our Senior Research Advisor, Accessibility, Morwenna Collett, to develop an Access Statement for Melbourne Fringe. Here we share our intent for all future projects regarding consideration of accessibility and inclusion at every stage of our work.

INTRODUCTION

At Patternmakers we strive to make our work as accessible as possible. We recently worked together develop an Access Statement for our work with Melbourne Fringe to evaluate their Access & Inclusion program.

It got us thinking about how we can make other aspects of our work more accessible.

Here we share our intent for ALL future projects, and how we will consider accessibility and inclusion at every stage of our work.

ACCESS STATEMENT

Access is important to us. We’re committed to providing equal access to all stakeholders to participate in each project we undertake.

When undertaking a new project, we’ll identify all stakeholders and their needs early in the process. When communicating with stakeholders and participants, we’ll ask everyone about their access requirements, and set aside the resources to meet those requirements effectively. Thinking more broadly than the purely technical aspects of accessibility, we’ll be open, welcoming and encourage people to give us feedback, so we can adjust our approach accordingly.

During our fieldwork, we make sure we establish informed consent to participate and we commit to meeting AMSRS guidelines for consent.

When drafting documents, we’ll use a minimum of 12 point font, high contrasts between font and background colour and Plain English (sometimes with the addition of Easy English) wherever possible.

We understand the importance of considering time of day, duration and location of our fieldwork, and that sometimes assistance may be required from support workers, carers or parents for any fieldwork activities involving people with disability.

When inviting people to meet with us face to face, we’ll ask them whether they have any access requirements and make it clear that alternative participation options can be provided if required. We’ll then do everything within our capacity to ensure these requirements are met so that the person can fully participate without disadvantage.

When selecting a venue to meet in, we’ll meet in venues that we know are fully accessible where possible. We’ll take into consideration access requirements that we’re aware of and if necessary, seek advice from the person we’re meeting with as to where might be an appropriate space for them.

When conducting surveys, we’ll ensure that surveys are designed in a universally accessible manner, using an accessible platform, with alternative options for those who may need to respond using a different format.

Improving accessibility throughout our work will be ongoing journey and one we’ll continue to enhance and seek feedback on. We’re aware that by conducting our work in a manner that is as accessible as possible, we’re not only opening doors for more people to engage with us, but we’re also aiming to improve the experience for all people that we interact with throughout our work and daily life.

To find out more about our experience conducting research with people with access needs, check out our previous posts on ‘Inclusive and Accessible research: what we learnt from evaluating Unlimited’ and ‘Is evaluation truly accessible?’

If you have questions or suggestions about access in research, please get in touch with us at info@thepatternmakers.com.au

About the Author

Morwenna Collett
Senior Research Advisor, Accessibility

Morwenna is an experienced leader, project manager, lecturer and consultant. She brings significant arts and disability expertise to the Patternmakers team.

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Patternmakers 21/6/18 Patternmakers 21/6/18

Evaluating with the next generation

In 2018, Patternmakers is working with the Museum of Contemporary Art to research the impact of their GENEXT program on young people now, and later in life.

The team have developed a bespoke methodology to empower the MCA Youth Committee to co-design the evaluation, and lead creative data collection exercises throughout the year.

In 2018, Patternmakers will be working with the Museum of Contemporary Art to research the impact of their GENEXT program on young people now, and later in life.

GENEXT is a peer-led, festival-style event, programmed by the MCA’s Youth Committee exclusively for young people aged 12–18. It’s inspired by the artists, works and ideas that shape the MCA’s exhibition program throughout the year. You can read more about the program here.

The program has been running since 2005 – and has seen over 26,948 young people through their doors (but who’s counting!) from across Greater Sydney and beyond – from as far afield as Wollongong, the Blue Mountains and Newcastle.

Because of this reach, we’re really excited to hear what impact attending GENEXT has in the short term, and over the long. Think: self-expression, confidence, empathy, cultural and social awareness, friendships. Also think: challenging conversations, visual literacy, and diverse careers inside and outside of the arts, all influenced by the program.

GENEXT is all about peer-led engagement, and so we knew we would need a bespoke methodology for the project. It would need to be owned by young people, and combine rigorous research techniques with creative processes to make it as engaging and meaningful as possible.

In April we met with MCA stakeholders to co-design the evaluation, including Young Creatives Coordinator Jo Higgins, artist educators and past and present Youth Committee members.

Co-designing the evaluation: Jo Higgins, Dylan Mighell and Jodie Whalen

Some key features of our approach from here are:

Providing opportunities for Youth Committee members to learn and take part in the research process, and a couple will be joining us in the field: collecting data and conducting interviews
Collecting data in creative ways: in addition to depth interviews, focus groups and an online survey, we are working with the team to hear from attendees through workshop activities at some of the GENEXTs this year.

On a side note: If you ever attended GENEXT in your younger days AND like filling out user-friendly, accessible surveys, let us know. We can make sure you get on the list.

Strengthening, growing and sharing the different ways arts and culture organisations engage young people is very close to our hearts – especially with two new little Patternmakers born into our team in the last year. And we’re thrilled to be working with the MCA on this project.

Keep your eyes peeled early 2019 to hear about the findings.

OTHER READING

If you can’t wait until then, but are passionate about the arts and young people, check out our report on the impact the Australian Theatre for Young People is having on the mental health and wellbeing of young people here.

About the Author

Brooke Boyce
Research Manager

Brooke is experienced in delivering complex quantitative and qualitative research projects, and is our in-house expert on all things methodological.

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Patternmakers 9/5/18 Patternmakers 9/5/18

Join our merry band

We’re on a mission to inform, inspire and empower creative thinkers with data. If this sounds like your bag, register your interest to stay in the loop with future opportunities. From full-time employees to the occasional freelance gig, we’d like to hear from you.

We are looking to build our network of Patternmakers in 2018.

If you're an analyst, project manager, writer, designer or facilitator who is excited by data & creativity, we'd love to hear from you.

Whether it's full-time employment, an internship, or the occasional freelance project, we could have opportunities right for you.

Read on for more information about how we work, or skip straight to the point and register your interest now.

More about Patternmakers

Established in 2015, and trading as Patternmakers since 2016, we are a research agency and insight service for creators.

Much of our work is made up of consulting to arts and cultural organisations. Our clients include some of the largest cultural institutions in Australia, as well as smaller artist collectives and producing companies. Our project work covers program evaluation, audience research, data analysis and evidence-based planning.

We are also building an Education and Events program, to help creators build skills in research, analysis & evaluation. This May, we will be launching a Data Discussion series with Data after Dark at Vivid Ideas. We also deliver training modules in-house for organisations like NIDA, and deliver guest lectures for subjects like Festivals Management at the University of Sydney.

The team

Our founder, Tandi Palmer Williams, is an alumni of the Australia Council's Arts Leaders Program, and is a trusted advisor of senior managers and artistic leaders across the sector.

The core team includes Research Manager Brooke Boyce, Business Administrator Penny Cannan and Operations Manager Jodie Bombardier.

We also have several Advisors, who work with us on a contract basis, including consultant Peter Matthews, researcher Bridget Jones and disability expert Morwenna Collett.

We also work with writers, editors, designers and programmers on a regular basis.

What we offer

Our core team and contractors all work from home, or a location of their choice. We meet regularly at client sites across the country, and for co-working 'sprints' in Sydney.

Flexible conditions mean the team can choose their own hours. We have a set of values that we hold dear - and we always strive to delight our clients, colleagues and partners.

We offer a competitive hourly rate, plus superannuation and all insurances.

To find out more about opportunities to work with us, please register your interest now.

For any questions, please contact info@thepatternmakers.com.au

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 10/4/18 Patternmakers 10/4/18

Exploring the future of touring in Victoria

Throughout April 2018, our team will be travelling across Victoria to conduct consultations as a part of Creative Victoria's Review of Touring and Engagement.

This month, our team will be travelling across Victoria to conduct consultations as a part of Creative Victoria's Review of Touring and Engagement.

I’m delighted that Patternmakers has been commissioned to conduct the Review, with advisor Professor Peter Matthews.

Throughout April and May, we will be conducting fieldwork across Victoria, including inner and outer metropolitan Melbourne, and six regional locations. I'm looking forward to seeing how tours are helping regional communities enjoy music, theatre, dance, visual art, heritage collections, multi-arts and heritage collections that they may not otherwise have access to.

The Review presents an exciting opportunity to take a fresh look at the touring environment and identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness, inclusiveness and viability of touring across the State.

As a national research agency with our base in Sydney, I hope we will bring a fresh perspective. Our team is looking forward to building on our past projects related to regional Victorian arts & culture, including the Road Work Intrinsic Impact Study for Performing Lines, and Audience Development Planning for The Cube, Wodonga.

Those who have worked with us will know that our team has a collaborative style, combining rigorous research techniques with creative thinking to identify solutions. Some key features of our approach to this Review are:

Working collaboratively with the Creative Victoria Steering Group to co-design the Review
Combining both qualitative and quantitative research techniques to ensure future models are evidence-based
Inviting stakeholders to participate either face to face via a series of open forums, or by submitting written response to an online survey.

A major focus for this review will be exploring options for new touring and funding investment models. If you have ideas about the future of touring in Victoria, please head over to the Creative Victoria website to find out more about how you can participate in the Review.

We are also committed to hearing from people of all backgrounds, and those with access requirements. For any questions, please contact info@thepatternmakers.com.au or Sue Doyle, Manager, Regional Partnerships Arts Sector Investment via sue.doyle@ecodev.vic.gov.au.

Image: David LaChappelle, The Last Supper (Ballarat International Foto Biennale

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

Be in the loop

Categories

Patternmakers 19/3/18 Patternmakers 19/3/18

The reality of touring contemporary performances in regional Australia

Between 2015 and 2017, Performing Lines worked with Patternmakers, Wolf Brown and presenters across Australia to explore the audience response to three touring theatre productions. Evidence collected in this study confirms the value of contemporary Australian performance for regional audiences.

There is a complex touring ecology in Australia, which works hard to bring contemporary Australian performances to regional communities. However, if ticket sales are anything to go by, these works often fail to resonate with market. Or do they? Our research is shedding new light on this important issue.

About this project

For the past three years, we've worked with Performing Lines, Wolf Brown and presenters across Australia to explore the audience response to three touring theatre productions. The productions were part of the Australia Council’s Road Work initiative, designed to enable regional audiences to engage with contemporary, original thought-provoking new Australian work.

Although regional presenters found each of the three productions challenging to market to their communities (and many reported disappointing ticket sales), people who did attend experienced a wide range of positive impacts, like captivation, emotional resonance and importantly, aesthetic growth.

The results of the final phase of the study are now available on Issuu, and the results are well worth a read, for anyone involved in regional performing arts.

The results

Three quarters (72%) of the 1,640 respondents said they were exposed to a new style of theatre they didn’t know about previously and 77% said show exceeded their expectations. Almost all of those surveyed said they are likely to attend theatre in future (89%), and those that had positive experiences are the most likely to.

The results show that what happens before and after a show could be important. Across the three tours, factors associated with above average experiences included reading a review or article about the play beforehand, discussing the show ‘intensely’ afterwards and attending a post-show Q&A. The results also suggest a strong association between captivation, overall experience and likelihood to attend in future.

Our conclusions

For us, the evidence collected in this study confirmed the value of contemporary Australian performance for regional audiences - and provides some solid leads for strengthening tours. However, we believe that if such performances are to fulfil their potential in regional Australia, more work needs to be done. Greater investment is needed to help funders, tour coordinators, producers and presenters work together to engage more members of the community and build audiences over the long-term.

What do you think is needed to help great Australian works reach their potential in regional areas? We'd love to hear your ideas.

Want more information?

Head to the full Intrinsic Impact Study to find out more about exploring the intrinsic impacts of Road Work performances on regional audiences.

Please get in touch with us via info@thepatternmakers.com.au for more information about this study, the intrinsic impact tools, or our work in regional Australia.

Image by Sarah Walker

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 19/3/18 Patternmakers 19/3/18

Evaluation Reflections: Performing Lines' Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator

The team recently completed a collaborative three-year project with Performing Lines, to assist them to evaluate their Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator position.

Our Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams sat down with Karilyn Brown and Narelle Lewis of Performing Lines, to pick their brains about the project.

The team recently completed a collaborative three-year project with Performing Lines, to assist them to evaluate their Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator position.

For those not familiar with Performing Lines, the organisation produces new and transformative performances, and initiates creative and strategic opportunities for diverse contemporary artists whose work pushes boundaries and sparks new conversations.

They created the Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator role to assist presenters to develop closer connections with their local Indigenous communities, build their Indigenous audiences, and broaden the reach of Indigenous theatre and dance work being presented in venues across the country.

Our Managing Director Tandi Palmer Williams sat down with Karilyn Brown and Narelle Lewis of Performing Lines, to pick their brains about the project.

What were the main drivers for Performing Lines to initiate this evaluation?

Karilyn: In 2015 Performing Lines was successful in securing Australia Council funding for an Indigenous community engagement pilot project, to be implemented in association with the Blak Lines tour of Head Full of Love. We were delighted to appoint Denise Wilson, a proud Aboriginal woman from the Kamilaroi Nation (around Walhallow, NSW) as Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator.

We thought that articulating the benefit and value of this role and the outcomes from the project would be important for the presenters, Performing Lines and the Australia Council. To our knowledge, there was no other program like this in the performing arts in Australia at the time, and we were keen to develop a model that could be applied for future Blak Lines tours, as well as for our non-Indigenous tours in order to continue to build engagement with local Indigenous communities.

Narelle: We hoped the project may create a blueprint that other organisations may be able to follow in instigating their own community engagement programs, and saw a thorough evaluation as a way of testing this idea.

Why did you choose to work with a research agency?

Karilyn: We wanted professional expertise in the development of the framework for the project's evaluation and report, so that Denise and the team could start collating and compiling relevant information and data from the outset.

What is the main thing Performing Lines has taken away from the research?

Karilyn: Following the pilot, we were fortunate to be in a position to continue the ICEC role with Denise on a part time basis. She worked on the 2016 Blak Lines tour of Sugarland, and the 2017 tour of Saltbush, as well as taking on some Associate Producing responsibilities working with Narelle. We set aside resources to create the three evaluations as a suite of case studies for the performing arts sector in Australia.

Narelle: Denise and I presented insights from the program at the Australian Performing Arts Centres Conference in 2016, and Head Full of Love, the first tour in the study, was also awarded best regional tour of the year.

The evaluation was also featured in the Australia Council’s Building Audiences research in 2017, as a case study of interest to the wider sector.

Karilyn: It’s important to have these kinds of evaluations available in a public forum rather than tucked away in the archives as acquittals.

For any questions about this work, please contact us at info@thepatternmakers.com.au

You can read more about this project in the Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinator Evaluation report.

Image: Saltbush – photo courtesy of Performing Lines

About the Author

Penny Cannan
Business Administrator

Penny has a background in Art and Design, Communications, Brand Identity and Project Management. Her broad experience brings a fresh perspective to the team and her passion for all things creative meshes with the Patternmakers vibe.

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Patternmakers 29/5/17 Patternmakers 29/5/17

Vivid Sydney for the data art enthusiast

Vivid Sydney is back from May 26 to June 17 and will be pushing more boundaries than ever – from poetic multisensory installations dealing with complex neurological conditions, to panel talks guaranteed to keep you at the edge of your seat.

by Nicole Pierre

Vivid Sydney is back from May 26 to June 17 and will be pushing more boundaries than ever – from poetic multi-sensory installations dealing with complex neurological conditions, to panel talks guaranteed to keep you at the edge of your seat.

Here are our picks.

Ideas

Vivid Ideas is bound to provide more thought-provoking and exciting discussions than ever, spanning from talks on exploring art in the algorithms, and insightful career development advice for creative professionals, to industry updates from thought leaders like award-winning director Oliver Stone and founder of Buzzfeed Jonah Peretti.

Art & algorithms – coding to create

This panel talk moderated by Dr Martin Tomitsch from the University of Sydney’s Design Lab will feature key game-changers in Australia’s digital creative space. Computer-generated algorithmic art is not a new phenomenon (it’s been around since the 1960s), but we’re hoping for some stimulating conversation on the marriage of creativity and computer science. Special guests include the engineering community manager at Google Australia, Sally-Ann Williams, and co-founder at Rising Sun Pictures, Wayne Lewis.

Have your Notes apps (or notebooks if you’re old school – we’re not judging) at the ready for discussion on future of AI-made art.

When: 6 June
Time: 17:30-20:30
Where: International Convention Centre

How to champion innovation in your team and the workplace

The business of creativity is serious stuff. We expect industry thought leader and founder of The Ideas Bodega, Nicole Velik to instil some of her creative wisdom. Useful for those of us with big ideas but unsure on how to translate them into real actions. Nicole teaches that you don’t have to work at Google or Facebook, just to get your creative ideas heard and realised. We’re looking forward to hear her tips and advice on how arts professionals like ourselves, can also embrace innovation in our workplaces.

When: 8 June
Time: 11:00-13:00
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art

Battle of big thinking

Nine advertising execs will be at loggerheads in the ‘Battle of big thinking’, challenging conventional thinking in the marketing & communications sector. Get inspired with what pioneers in the advertising and communications industry have to say, featuring creative director at J. Walter Thompson, Jay Morgan, and chief strategy officer at Saatchi & Saatchi, Kate Smither.

When: 6 June
Time: 17:00-19:00
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art

Lights

Chromesthesia

Chromesthesia is defined as a neurological condition in which heard sounds involuntarily evoke an experience of colour. Duo Harry Hock and Jonathon Bolitho explore a condition which is so difficult to put into words for those living with chromesthesia, into a poetic body of work filled with aural imagery. Some prolific artists who had this condition include Vincent Van Gogh, David Hockney, and Wassily Kandinsky. The installation features a shipping container where participants enter and experience bands of colour that correspond to a specific sound frequency. We challenge you to drop from your preconceived judgments, and unconscious bias’, to immerse yourself in an enthralling multi-sensory experience.

When: 26 May to 17 June
Time: 18:00-23:00
Where: The Rocks

Landscape of the mind

Natalie Robinson and mental research institute, The Black Dog Institute team up to create a thought provoking installation named Landscape of the mind. It involves a series of life-sized human sculptures are scribbled with body maps which were drawn by participants in a real study conducted by the Black Dog Institute. Robinson aims to challenge society’s negative stigma of mental health through giving participant’s the rare opportunity to enter others’ personal experiences of anxiety.

When: 26 May to 17 June
Time: 18:00-23:00
Where: Campbell’s Cove

Future city smart city

If you’re planning to dodge the crowds in the CBD, head to Chatswood's concourse to view animations of airborne homes and water farms harvesting clouds. A multi-sensory experience is created to offer viewers a glimpse into not only a future world of possibilities and the Internet of things – but also one that is sustainable. Despite the project seeming like rhetoric of the government’s ‘Smart cities plan’, the installation actually raises important questions for everyday citizens to think about what sustainable living means to them.

When: 26 May to 17 June
Time: 5:30-10:30
Where: Chatswood