Evaluation for Cultural and Civic Impact

I specialise in evaluation for arts, culture, heritage, place and creative health programmes where impact is complex and accountability matters. My evaluation work is embedded in place, led by people and grounded in cultural practice, supporting organisations to evidence impact, learn with confidence and make the case for future investment.

I bring over 30 years’ experience across the arts, culture and heritage sector, with a strong track record of designing evaluation frameworks that balance funder requirements with meaningful insight. My approach is creative, participatory and strategic, and I am often commissioned to design evaluation systems, deliver insight reports, or support teams through training and capacity-building. I also work as a Critical Friend, evaluator or reflective partner on funded programmes and strategic initiatives.

I work with organisations to leave a lasting legacy of evaluation practice beyond the life of a single project. This includes embedding reflective approaches across teams, supporting internal communities of practice, and building the confidence and capability of staff to gather, understand and use insight in their ongoing work.

What I Offer

I offer evaluation services that support organisations to evidence impact, learn effectively and meet funder requirements with confidence. My work spans the full lifecycle of programmes and projects, from early design through to final reporting and legacy planning.

I am typically commissioned to:

  • Design bespoke evaluation frameworks aligned to organisational aims and funder requirements

  • Develop proportionate qualitative and quantitative monitoring tools

  • Deliver evaluation, insight and learning reports that are clear, credible and usable

  • Provide training, workshops and capacity-building to support confident evaluation practice

  • Act as an independent evaluator or Critical Friend on funded programmes and strategic initiatives

Alongside commissioned evaluation work, I support organisations to embed evaluation into everyday practice. This includes building internal confidence and capability, supporting communities of practice, and helping teams use insight to inform strategy, funding and decision-making over the long term

Place-Based Evaluation

I specialise in evaluation that is embedded in place and responsive to local context. This includes placemaking, public realm and civic culture programmes, where outcomes often relate to belonging, identity, participation and social value. My work supports partnerships to evidence impact at neighbourhood, town and city scale, and to align cultural activity with wider civic, regeneration and policy priorities.

Museums, Heritage and Cultural Anchors

I work extensively with museums, galleries and heritage organisations to design evaluation frameworks that sit confidently within institutional life. This includes evaluation of exhibitions, interpretation, learning and participation, capital projects and organisational change. My approach supports organisations to evidence impact for funders while generating insight that is genuinely useful for programming, audiences and long-term strategy.

Creative health, wellbeing and community-led practice

I evaluate creative health and community-led programmes operating across culture, heritage, health and social contexts. My work captures wellbeing, agency and lived experience through participatory and trauma-informed approaches, supporting organisations to demonstrate impact while prioritising care, inclusion and ethical practice. This includes work with priority and seldom-heard communities across age, disability, culture and socio-economic background.

Leadership, learning and partnership evaluation

I design evaluation for leadership development, organisational learning and multi-partner programmes where change is emergent and relational. This includes evaluation of partnerships, networks and capacity-building initiatives, supporting organisations to understand how ways of working, decision-making and collaboration contribute to longer-term impact and sustainability.

An evolving collection of practical evaluation tools and frameworks

The Magpie Collection brings together evaluation tools, templates and guides developed through my work across arts, culture, heritage, place and creative health programmes. The resources are designed to support proportionate, meaningful and funder-aware evaluation in real-world contexts.

Tools can be used individually or combined within a wider evaluation framework, depending on organisational need and capacity. The collection continues to grow as new projects unfold and is used by arts organisations, museums, civic teams and community-led groups across the UK.

Resources are available as individual tools, as a complete collection, or as a bespoke selection tailored to organisational priorities.

The Magpie Collection

  • Citizen Evaluator

    A flexible evaluation approach that enables participants and project leads to act as evaluators. Available as a lite or full model, with supporting training, facilitation and planning materials.

  • Front of House Evaluation Toolkit

    A practical set of roles, tools and training resources designed to embed evaluation into everyday visitor engagement. Includes comment card builder templates, methods flowcharts and analysis planning guides.

  • Hyperlocal Community Evaluation Framework

    A structured toolkit for embedding hyperlocal community perspectives into evaluation. Includes a readiness checklist, phased implementation plan and self-assessment scoring tool.

  • Qualitative and Quantitative Method Menu

    A curated list of over 200 qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods, including Q methodology, adapted for arts, culture, heritage and place-based work.

  • Placemaking Evaluation Tools

    Targeted tools and guidance for evaluating place-based programmes, public realm strategies and co-created placemaking initiatives. Designed for partnership working and local authority contexts.