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Evaluation - The Open College of the Arts

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Evaluation

Following on from posts about staging exhibitions, I wanted to round the series off by writing a little bit about evaluating the experience. I’ll assume that it’s for a small solo show of your work, but a lot of the points could be applied to group shows or residencies and so on.
It’s likely, if you’ve had any kind of financial support for your enterprise, that the funder will require a formal evaluation document before releasing the final instalment of any bursary. As with applications, do this in the way that the funder suggests. If you have to account for the money, make sure you get receipts / invoices and so on. Funders are bound by rules and may refuse to pay some of the money if you can’t prove it went to the right place. Read through their guidelines ahead of the your show to find out what they want you to report on. It may be that you have to keep a headcount of the audience or supply copies of reviews that appear in print or online. If you’ve managed to secure any other media exposure (a spot on the radio, for example), then do your best to get a copy of it. Funding bodies love knowing that things they’ve supported have made an impact, so proving that you reached beyond the gallery itself is always sensible.
Even if there is no funding body requiring an evaluation, collect information anyway and take some time to reflect on the experience. You might want to work out the cost of the exhibition. Costs might include gallery hire, promotional material, framing, transport, paying invigilators, catering for a private view and so on. If you’re lucky enough to sell work, make a note of this, too.
There are — broadly — two kinds of information you can collect for evaluation. The first is quantitative: stuff you can count or measure, like how many people came to the opening event and, after that, to the show itself or how much money it all costed or raised.
What’s trickier to ascertain is the qualitative information. This is information based largely on opinion and feeling. Think about how smoothly the experience went. Could you have been better prepared or raised awareness more effectively? Do you need to adjust your mailing list? Was there too much or too little work? Were the prices right? Did you feel you had enough time to install / uninstall properly? There aren’t really any right or wrong answers to these questions, but try and articulate your opinions or feelings so that you can make changes for the future.
You may also find that talking to the audience will be useful. If you’re invigilating the show, it pays to introduce yourself as the artist or curator as the public will often want to ask about the work. Use this as a way of gauging opinion and make a note of what they say. They may have connections worth exploiting or even want to buy a work, but are too shy to ask.
It’s really important to acknowledge what you did wrong, or what went wrong. Try and come up with solutions or ways that you could have prepared for the unexpected. Funders want you to be honest about your mistakes and short-comings, but always turn them into a positive by writing about what you’d do next time.
The results of your thinking ought to be geared to making any subsequent show easier to stage by giving you a clear idea of what actually happened. Evaluating the experience turns an exhibition into a learning experience and one you can draw on in the future. Don’t worry if you’ve had a bad experience, and we’ve all had that, as there ought to be a lot to learn from.


Posted by author: Bryan

5 thoughts on “Evaluation

  • Very timely Bryan. I have just taken down an exhibition and have the ‘Memory’ show still running – blatant plug here: http://weareoca.com/photography/study-visit-memory/
    However one of the questions I raised with myself was how was I going to measure success? In the first show – as part of Oxford Artweeks, (self funded, sourced, curated and manned; and featuring mainly work developed as part of the course) was it, as you say, a numbers game – traffic, sales, contacts – or more about conversations and exchanges? Being there and engaging is sometimes a nerve racking experience, but I feel almost always worth it and if it paid its way then that’s a bonus?
    The ‘Memory’ show will be harder to discern success as we (fellow student Penny and I) won’t be there for most of the time and will have to rely on feedback, and it is a non-selling show. Clearly the experience of processes of curating/hanging/marketing/negotiation &c. will have been invaluable, but wonder if we have missed anything?

    • Thanks for the prompt reply. It opens up a few interesting points. Some things are easier to measure than others. Head-counting is the obvious one.
      I think my basic attitude would be to suggest working out what needs to be measured (for funders) and what you would like to measure (interactions, for example). Formal evaluation ought to put you in a position to make a better job of it next time. It might simply mean having a frank discussion with the other participants / curator / gallerist to go over the snags. What could have been done better? Things like installation timetable and mundane stuff about how work is mounted / framed and fixed to walls. Some of this can seem mundane, but it’s important if you hope improve.
      It’s worth meditating on how else a show could have been hung. I was talking to a friend on the last day of his show yesterday and while the hang was smart and elegant, and the turnout had been good and sales had been made, I wondered if there were another way to put the work together to make an installation, not an exhibition.
      One way to trigger a useful evaluation might be to ask someone you trust to go to the show and write notes for you to work from. Get them to ask questions or point out things that don’t seem right. It could end up being an agenda for discussion.

  • If you have a budget that could cover it, getting someone to write a review is worth considering. Artists Newsletter used to have online reviews submitted by the membership (I’ll confess that since A-N went online I lost interest it, so I don’t know if this is still an option).

  • I always find it useful to have a visitors’ book inviting comments. Often people have to be encouraged to leave a comment. They can also leave their contact details, which increases your mailing list. It is true that many of the comments may be bland (good show) or rude (rubbish). Hopefully there will be enough useful comments to make it worthwhile. It might also be an idea to have a questionnaire with targeted questions. Not all visitors will want to spend the time filling this in, but there are some who will. Or, as Bryan suggests, have a trusted friend visit and give them the questionnaire. Compiling the questions helps focus your mind and ensures that all areas are addressed by your visitor/ trusted friend.

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