by Flying Geese Consultant, Beckie Smith
Introduction
Now in its 10th year, the Playhouse Project has not before undergone an evaluation process. The Playhouse Project is a theatre project that engages schools with 6 leading UK theatres, develops new theatre scripts for large casts of children, offers large scale performance opportunities, and CPD opportunities for teachers.
What did we do?
The Playhouse Project team wanted to reinvigorate the project and become clearer about its future. Our evaluation identified which areas of the project are performing well and which areas need attention, with a view to investing in the future development of the project.
We evaluated the impact on participating children’s soft skill development, the impact on participating teachers & their whole schools, the importance of the project for contributing writers, the impact of the project for developing audiences for theatres and the identity & impact of the project.
Using a variety of quantitative and qualitative evaluation techniques (including classroom games, vlogs, hand up voting) specially tailored to young audiences, as well as techniques tailored for teachers and industry professionals (including vlogs, surveys, CPD exercises, and interviews) we gathered a broad range of data from before, during and after the project.
The results of the data were segmented into a traditional SWOT analysis and recommendations were formed, loosely using a TOWS approach.
Recommendations
We developed our evaluation one step further by offering the team a series of short, medium and long term recommendations that would reinvigorate, re-establish and remotivate the project and the team delivering it.
Legacy and Impact
The 6 theatres involved now have a clear sense of what is working and which isn’t within the project, along a clear understanding of the value and impact that the project has on its stakeholders. This value document will serve them well in applying for future investment. Moves have already been made towards implementing our recommendations, which will see the project gain a new sense of momentum in the future.