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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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 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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