RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE 'ENVISION' ACTION RESEARCH PROGRAMME

Researcher: Sheila Galloway
(with Julian Stanley, Centre for Education and Industry)

Sponsor: engage, the National Association for Gallery Education. April 2003 – March 2005

‘envision’ is a pilot initiative in which several galleries in the Midlands and the North-West of England are collaborating with youth workers, artists and representatives of arts and community organisations in a series of local action research projects. With the initial support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Carnegie UK Trust, 'envision' has revised funding from the Arts Council regional offices to stimulate projects which aim to encourage the participation of young people in activities focusing on or originating in galleries. Target groups include young people who are at risk of social exclusion or have already been excluded in some way. This innovative initiative stresses the active involvement of young participants alongside experienced staff both in shaping the projects as they develop and also in the evaluation process.

The Warwick team’s role in this partnership was to work with the ‘envision’ programme development co-ordinator to support the separate projects’ internal evaluation, undertake interviews of project leaders, and analyse these data alongside other information collected at the different venues to provide an overview of the initiative.