Project Type: Evaluation

V&A Adobe Creative Residency Programme

Flow Associates were asked to undertake audience research for the Adobe Creative Residency Programme to explore the reach and experience of underserved audiences across learning programmes at the V&A. Each year, three creatives work for 12 months, full-time, based in a studio space at the V&A South Kensington. Each Adobe Creative Resident is paired with a curatorial mentor who acts as a guide to the collection throughout their time. Residents also work with a designated audience (schools, families or young people) and collaborate with the learning team to expand access to creativity, design and making. The programme ends with a display of their work at V&A South Kensington.

Our overarching question for the first two years of this research project was, ‘What can we learn through the Adobe Creative Residency Programme about removing barriers to engagement and learning for diverse audiences at the V&A?’. Our Year One report set a baseline with KPIs and targets for ongoing evaluation by establishing who was attending these activities, their motivations, barriers, and levers for change. In Year Two, we explored how the conditions for deeper engagement are being created, and in Year 3 we are looking at the internal culture, sharing best of practice and processes will enable them to sustain the change they are bringing about.

Through analysis of the c.40,000 participants each year, observation and interviews, we have supported the V&A to understand how artist-led activity and collaboration with its internal teams can create the space for diverse audiences to engage with its programmes. We worked closely with the V&A’s Learning and Audience Research teams to refine their data collection from bookings and audiences, establish an evaluation framework, and carefully define stretch goals and KPIs for the programmes. Our evaluation work has enabled teams to create more efficient processes for understanding their audiences, demonstrate internally and externally their impact, and capture innovative working practices with artists and the wider public.

 

View of the Fitzwilliam museum galleries with the skeletons of large animals like mammoths and dinosaurs.

University of Cambridge Museums Environmental and Sustainability Evaluation Framework

The University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) group commissioned Flow to develop a strategic initiative, the UCM Environment and Sustainability Evaluation Framework. This framework, launched in July 2025, represents a proactive commitment to systematically embedding and evaluating sustainable practices across all UCM activities, including collections management, facilties, exhibitions and public engagement. It signifies a fundamental shift in approach, moving beyond isolated “sustainability” projects to integrate environmental responsibility into the core operations and public engagement of the entire UCM collection group.

The framework is designed to empower UCM to effectively fulfill its environmental responsibilities, identify opportunities for positive impact, and make informed, evidence-based decisions towards achieving its sustainability goals within the broader context of the Earth Crisis. By providing a structured, cyclical approach to planning, evidence collection, reflection, and reporting, the framework ensures continuous improvement and accountability in UCM’s environmental stewardship. This comprehensive integration of sustainability across all functions, rather than limiting it to designated “green” projects, underscores a mature and deeply embedded organizational commitment, positioning UCM for more effective and enduring progress towards its environmental objectives.

Foundational Principles: The Dual Approach to Impact

At the core of the UCM framework is a dual approach to environmental responsibility, conceptualized as achieving a “Lighter Footprint” while cultivating a “Stronger Handprint”. The “Lighter Footprint” focuses on minimizing direct environmental harm from UCM’s operations. This involves tangible actions such as embedding sustainable materials and energy sources into new buildings, with progress often measured through numerical targets. Complementing this, the “Stronger Handprint” emphasizes the broader, positive influence UCM can exert by engaging, exciting, and inspiring people to take action. Cultural institutions like museums and gardens are uniquely positioned to foster learning and behavioral change, leveraging innovative thinking and outward communication to achieve wider societal good. Many initiatives will naturally encompass elements of both footprint reduction and handprint expansion. This strategic emphasis on the “Handprint” signifies a progression from merely mitigating negative impacts to actively generating positive societal and environmental change, recognizing the powerful role museums can play as agents of transformation in the face of global environmental challenges.

To guide its public-facing activities, the framework adopts five core UCM Environmental Outcomes for People. These outcomes are adapted from Flow Associates’ Generic Environmental Outcomes (Flow GEOs), which are themselves rooted in the widely utilized Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) framework prevalent in the museum sector. This adaptation ensures that the evaluation criteria are directly relevant to UCM’s unique public engagement activities, allowing for precise measurement of impact on attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors related to environmental responsibility. This localized tailoring enhances the framework’s practical utility and effectiveness in achieving UCM’s specific mission.

 

Flow Generic Learning Outcomes

The five outcomes are:

  • Enjoyment, Connection and Curiosity: Fostering engagement and discovery through UCM spaces.
  • Environmental Attitudes and Values: Inspiring personal motivation and care for the Earth.
  • Knowledge in Environmental Topics: Increasing awareness and understanding of human, natural, political, and creative responses to environmental issues.
  • Green Skills for the Future: Developing practical life skills and foundational knowledge for environmental careers.
  • Activity and Progression for Environmental Change: Enabling active citizenship and community well-being through environmental action.

The framework also promotes an ongoing, cyclical approach to evaluation, integrating environmental responsibility into all aspects of UCM’s work. This iterative process involves continuous planning, evidence collection, reflection, and learning to strengthen future initiatives. This philosophical grounding in both measurable operational improvements and the broader, qualitative impact on human behavior and community engagement underscores the unique role of cultural institutions in fostering environmental stewardship.

Empowering Action: The Framework’s Core Tools

The UCM framework provides a comprehensive suite of five practical tools designed to support its cyclical evaluation process and embed environmental responsibility across all activities. A key strength in the design of these tools is their integration with existing UCM and University frameworks, such as the UCM Evaluation Framework, the University’s Planning for Impact tool, and the Local Environmental Sustainability Plan (LESP). This intentional avoidance of creating additional administrative burdens significantly enhances the likelihood of staff adoption and consistent application, addressing a common challenge in implementing new organizational policies. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) form a common language between faculties and iniatives within the university and and such, these were used to map the impacts of activity to enable staff to easily connect with wider institutional work. The inclusion of both quantitative and qualitative tools further indicates a robust mixed-methods approach to evaluation, capturing both measurable outcomes and deeper insights into behavioral changes and operational challenges.

  • Environmental Sustainability Checklists: Simple checklists for collections management, conservation, planning activities, exhibitions, events, or programs.
  • UCM’s Planning for Impact Tool: Building on the Univsersity of Cambridge’s PER tools with considersations of environmental responsibility.
  • Evaluating Environmental Outcomes for People: A menu of standardized questions categorized under the five UCM Environmental Outcomes for People.
  • Awareness and Action Audit: A quantitative survey assessing individuals’ awareness and activity in key environmental sustainability areas.
  • Reflection Prompts

Flow provided a rollout plan for embedding the framework, delivering workshops with staff to lead on piloting and advocacy. The framework is also designed for iterative refinement, recognising that environmental challenges are dynamic, building in mechanisms for continuous learning, refinement, and adaptation. This allows the framework to evolve with new insights, technologies, and changing environmental contexts, ensuring its long-term relevance and effectiveness.

Tate Artist Rooms

Tate commissioned us develop a framework and supporting toolkit with resources to capture the impact of the new form of Artist Rooms. This framework will enable a better understanding of audiences, thedevelopmental impact on the touring exhibition for partners and provide Tate with insights to further develop this new model of packaged touring exhibitions.

The Evaluation Framework enabled Tate to:

  • Define and capture evidence of change, giving them a deeper understanding of their impact
  • Gather evidence of successes and challenges, enabling them and their partners to learn and grow the programme
  • Provide materials to champion their work and advocate for their touring programmes
  • Deliver high quality evidenced reports to funders and stakeholders
  • Empower their Learning team to share their insights with partners and peers

This framework and methodology underpinned the key ambitions for Artist Rooms in enabling access to collections nationally. It supported exploring how working in partnership can enhance access to international artists, particularly for younger people.

Flow provided:

  • Planning how it can be integrated and delivered by the Artist Rooms team into the package of resources provided to support partner venues
  • Understanding current evaluation and any barriers to effective collection and analysis
  • Creating a simple and useable toolkit for staff who are collecting evidence and requiring simple methods for analysing it
  • Advising on how evidence collection can be integrated into visits to the exhibition, related programming and use of supporting resources
  • Delivering training sessions with staff on using the framework and its tools
  • Making recommendations for future evaluation plans

Turner Contemporary Emerging Producers

Flow Associates were commissioned in 2021 to evaluate Turner Contemporary’s Emerging Producer project, following the progress of 8 Emerging Producers as they worked together towards an exhibit in 2023, responding to the 1953 short documentary film “O’Dreamland!”. This project focuses on the experience and development of the Emerging Producers, and explored what this could mean for future projects run by Turner Contemporary. Flow led the group in exploring experience design for their exhibition, “Oh, Dreamland!”, running workshops and acting as critical friends during its development.

The Emerging Producers were a group of eight young people recruited in Autumn 2021 by Turner Contemporary to lead on the development and delivery of their summer exhibition opening in 2023. They were recruited via an open call for young people aged 18 to 25 living and/or studying in Kent. This co-creation project would provide an opportunity to gain experience of working in the arts sector, building their CVs while working alongside filmmakers, artists, and exhibition makers. The call stressed that no previous experience was necessary, just a desire to ‘collaborate, get creative and commit to the programme’. Crucially this was a paid position, allowing the Emerging Producers to integrate the part time position with other work, study and life commitments, and all eight Emerging Producers were involved until the end of the project. The group met weekly on a Thursday morning, and additional hours for research or taking part in other events was paid at the hourly rate of £9.30, which increased part way through in line with the gallery’s commitment to paying living wage.

At the start of the second year the core focus for the project shifted and some of the final stated outputs (i.e. to co-create a major exhibition, and create a toolkit of best practice for running co-creation activity) gave way to an outcomes-driven process of collaborative working where the group were able to take on production roles to deliver Salamagundy ’22 a variety show at Dreamland featuring a range of local acts; and to co-create Oh! Dreamland, an immersive exhibit running alongside an artist-led exhibition in Turner Contemporary’s Clore Learning Studio. This was run alongside Mark Lecky’s, “In the Offing“, activating the exhibition for younger audiences by curating a social and fun space for them within the gallery.

SOUTHBANK UNDERCROFT TRANSFORMATION

In 2019, Flow Associates were commissioned by Long Live Southbank and the Southbank Centre to carry out an evaluation of the long term impact on the skate community following improvements made to theUndercroft skate space. The Undercroft, which is managed by the Southbank Centre, has been used since the 1970’s by skateboarders and is thought by many to be the home of the sport in Britain. The Undercroft’s location in an unused space within the Southbank Centre was appropriated by skateboarders, BMXers and inline skaters who found its sheltered, smooth surfaces and unusual architectural forms ideal for skating. The space also attracted other creative uses, with dance, music and filming all taking place. In March 2013, plans were published by the Southbank to create two new buildings alongside the Royal Festival Hall. The construction of these, and funding to sustain them, would require the closure of the Undercroft space. The proposed project included the development of commercial and retail properties, closing the area to skateboarding and other uses. In order to safeguard the iconic site and continue its heritage of skateboarding, Long Live Southbank (LLSB), was formed. LLSB is a non-profit organisation which campaigned to sustain the use of the Undercroft by skaters and its community. The team of Southbank “locals”, skaters and volunteers successfully applied for the area to become an Asset of Community Value in 2013. LLSB’s campaign drew the support of 150,000 signatories to a petition, and from a number of organisations and individuals including English Heritage, Kate Hoey MP, The Twentieth Century Society and Lambeth Council.

This three year project to evaluate the impact of the improvements on the skate space looked to capture how access and engagement was changing, and what impact it had on skaters wellbeing and a sence of community. We carried out quantitative and qualititative research, using strcutured observations, visitor counts, interviews and surveys at Southbank, building a trusting relationship with the skate community to really understand how the development was changing how the space was used and by who. The eventual report drew on 116 hours of observation between March 2019 and June 2022, responses from 294 skaters within the Undercroft who spoke to our researchers and completed our surveys, and in-depth interviews with 17 skaters about their experience of the space.

Our evaluation enabled the partners to:

  • Evidence the vital role of this iconic central London space
  • Demonstrate the value of open public access to health and sport
  • Understand the barriers that some face in using the space and how to overcome them
  • Advocate for the sustainability of this at-risk public resource

Infographics from our research went on to be featured in Somerset House’s exhibition, “No Comply: Skate Culture and Community”, showing the impact of the sense of community between skaters and their spots.

National Portrait Gallery Schools Programme

The National Portrait Gallery has undergone a huge transformation, reopening in 2023. We worked as critical friends and evaluators with the Learning Team to develop and test the delivery of new workshops for schools to align with their new hang and the National Curriculum.

The National Gallery wanted to test and refine a new schools programme that delivered two strands: art and history. The fresh curation of the galleries offered the opportunity to explore representation and challenging histories in the galleries and the art and photography workshops would benefit from new studio spaces.

Flow reviewed session plans and developed an evaluation and reflective process for the team to understand what was working in the sessions and where changes could be made. We observed sessions and worked in workshops with the Learning team and facilitators to refine the learning objectives and delivery before the programme’s launch in the new school year.

 

Green Futures – Royal Parks

Green Futures aims to connect hundreds of young people with nature conservation in the Royal Parks, gaining new skills to help combat the climate emergency. Funding from the Kusuma Trust has enabled the Green Futures project to offer each participating school three day-long nature conservation experiences in the Parks over one school year. There will be two cohorts, the first made up of five schools in year one and of six schools in year two. Each school is invited to bring its entire KS3 year group, and a selection of Year 12 students (c.50 each year in total) will take a leadership role.

The activities will include citizen science and practical fieldwork, designed to show how conservation work is experimenting with adaptive measures in the context of environmental changes. Back at school their experience will be used to support project work, reflecting on the work they have contributed to the parks.

Year 12 students work towards completing ASDAN short course awards, through which they will gain experience of planning events and activities whilst learning about careers in the sector. They also play a leadership role in supporting KS3 students, directing activities during their visits. In the second year of the project Year 12 students returned to support the new cohort of students. Some of these will be invited in future to advise the Royal Parks on its approach to creating engaging and meaningful programmes for young people.

We established an evaluation framework colelcting baseline attitudes and skills of the students which would measure progression through the programme. Evaluation of Green Futures demonstrated a positive experience of situated learning with strong outcomes in an understanding of biodiversity and ecosystems. Year 12 students gained ASDAN qualifications and showed an increased confidence in their leadership and communication skills. Across the project, there was a strong likelihood that at least 75% of participants will feel more confident in visiting more natural settings and are more appreciative of biodiversity and facilities in the Royal Parks. Interviews with teachers were undertaken throughout the project to capture the impact on their professional knowledge, the curriculum and schools. The report was presented alongside a workshop with Royal Parks staff to set out actions for the future of their programming and identify key opportunities and challenges as the programme expands.

The first two years of the programme ran from 2021 to 2023 with students working with staff at Hyde Park. Funding has been extended for a further two years enabling Royal Parks to expand to other parks in its estate, enhance the digital resources for schools, and offer more in-school outreach sessions.