Arts Council England has commissioned Nordicity and Saffery Champness to conduct a programme evaluation of the Creative Local Growth Fund (CLGF).
Launched in April 2016, the fund, with a total value of £8.6m, invests in nine largescale projects across England that deliver programmes to help their local creative communities to increase their contribution to the local economic growth.
The fund seeks to put arts and culture at the heart of growth plans by securing long-term partnerships between the Arts Council, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and other local partners to support the cultural sector. The Arts Council has invested £3.8m in the fund, with an additional £4.8m levered from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and other sources.
Each project has aimed to address the needs of its local area, and therefore the outputs vary across England, ranging from small grants, to networking events, to direct business advice and support.
The programme evaluation – to be conducted in accordance with HM Treasury Green Book guidance – will analyse the impact that each of the nine projects had on local artists and creative practitioners, and ultimately their local economies. The evaluation is also expected to identify best practices across the nine projects, which could help to inform future policies surrounding place-based investment and programmes for supporting economic growth in the creative sector.
The evaluation research will run from April 2019 through June 2020 and include conversations with stakeholders, surveys of programme beneficiaries, interviews and case studies.
For more information, contact Dustin Chodorowicz, Partner, Nordicity: dchodorowicz@nordicity.com