Social Impact Study Brief

Project Title: Queen's Park Cultural Capital Project (2019 – 2021) Organisation: Bedford Creative Arts Social Impact Study Commission Project Description This two-year programme of artist led action research, collaboration and co-creation in Queens Park, Bedford, led by Bedford Creative Arts, has been developed to explore and test how the development of cultural capital in a disadvantaged community can contribute to increasing community cohesion, social mobility, wellbeing, and positive sense of place. Artists will work with community groups, schools and residents to explore their creativity and test models of participation culminating in the co-creation of a festival of art. An artists’ incubator will be established to test new thinking in collaborative practice. A social impact study will be commissioned to evidence the effectiveness of the approach. 50 participants and audience members will be directly involved in shaping the project through a series of Ambassador Groups (Children, Young People and Adult Women) and a Resident Creative Influencers Panel who will meet monthly. Resident Creative Influencers will act as critical friends and be drawn from artists and creatives resident in Queens Park. Project Aim To explore, test and evidence that BCA’s approach of socially engaged responsive commissioning embedded within a disadvantaged community over an extended period of time can have positive impact on:

Individual and collective confidence. Social cohesion. Sense of place and belonging. Connectivity between communities. Wellbeing. Ongoing participation in arts and culture.

Social Impact Study Commission The aim of this commission is to understand the correlation between creative interventions and community cohesion. BCA are inviting expressions of interest for this Impact Study, to explore the impact this creative intervention has on:

Individual and collective confidence. Social cohesion. Sense of place and belonging. Connectivity between communities. Wellbeing. Ongoing participation in arts and culture.

The Social Impact Study is one strand of reflection and analysis within a broader evaluation framework, thereby necessitating shared learning and ongoing dialogue regarding the ways in which findings might be interpreted as actionable insights. Social Impact Study Processes It is anticipated that the successful candidate will be able to devise a structure and process for the research that will include the following:

Establishing benchmark data by end September 2019 regarding:

o Individual and collective confidence of residents o Sense of residents’ positivity and pride in Queens Park o Connections between existing community groups o Connectivity to the wider Bedford community o Wellbeing. o Residents’ value of their own creativity and how far they feel able to take part and experience cultural activities on an ongoing basis.

Action Research Methodologies to ensure the work generates actionable insights that can inform ongoing practice.

Working with some other people who are involved in the work, potentially artists, Ambassador Groups (Children, Young People and Adult Women) and the Resident Creative Influencers Panel, as co-researchers, so that all can be involved in finding out together.

Working with other involved in evaluation processes to share learning and inform each other’s findings.

Explore how far the project acts to challenge current perceptions of cultural capital, which draw on white western middleclass traditions, and build the community’s confidence in its own cultural capital that is more reflective of contemporary British society.

Work in ways that support the project to collaboratively develop a community owned creative vision for Queens Park.

Processes and activities to determine how far the work has made a difference through generating data to compare to the initial benchmarks.

Manage and implement the study to its conclusion on 30 April 2021 and produce a final report for publication and sharing by 30 June 2021.

How to submit an Expression of Interest There is a budget of £8,000 to complete this work.

To submit an Expression of Interest please submit a document, no longer than four pages long, outlining:

How you would carry out this work and your rationale for the approach Your experience, skills and knowledge and their relevance to this role A budget A timeline

Please send this, with your CV, two references or names of two referees, and a completed equalities monitoring form to culturalcapital@bedfordcreativearts.org.uk.

Deadline: Friday 26 July 2019, 5pm

Project links

About the projecthttps://bedfordcreativearts.org.uk/projects/queens-park-cultural-capital/ First artists commissions call outhttps://bedfordcreativearts.org.uk/jobopportunities/

https://bedfordcreativearts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/QPCulturalCapitalArtistOpenCall2019-1.pdf Previous relevant projects this project builds upon:

Clubhouse https://bedfordcreativearts.org.uk/projects/clubhouse-2/ https://bedfordcreativearts.org.uk/projects/clubhouse-2018-the-film/

Animating Environments https://bedfordcreativearts.org.uk/projects/animating-environments-queens-park/

In-Situ Cinema https://bedfordcreativearts.org.uk/projects/in-situ-cinema/