{"id":2084,"date":"2016-08-10T12:55:47","date_gmt":"2016-08-10T19:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=2084"},"modified":"2016-08-10T12:55:47","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T19:55:47","slug":"who-wants-performance-metrics-in-the-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/08\/who-wants-performance-metrics-in-the-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"Who wants performance metrics in the arts?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"And<\/a>A couple of weeks ago, in a post on quantification<\/a> in the arts, I wrote:<\/p>\n

Is the need for quantitative evidence being unfairly demanded from the arts sector? Here\u2019s a thought: what if advocates for the arts in the public and nonprofit sectors have themselves<\/em> chosen to emphasize quantitative evidence, in part because the rhetorical case for arts support is so very challenging? Presenting numbers, after all, has the virtue of being just so easy<\/em>, even if in fact they are numbers that don\u2019t mean anything (I\u2019m looking at you, \u2018economic impact\u2019 studies). Just asking.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Today we have a story<\/a> from The Atlantic<\/em> on schools and tests \u00a0– or, “assessments” – measuring creativity. With all the problems that come with standard testing, who would want such a thing? Well …<\/p>\n

\n

The push to find the best way to test the arts is coming from arts educators themselves in many instances. They hope to foster not only student improvement, but also a sense that the arts are as valuable to curriculum and society as such long-tested subjects as math and reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important for arts to be seen as a subject that can be and should be tested,\u201d said Frank Philip, an arts-assessment consultant. \u201cIt\u2019s a parity thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is increasingly difficult to believe that the demand for metrics is something being forced on the arts sector from without. The phone call is coming from inside the house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago, in a post on quantification in the arts, I wrote: Is the need for quantitative evidence being unfairly demanded from the arts sector? Here\u2019s a thought: what if advocates for the arts in the public and nonprofit sectors have themselves chosen to emphasize quantitative evidence, in part because the rhetorical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/when-a-stranger-calls-20060126054923090-000-000.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-xC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2059,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/07\/does-arts-policy-require-quantification\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":0},"title":"Does arts policy require quantification?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The NEA has posted a very interesting interview between their Sunil Iyengar and the critic Leon Wieseltier. It raises interesting questions about the role of measurement in arts policy, and so here is something of an annotation of part of the interview (and do read the whole thing). IYENGAR: To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"time for your performance review","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/1-aircraft-carrier.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1119,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/03\/a-cautionary-note-on-the-social-and-economic-value-of-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":1},"title":"A Cautionary Note on the Social and Economic Value of the Arts","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Arts Council England has released a new report on The Value of Arts and Culture to People and Society: An Evidence Review. What to make of it? From the foreword by the Chair of the Council, Sir Peter Bazalgette: Of course the inherent value of arts and culture is, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"think of the grandchildren","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/keynes4-300x290.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2223,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2017\/07\/the-problem-with-ranking-cities-cultural-vibrancy\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":2},"title":"The problem with ranking cities’ cultural vibrancy","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Two recent publications derive indices to rank different cities according to their cultural vibrancy - from the National Center for Arts Research in the United States, and the European Commission for European cities. They have the same fundamental problem. In each report, a selection of data series applying to cities'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"not this again","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/whirlwind-computer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2186,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2017\/04\/metrics-at-the-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":3},"title":"Metrics at the museum","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Post's Philip Kennicott decided to try visiting the popular Kusama exhibit at the Hirshhorn not as a critic, with all its special viewing privileges, but as an ordinary member of the public. The crowds and the rush, as we might expect, reduced the quality of the experience. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"too many people pulled and pushed around","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/too-many-people.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/too-many-people.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/too-many-people.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/too-many-people.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4636,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2026\/01\/cultural-policy-what-dont-we-know\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":4},"title":"Cultural policy: what don’t we know","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"January 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This past week I\u2019ve been sent different, interesting takes on the state of cultural policy research. My friend James Doeser, who is very smart about these things, has a short post \u201cThe crisis of cultural policy in the 21st century\u201d that is well worth your time (update: here is James's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1943,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2015\/12\/the-arts-effective-altruism-and-data\/","url_meta":{"origin":2084,"position":5},"title":"The arts, effective altruism, and data","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"December 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Seattle Times reports\u00a0\"With millennial philanthropy money flowing, arts groups miss out\": [Elizabeth] Van Nostrand explained that Effective Altruism \u201cis extremely quantitative. \u2018How much money does it take them to save a life? Give to the one that saves the most.\u2019 \u201d Though millennials like Van Nostrand and Salvatier are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"passions > reasons","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Hume.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2086,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions\/2086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}