Social Research ¦ Market Research ¦ Behavioural Insight ¦ Evaluation ¦ SROI
Social Research ¦ Market Research ¦ Behavioural Insight ¦ Evaluation ¦ SROI
We are incredibly proud to have provided fieldwork and full service evaluation services to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Cultural Programme – a festival that was enjoyed by an audience of more than 2.4 million and reached more than 41,000 participants.
New research published last week – including our own work to undertake approximately 2500 in-person interviews with attendees across hundreds of events, as well as our full-service evaluation of the Creative City Grants programme – highlights that:
You can read the Birmingham 2022 reports produced or informed by M·E·L Research on our publications page, including both easy-read and E-Text accessible versions.
To be involved in research covering both the depth and breadth of activities across the programme taking place in our home city and region is a great privilege in and of itself but, recognising the over-arching impact, knowing that we as a team had a role to play in that is really humbling. All you can do is take your hat off to everyone involved – from the Organising Committee and the funders, to the producers, the creatives, the volunteers, participants and audiences, the suppliers…everyone who has been involved.
Elliot Simmonds, Client Solutions Director
If there is one thing that research has taught me it’s that, in the end, it – whatever it is – is mostly about the people. What a fantastic programme this has been and here’s to a long and very successful legacy!
The nine independently-produced reports – all of which are available on the Birmingham 2022 website – evaluate the successes, learnings and impact of the vibrant and dynamic six-month cultural programme. They include the insights and learnings on individual projects and initiatives during the Festival and a commitment to cement Birmingham’s reputation as an international centre of cultural and creative excellence.
They reveal powerful impacts on communities across the region and how it had diversity at its heart by engaging with a wide range of communities that represent ethnic diversity, gender, LGBTQIA+ and disability identities.
A specific focus of our work was the Creative City Grants programme, a funded programme connecting communities with artists to co-create projects. Within this specific strand 106 projects were awarded more than £1.7m in funding, engaging 19,000 participants and attracting approximately 250,000 attendances. The programme was also focussed on less advantaged communities, with 76% of projects delivered in areas of the West Midlands in the three most deprived deciles of the indices of multiple deprivation.
Speaking about this thread specifically, Sophi Ducie, who led the evaluation strand for Creative City Grants, said:
Creative City was a really good showcase of how community-led initiatives can bring about positive change within a city as diverse as Birmingham. I was thrilled to be able to work with such a varied range of people, from delivery staff to dancers. They really helped us, as evaluators, understand what worked (and what didn’t) and what they were desperate to see more of for the future cultural scene in Brum.
Sophi Ducie, Associate Director – Evaluation
