M·E·L Research plays key evaluation role in ‘festival enjoyed by millions’

Over recent months Birmingham’s creativity and diversity have been celebrated across several incredible festival sites in the West Midlands and beyond with dance, music, workshops, parties and more. The festival aimed to double the reach of the sporting events of the Commonwealth Games themselves –and for many residents of Birmingham and the West Midlands, an encounter with the arts festival was their ‘Games moment’.

At a breakfast event celebrating the Games, and attended by Board Director, David Chong-Ping, it has today been announced that:

• Over the last six-months, the Birmingham 2022 Festival attracted an audience of over 2.4 million.
• 4 out of 5 people thought the festival had improved perceptions of Birmingham and the West Midlands.
• An audience of over 750,000 visited the 9 free Festival Sites during the Commonwealth Games.
• The festival featured over 200 events and was made by 82% of creatives from Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Speaking about the Festival, Elliot Simmonds, who led on the quantitative element of our research, said:

“To have a Commonwealth Games in our home city is an incredible experience in and of itself, but to be able to contribute to measuring the success of the wider cultural festival, and for that festival to have been so successful, and for there to be the potential for so much legacy, is an amazing privilege. It’s been a brilliant experience to work with Fabio Thomas and Rachael Magson specifically, but the whole team at Birmingham 2022 and the artists and producers involved. Of course, the whole team at M·E·L can take huge credit for the delivery of this programme of research to date – but Tahira, Stephen, Bronwyn and Sophi have been immense and I’m so glad their hard work is reflected in the overall festival outcomes.”

M·E·L Research are pleased to have played a key part in delivering audience and participant evaluation across the whole cultural programme through two specific projects:

• Quantitative fieldwork across the cultural programme: We have completed approximately 3,000 interviews across the cultural programme, utilising our in-house fieldwork team who are local to Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. This approach involved face-to-face interviewing at in excess of 120 separate events across the programme, from small and intimate gatherings to some of the largest activations such as the Opening Ceremony & Critical Mass, the Healing Gardens of Bab, Waswasa and Key to the City.
• In-depth evaluation of Creative City Grants: CCG aims to be an active catalyst in community-led ‘place’ art & pride which flooded the city with co-created artistic interventions, celebrations and projects, acted as a catalyst to capture the creative energies of young people aged 16-30, as well as valuing the intersection of community of all ages and encouraged communities to be more active and improve their wellbeing. We undertook a large scale qualitative evaluation, supported by quantitative data, utilising in-person interviews, focus groups, vox-pops and chattabouts to engage with a wide range of specific projects and activations. This element was led by Sophi Ducie.

We are incredibly proud to have been able to support our local Commonwealth Games and the wider cultural programme as part of our work in the culture and heritage sector, and to have been able to work with such an inspiring group of artists, participants and partners.

Video credit: Birmingham 2022 Festival in collaboration with FABRIC, Arts Connect & Dance Development Leaders Group present Critical Mass. Generously supported by Spirit of 2012. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npeU86-EkLw