Social Impact Evaluation in the Arts
What if we had better ways to calculate the social impact that the arts contribute to local communities?
Photo: Brooklyn Marok
About the Social Impact Evaluation in the Arts Action Lab In 2024, Arts Ottawa embarked on a collaborative research project with Third Angle, funded by the Ottawa Community Foundation. This project explored the value and feasibility of a regional Arts Impact Calculator: a tool that helps Ottawa arts organizations measure and communicate their social and economic impact.
Together, Arts Ottawa and Stephanie Nadeau from Third Angle identified gaps and opportunities to strengthen local capacity and better communicate the social impact of the creative sectors. Stephanie and Third Angle then synthesized the findings into the Impact Calculator Feasibility Study.
Why Social Impact Evaluation?
We know the arts contribute to vibrant, healthy community and a thriving local economy. According to the Ontario Arts Council, Eastern Ontario’s Arts and Culture sector generates $2.7 billion in GDP. Yet still, current tools for measuring social impact lack consistency and accessibility across the sector.
Why Measure Impact?
Show the value of arts to partners and the community.
Attract investment and build support.
Advocate for funding and policy change.
Through this Action lab, Arts Ottawa aims to address how we can use and build upon the Impact Calculator to capture the individual and collective impact of arts activities in Ottawa.
Meet the Action Lab Prototypers
MAEVE TAVAKOLI
Project WARP
projectwarp.ca | @projectwarp_
WARP is a paid learning and mentorship opportunity co-produced and co-facilitated by a consortium of DIY music and arts organizations in the Algonquin-Anishnaabe territory. Our goal is to equip and support early- and mid-career individuals and artist collectives with project development essentials, providing them the resources and tools needed to create safe(r), more accessible, and more sustainable experiences.
NAHEEN AHMED
BEING Studio
www.beingstudio.ca | @beingstudio_ott
BEING Studio is a Non-profit that provides accessible arts programs both online and in-studio for adults with developmental disabilities.
I hope to learn how to assess impact of services and events for general public in order to secure grants that can help maintain the Studio's mission to support people with disabilities.
RAE LANDRIAU
Create Change Collective
createchangecollective.weebly.com | @createchangecollective
Create Change Collective is a community-based organization focused on environmental education using art. The aim of our work is to engage community in outdoor education and empower them to take climate action.
Our goals in the Action Lab are to (1) develop more comprehensive methods to assess the impact of our work, going beyond standard quantitative data collection and (2) exploring practical frameworks for decolonizing evaluation.
EMEL TABAKU
Civic Imagination Lab
info2047785.wixsite.com/imagination-lab | @civicimaginationlab
As co-founder of Civic Imagination Lab, I help create spaces where people come together to imagine and build more just, joyful, and regenerative futures. Through creative workshops, storytelling, and collaborative dialogue, our work supports youth, artists, and community members to strengthen policy literacy, shape public conversations, and envision bold new systems from the ground up.
CANDIDE UYANZE
www.candide.xyz | @candide.xyZ
My name is Candide, and I'm a Creative Technologist working at the intersections of digital media, access, storytelling, and open source software. As a past WARP participant, I organized a hybrid video editing workshop series for local BIPOC artists, designers, and creatives.
As an emerging event organizer, I'm eager to learn more about the tools and emerging frameworks for social impact evaluation. I also want to explore alternative, anti-colonial, and accessible approaches to the field.
BLUE PETTIES
Queer Arts & Culture Network
The Queer Arts and Culture Network (QACN) is a community-based, by and for Queer Art Organization that serves Queer and gender-diverse artists and creators in Ottawa. QACN is dedicated to empowering creators, reimagining systems, and co-creating communities of care.
We are looking to build our capacity in the areas of impact evaluation, community-based storytelling, and sustainability.
MIRIAM FARAJA
Integration 101 Hub
integration101hub.org | @the101hub
We are a team working at the intersection of art, technology, and social justice. Through visual storytelling, photography, and participatory projects, we explore memory, integration, resilience, and power within marginalized communities. Through Integration 101 Hub, we create artistic and technological programs that help youth and adults share their stories, using art as a tool for expression, healing, and connection. Our work centers lived experience and aims to foster meaningful dialogue, strengthen communities, and contribute to lasting social change.
EMILY RAMSAY & MERAL TAN
Digital Arts Resource Centre
digitalartsresourcecentre.ca | @digitalartsresourcecentre
We are a media arts organization that supports artists and creators at every stage of the creative process, with a focus on community, collaboration, and accessibility. We also work to amplify the voices of grassroots and equity-deserving organizations, helping ensure their stories and contributions are recognized within the broader cultural landscape.
By participating in this lab, we hope to strengthen our ability to document and communicate the social impact of grassroots arts initiatives, and to develop tools that help highlight the cultural and community value of this work.
Meet our Action Lab Advisors
These advisors will support the Action Lab as mentors to contribute expertise, findings, and resources from their work in research, evaluation, or practical tools.
Robin Sokoloski From Mass Culture
Robin Sokoloski (she/her) is a dedicated arts and culture professional based in Tkaronto/Toronto with over two decades of experience in the field. Currently serving as the Director of Research and Programming at Mass Culture, she collaborates with academics, funders, and arts practitioners to mobilize the creation, amplification, and community-informed research that supports the arts sector’s growth and sustainability.
At Mass Culture, Robin has spent the last three years project managing Research in Residence: Arts’ Civic Impact, a national research initiative that led to the development of three qualitative arts impact frameworks. These tools help arts organizations better understand their civic impact through qualitative indicators. She also leads Mass Culture’s Evaluative Thinking Initiative, which supports a culture of reflection and continuous learning across the arts sector, and stewards the DNA: Data Narratives for the Arts program, which integrates data practices into the daily work of arts organizations through training, tools, and collaborative learning.
Robin currently serves on the Board of the Toronto Arts Council and as a member of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Centre for Free Expression’s Steering Committee. She has recently taught a course on Art Policy, Equity, and Activism for Centennial College’s Arts Management program, and developed and taught a course on Cultural Entrepreneurship for MacEwan University’s Arts and Cultural Management program.
Shanice Bernicky From Mass Culture
Shanice Bernicky (she/her, elle) is a media maker and PhD student at Carleton University’s School of Journalism & Communication. She completed a Master’s research-creation thesis in Media Studies at Concordia University, as a non-linear documentary exploring themes of domestic violence, heritage, and multi-racial identity from the axis point of natural Black hair. As a freelance video editor, she has worked on a myriad of projects on rich topics such as Indigenous laws and practices outside the settler-Canadian legal framework, feminist commentary on science and technology studies, and environmental issues connecting the East and the West. At Carleton, Shanice researches equity practices in the settler-Canadian public arts institutions with the continued support of Mass Culture. When she’s not working, she can be found knitting or with her hands in earth.
Natasha Qureshi From Sympl Solutions
Natasha Qureshi is the Founder and Principal of Sympl Solutions, a Toronto-based consultancy that bridges strategy, finance, and data for the arts and nonprofit sectors. She is also the Co-Creator of ArtMetrica, a platform helping arts and culture organizations measure and communicate their impact through intuitive dashboards and shared data frameworks. A Fulbright Scholar with a background in Computer Science and an MBA from Cornell University, Natasha combines technical and strategic expertise to help the arts and culture sector tell its stories through data, strengthen its value to communities, and shape a more sustainable and equitable creative ecosystem.
Action Lab Goals and Outcomes
The Action Lab will strengthen conversations, shape practical outcomes, and build approaches that benefit the entire arts community.
We aim to:
Develop skills to process, articulate, and report qualitative and quantitative data
Build confidence in tracking and implementing impact indicators
Address roadblocks like HR capacity or skill gaps in evaluation
Leverage impact-evaluation skills for fundraising and advocacy
Engage with national and regional networks, aligning work with other impact-indexes, like the United Nation’s 16 Sustainable Development Goals
During the introductory session to our Arts Impact Evaluation Action Lab on December 15th, 2025, Meral Tan, one of our CAMs, joined to observe the session and share their experience and key takeaways as an Arts Correspondent. Read the article here.