Beyond applause: A new approach to measuring performing arts impact

Due to their diverse funding sources, theatres are under increasing pressure to demonstrate impact on society. The Raad voor Cultuur (2023) for example advised the secretary of state to include societal impact as an additional evaluation measure next to artistic value. Many theaters, such as the Chassé Theater and Parkstad Limburg Theaters, have reformulated their missions to focus on impact of performances on visitors. This is a profound transformation from merely selling tickets and filling seats, and requires new measurement instruments to monitor, manage, and improve impact. Currently available instruments are insufficient, and effective monitoring is crucial to larger future projects that theaters are currently planning to systematically broaden impacts of performances on their communities.
The specific goal of this project is to empower theaters to monitor and improve impact by developing a brief experience impact questionnaire, taking existing data from student projects conducted at the Chassé Theater about performing arts experiences on one hand, and experience impact theory innovations on the other, as starting points. We will develop potential items to measure and benchmark against established measures of valued societal outcomes, such as subjective well-being and quality of life. These will be measured in questionnaires developed with project partners Chassé Theater and Parkstad Limburg Theaters and administered before and after performances across a wide range of genres. The resulting data will enable comparison of new questionnaire items with benchmarked measures of valued societal outcomes. The final product of the project will be a brief impact questionnaire, which within several brief self-report instruments and just a few minutes can effectively be used to quantify the impact of a performing arts experience. A workshop and practice-oriented article will make this questionnaire implementable, thereby mobilizing the key enabling methodology of monitoring and impact measurement in the performing arts sector.

Due to their varied sources of funding, theatres are increasingly under pressure to demonstrate their societal impact. In 2023, for example, the Dutch Council for Culture advised the State Secretary to explicitly include societal impact as an evaluation criterion, alongside artistic value. In response, many theatres including Chassé Theater and Parkstad Limburg Theaters have redefined their missions, shifting their focus from simply selling tickets to creating meaningful experiences for visitors. This transformation calls for new methods to both measure and enhance impact.

The aim of the Beyond Applause project was to support theatres in this transition by developing a concise questionnaire to assess the impact of performing arts experiences, in relation to key societal outcomes such as subjective well-being and quality of life. BUas researchers Ondrej Mitas, Pieter de Rooij, Moji Shavali, and Adriaan van Liempt worked closely with theatre partners for a year to develop a practical and adaptable tool, suitable for use both within and beyond the cultural sector.
The central research question was: What question can a theatre ask its audience that provides an indication of a performance’s impact? Rather than measuring long-term impact (which is only reliably measurable months after an experience), the study focused on identifying indicators of immediate impact - ones that can be assessed within a day of the performance.

The research revealed statements questions that proved most valuable as immediate indicators of impact:
1. “The performance made me forget everything around me.”
2. “The performance gave me new insights.”

Both statements are broadly applicable across genres and programming styles. Using these statements in a post-show email questionnaire is a short and effective impact tool that can be administered in just a few minutes. The data collected helps theatres benchmark, substantiate, and enhance their impact.