We here at Lowdown Magazine Online are pleased to announce the publication of a new set of resources by the Australia Council to help arts companies discuss, define and measure their own artistic vibrancy.

Whilst the resources were created initially in response to the major performing arts sector, they will hopefully be useful to all arts organisations grappling with the question of how to measure their own artistic impact.

This is an important project that Australia Council have been working on for some time.

The resources include:

• Artistic vibrancy: a self-reflection tool - a set of questions and tools to help arts organisations and their boards evaluate their own artistic vibrancy

• Defining artistic vibrancy: a discussion paper - a paper looking at what artistic vibrancy means and the traits of an artistically vibrant company

• “Tell me honestly…”: good practice case studies of artistic self-assessment in performing arts organisations – a set of Australian and British companies that have made self-assessment a meaningful and useful process, and how they did it

• Meaningful measurement: a review of the literature about artistic vibrancy – for the research enthusiasts, a comprehensive literature review of the academic research in this area.

The resources are the first of their kind (that we know of) anywhere in the world. Alan Brown, principal of the international arts consultancy WolfBrown (http://www.wolfbrown.com/) and recent keynote speaker at the 2009 Australian Performing Arts Centre Association Conference, had this to say about the resources:

“I loved the papers on artistic vibrancy, and have been telling people about them ever since I got back from Australia. It’s probably the most important discussion we can have.”

Australia Council developed the resources over the past twelve months, in response to requests from the major performing arts sector for greater discussion, support and clarity about what artistic vibrancy means, and how companies can best measure their own artistic impact. It has been developed through research, interviews and conversations with arts organisations from the major and small-to-medium sector.

The resources are intended for use by arts company managers, artistic directors and their boards.

Feedback from all arts organisations with ideas for how to make the resources more useful for their particular art form or circumstances is welcomed.

The resources address how arts companies can measure the following dimensions of artistic vibrancy:

• community relevance
• audience engagement and stimulation
• excellence of craft
• freshness of an arts organisation’s approach to the preservation or development of the artform
• the development of artists

The resources set out examples of how performing arts companies assess these aspects of artistic vibrancy, and tools that might help companies evaluate their own artistic merit. The resources also attempt to define artistic vibrancy and invite a conversation about what it means to be artistically vibrant. As the project originated in the major performing arts sector, the case studies are drawn from the performing arts, but we feel they have broad relevance across the whole arts organisation sector.

The resources do not create a mandatory framework. They are intended to support companies in their artistic self-assessment processes.

Companies can use the suggestions contained in the resources to:

• enhance their conversations about artistic vibrancy, internal and external
• improve their existing artistic self-assessment processes
• introduce new ways of assessing their own artistic vibrancy

Visit http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/music/reports_and_publications/artistic_vibrancy_resources to access the resources on the Australia Council website.

Companies are welcome to contact Jackie Bailey or their Client Manager on (02) 9215 9000, toll free on 1800 226 912 for advice on how to use the resources or to provide any feedback.