For ten years Cashback for Creativity has supported youth arts organisations across Scotland to deliver creative activities to young people experiencing additional challenges and living in areas of multiple deprivation. This research builds on BOP Consulting’s 2017 report, ‘How do you draw a rainbow the wrong way round?’, which sought to understand ‘how young people taking part in a range of creative programmes across and beyond Scotland developed creatively as well as how their creative development may be linked to other elements of personal and social development’.
This Media Education report explores the challenges of evaluating long-term impact, highlighting effective evaluation carried out by Cashback-funded organisations, and offering important considerations for funders and youth arts providers. A key finding is that effective evaluation tends to take a qualitative approach, foregrounding the voices of the young people taking part, and consolidating the positive impact of participation in the arts by providing an opportunity for young people to reflect on their personal development.
