This strand covers organisations that programme work e.g. organisations such as arts centres or venues with a range of artistic and cultural activity. Whilst we already assess events programmed by NPOs we don’t currently assess an – organisation’s approach to programming. Our recommended process is for one assessor to attend three events programmed by an organisation across a season, and to write one assessment incorporating all three events, contextualising the events within the organisation’s wider public programme. Museums and quality assessment The Arts Council aims to achieve a greater integration of museums across all aspects of its work. The Accreditation scheme exists as a baseline standard for the museum sector from which museums develop. The Designation scheme identifies outstanding collections in non-national museums, libraries and archives and assesses the national significance and quality of collections, but doesn’t assess the quality of the organisations’ programming. The AQA programme is distinct, with its focus on assessing activity. However, we recognise that there needs to be richer, more nuanced discussions about quality, with an element of critical challenge. Museum assessments will focus on publicly-accessible events/activity produced or commissioned by Museums they are not assessments of an organisation. – Assessors will be encouraged to attend an event related to an exhibition (long-term and short-term), and to first spend some time at the exhibition itself. Each assessment may therefore consider more than one activity, and would allow for relatively small scale events to be assessed within the context of a wider exhibition. Work which is not included in the scheme Not all NPOs receive assessments. For example, they will not be appropriate for service; umbrella or networking organisations. Artistic and Quality Assessment also excludes conferences and professional development events and activity. Sector Support Organisations (SSOs) and non-NPOs are ineligible for assessment. Artistic and quality assessments are not focused on NPOs about which we have concerns: they are a routine element of ongoing monitoring of NPOs. Activities which take place as part of formal education are also not included in AQA. This is because we recognise that this scheme is not the best way to assess formal learning programmes. We recognise there is a wide spectrum of work, and by its nature participatory work may well have strong learning elements; however it’s not the purpose of the AQA programme to assess formal education outcomes.
This strand covers organisations that programme work e.g. organisations such as arts centres or venues with a range of artistic and cultural activity. Whilst we already assess events programmed by NPOs – we don’t currently assess an organisation’s approach to programming. Our recommended process is for one assessor to attend three events programmed by an organisation across a season, and to write one assessment incorporating all three events, contextualising the events within the organisation’s wider public programme. Museums and quality assessment The Arts Council aims to achieve a greater integration of museums across all aspects of its work. The Accreditation scheme exists as a baseline standard for the museum sector from which museums develop. The Designation scheme identifies outstanding collections in non-national museums, libraries and archives and assesses the national significance and quality of collections, but doesn’t assess the quality of the organisations’ programming. The AQA programme is distinct, with its focus on assessing activity. However, we recognise that there needs to be richer, more nuanced discussions about quality, with an element of critical challenge. Museum assessments will focus on publicly-accessible events/activity produced or commissioned by Museums – they are not assessments of an organisation. Assessors will be encouraged to attend an event related to an exhibition (long-term and short-term), and to first spend some time at the exhibition itself. Each assessment may therefore consider more than one activity, and would allow for relatively small scale events to be assessed within the context of a wider exhibition. Work which is not included in the scheme Not all NPOs receive assessments. For example, they will not be appropriate for service; umbrella or networking organisations. Artistic and Quality Assessment also excludes conferences and professional development events and activity. Sector Support Organisations (SSOs) and non-NPOs are ineligible for assessment. Artistic and quality assessments are not focused on NPOs about which we have concerns: they are a routine element of ongoing monitoring of NPOs. Activities which take place as part of formal education are also not included in AQA. This is because we recognise that this scheme is not the best way to assess formal learning programmes. We recognise there is a wide spectrum of work, and by its nature participatory work may well have strong learning elements; however it’s not the purpose of the AQA programme to assess formal education outcomes.