Data and Community Theatre - a Six Part Series (Part 2)
Knowing and Gathering the Information That matters
How can your stories be translated to numbers? You know the emotional impact of theatre and arts on people, but now you need to take it a step further and understand how that emotional impact on an individual contributes to the society and community at large.
Sources you can get in numbers (just a few examples!):
Volunteer Data: number of individuals, number of hours, value of their time in dollars;
Youth Data (community served): number that participate; number of youth that return after their first experience with you; number of youth who continue with arts in their higher education; number of youth that graduate high school;
Seniors/Older Age Participants (community served): number of participants; age ranges
Collaborations With Other Non-Profits: How many other organizations you assist with your resources, such as shared materials or equipment; benefit or discounted ticket fundraisers your theatre supports or offers buyouts for
From your work on getting the hard numbers, start looking at relationship to soft data, and a new set of hard numbers:
How does theatre impact youth positively, and contribute to their focus on academics, and therefore on a path of educational success, confidence, and esteem, which then leads to college enrollment or employment opportunities?
How does theatre allow seniors to strengthen their brain and memory muscles and how does that help their overall health and wellness, and therefore contribute to longevity?
How does your offer of discounted tickets to underserved communities help introduce audience to the arts, and therefore strengthen the citizenship of your community?
