Art of Recovery Initiative Evaluation and Strategy
Client: City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs ( 2020-2024 )
Sara Daleiden Consulting, Strategy and Implementation Consultant; Susannah Laramee Kidd, Evaluation and Strategy Consultant
Begun as part of the City of Santa Monica’s Economic Recovery Task Force, the Art of Recovery Initiative gave artists and arts producers space and support to develop projects and partnerships that revive communities and economies impacted by our global pandemic. Daleiden and Laramee Kidd supported City of Santa Monica Staff as they evolved the Art of Recovery Initiative from a traditional grant funding model into a generative and experimental platform for artists to co-create with the City and cross-sector partners to support community priorities such as economic recovery, social justice, wellbeing, and community connectedness. Daleiden provided technical assistance to Santa Monica staff and committee leaders by guiding panel review and selection processes and providing capacity building support for selected artists and producers.
Laramee Kidd collected insights from the first round of pilot projects implemented in 2020 and early 2021 and together with Daleiden, made recommendations to refine the program strategy for subsequent rounds. Daleiden and Laramee Kidd also co-facilitated a series of learning community sessions with grantees to stimulate peer capacity building and a self-resourcing network of arts producers, as well as produce project assessment. Laramee Kidd created applicant and final project surveys to collect ongoing data about the initiative’s reach and impact. In addition, Daleiden and Laramee Kidd produced several internal strategy documents to describe the initiative, including a theory of change, initiative model, and resource allocation process. Our impact analysis framework and summary drew on the closeout reports and the learning community discussions, which then fed into the Art of Recovery Initiative Impact Report, produced in collaboration with Cultural Affairs Division staff.