Arcadia –  place of rustic innocence and simple, quiet pleasure

I evaluated the Arcadia Festival at Stanley Arts in April 2024 – and only right at the end of it did I discover the meaning of the word. So easy to understand with this definition and probably what we’re all looking for. It was a series of discussions, walks, performances, films, gardeneing over a few days – showcasing young people’s response to the climate crisis and what’s already happening in this corner of south London to tackle it https://stanleyarts.org/artistic-programmes/arcadia-the-future-is-now/

This was one of my most memorable pieces of evaluation work because;
– The funder Paul Hamlyn Foundation are very open to how you present your findings
– It was collaborative with the team – sometimes I can feel like an auditor
– I came on just for the write up rather than the early framework part. Now I would ordinarily want to be co-creating that structure but this time, I had a different persepctive not having that level of detail to bring into the narrative. It was helpful to have distance from the delivery side and really stay with ‘on the day’ observations and qualitative consversations with stakeholders.