Transformative Front-End Evaluation: Centering Communities of Color when Defining “Success”

Abstract Information: Continued anti-Black violence and exclusionary anti-immigrant policies and practices highlight the urgency of evaluators taking meaningful action for racial equity and justice. In this paper, we advance front-end evaluation (FEE), a type of evaluation unique to the museum sector, as a strategy that can shape the transformation of programs and other interventions within and beyond museums. Conducted early in the planning process, FEE has been used to inform exhibition themes, improve communication of key ideas, and remove barriers to visitor engagement. Building on this tradition, we present a transformative approach to FEE that is fueled by the stories and lived experiences of communities of color.

In this paper, we share examples of how the transformative FEE process fosters authentic, sustained conversation with people of color about their experiences in a specific museum setting. As participants reflect through the lenses of their multiple social identities, the evaluator holds space for sharing stories related to identity, equity, oppression, and privilege. These stories and experiences then become the basis for (re)defining “successful” museums, visitation, and engagement and charting a course for program (re)design, implementation, and evaluation.

We position transformative FEE within a larger family of transformative evaluation strategies that aim to refine and strengthen interventions by surfacing assumptions early in the program life cycle. We invite conversation across disciplinary boundaries to refine the theory and practice of transformative FEE and its contributions toward the urgent priority of advancing racial equity and justice.

Relevance Statement: The conference theme invites evaluators to reflect on the power of stories to ground and fuel evaluation work. We take up that theme to address the urgent need for museum evaluators to take meaningful action for racial equity and justice. Specifically, we advance transformative front-end evaluation (FEE) as a strategy for co-constructing museum offerings with communities of color and informing transformation of museum practices. The power and promise of transformative FEE lie in its dialogic methods and commitment to reciprocity, which center and elevate the stories and lived experiences of communities of color.

This paper will support evaluation practice and theory for the Arts, Culture, and Museums TIG members in four ways. First, we respond to calls for museums to fundamentally re-imagine their institutions, practices, and offerings to center communities of color (Anila, 2017; AUTHOR, 2014; Gonzales, 2022; McManimon & Natala, 2021; Janes & Sandell, 2019; Johnson-Cunningham, 2018). To support this re-imagining, we illustrate a role for museum evaluation that centers the values and priorities of communities of color when defining “successful” museums, offerings, and engagement.

Second, we advance evaluation theory and methods related to evaluative criteria. In any evaluation, explicit or implicit criteria define “success” and direct which evaluation questions are asked, data are collected, and conclusions are drawn (AUTHOR, 202b2; Patton, 2021). These criteria typically reflect the values, priorities, and assumptions of museum leaders, staff, and funders (AUTHOR, 2019b, 2022b). Thus, evaluations are often rooted in values and assumptions that do not reflect the priorities and practices of the communities of color museums seek to engage (AUTHOR, 2019b, 2022b). In this paper, we outline a novel approach for drawing criteria from the stories of communities of color.

Third, this paper offers an expanded perspective on FEE, a type of evaluation that is unique to the museum sector (Bitgood & Shettel, 1996). Introduced by Screven (1990) as a strategy for incorporating visitor input into the exhibit planning process, FEE has been applied to programs, special events, gift shops, and entire museums (Borun, 1998; Dierking & Pollock, 1998; Korn, 1994; Parsons, 1993; Rubenstein, 1991). We have built on this rich history to develop transformative FEE.

Fourth, we position transformative FEE within a larger family of transformative evaluation strategies (Mertens, 2007; Mertens & Wilson, 2019) that aim to refine and strengthen interventions by surfacing assumptions early in the program life cycle. These include critique of the “problem” an intervention sets out to address (Archibald, 2020), transformative approaches to needs assessment (Sankofa, 2021), developmental evaluation (Patton, 2010), and educative and responsive approaches to formative evaluation (Hall, et al., 2014). In doing so, we build connections between museum evaluation and other areas of evaluation practice and support conversation across disciplinary boundaries.

Thus, this session will support Arts, Culture, and Museums TIG members and other AEA members in striving to contribute to the common good and advance an equitable and just society (Common Good and Equity Guiding Principle) and building knowledge and skills in the Methodology and Context domains of the AEA Evaluator Competencies.