Our Impact



For over 25 years, Milk Crate Theatre has demonstrated the power of the arts in improving wellbeing, providing opportunities for creative and life skill development, and amplifying under-represented voices to diverse audiences.


Creating Impact

Creating Impact is a bold multi-year, national project we’re leading that brings together community engaged arts organisations, funders and experts to co-design and implement a shared impact framework. 

For more information and reports head to our What’s on Page under ‘Projects’.

What we measure

How do we know we’re making a difference? Our Impact Framework gives us the answer. Grounded in our Theory of Change, it consistently measures our reach across three key areas: the growth of our Collaborative Artists, the societal shifts we spark in our Audiences, and the mark we leave on the broader artistic world.

At a person level, we provide opportunities for people with lived experience to engage in creative practice to build individual capacity.

We measure our impact through surveys, interviews and other data collection tools to gather valuable feedback from Collaborative Artists to assess their experience, to reflect on their own growth and change, and overall satisfaction. Our key indicators of measurement are:

In the short term we measure:

  • Increased Readiness
  • Development of new life and creative skills

 

Through longer engagement, we measure an increased sense of:

  • Improved Agency
  • Increased social and economic engagement
  • Improved Mental Health

FOR THE PERSON

The arts offer a powerful tool to break stigma and challenge perceptions. Through our work we look to break down barriers, encourage inclusion and increase opportunities for people with diverse lived experiences to thrive, thus tackling the issue of disadvantage from both sides.

We measure our impact through post-show surveys and other data collection tools, gathering valuable feedback from attendees to assess their experiences, engagement levels, and overall impact. 

Our key indicators of measurement are:

  • They understand Milk Crate Theatre’s work and purpose
  • If their eyes were opened to new ideas
  • That the work evoked a strong emotional response
  • Whether they were captivated and impressed by the artistry, story and performances
  • That it compelled them to think about social issues people face
  • They were spurred to take some action or make a change

FOR AUDIENCES

As an arts company, we have 3 outcome domains that we hold ourselves accountable to and measure on each year. A harder area to measure, as the arts is such a subjective experience, we utilise creative collection methods through debriefs, self-evaluation surveys, external research and organisation level evaluation surveys to evaluate our artistic impact:

  • Innovation in Artistic Practice
  • More diverse voices shared with audiences
  • Arts and culture sector champion

FOR THE ART


Stories from our Community

Developed in collaboration with members of our community and staff, hear directly from them about the impact of Milk Crate Theatre’s work in their lives.