Hello, fellow evaluators! My name is Gladys Rowe, PhD, and I love getting creative. You may be thinking, great, but why are you writing about this in an AEA blog?? Stick with me… I love playing around with creative practices and am deeply invested in the intersections of Indigenous evaluation, decolonization, and reflexivity. And combining these practices? Priceless!
Today, I want to share some thoughts and resources on how arts-based methods can serve as powerful tools for evaluators to engage in critical reflexivity, particularly when thinking about evaluation and responsibilities we hold when we walk alongside Indigenous programs, organizations, and institutions.
Lesson Learned: The Power of Arts in Promoting Reflexivity and Inclusivity
You might have already imagined incorporating arts-based methods in your evaluation plans as they offer a unique opportunity for evaluators to go beyond traditional data collection and analysis. As evaluators, we often seek to understand the complex realities of communities we work with. I invite you to take a step back and think about how arts might support our own evaluator learning journeys to process, reflect on, and critically assess our roles and experiences.
Hot Tip: Using Poetry as a Tool for Decolonizing (ourselves!) in Evaluation
Poetry can be an incredible medium to explore and express complex ideas about decolonization and our roles within evaluation processes. In the article “We Story: Decoloniality in Practice and Theory,” Mafile’o et al. (2022) discuss how storytelling, including poetry, enables a deeper understanding of cultural perspectives and helps displace Western rationality as the dominant framework. By creating and sharing poetry, evaluators can critically reflect on our positionalities and experiences, creating space for new, transformative narratives. This approach can foster a decolonizing evaluation practice (recognizing decolonizing as a journey and not a destination!).
Rad Resource: Indigenous Insights: An Evaluation Podcast – Season 2 on Arts-Based Practices
If you’re interested in exploring more arts-based practices in evaluation, check out Season 2 of “Indigenous Insights: An Evaluation Podcast.” This season is dedicated to the arts, featuring episodes on how different artistic mediums, such as poetry, visual arts, beading, and performance, can be integrated into evaluation work. The podcast provides examples and reflections from practitioners who have used arts-based methods to enhance their evaluative practices. Maybe they will spark an idea about a practice you want to dive into!
Cool Trick: Implementing Arts-Based Methods in Your Reflexive Evaluation Practice
Try dedicating a few minutes at the end of your day to write a poem, a short narrative, or sketch a drawing. This exercise can help you and your team reflect on the emotional and cultural dimensions of your work, providing a tool for critical reflexivity – offering you a richer understanding of the impact of your evaluations within diverse communities. You could look back at the week, month, or season to notice patterns, growth, learnings, challenges, and successes.
What question have you been curious about in your evaluation practice? What is coming up for you in a new (or older) project that could be helpful to unpack? Using a guiding question, pick an arts-based medium to see where your learning can take you!
Bonus Resource: Dive Deeper with AND Implementation’s Arts-Based Workshop
For those looking to explore arts-based practices further, check out the work of AND Implementation. Their blog post, “Arts-Based 101,“ provides an excellent introduction to using arts in evaluation, with practical tips and examples from their own workshops. This is a fantastic resource for evaluators interested in expanding their toolkit with creative and engaging methods for critical reflexivity.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to hearing about your experiences with arts-based reflexivity in evaluation!
The American Evaluation Association is hosting Indigenous Peoples in Evaluation (IPE) TIG week. All posts this week are contributed by members of the IPE Topical Interest Group. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.