Polish Scottish Heritage Project Internal evaluation report Katarzyna Przybycien 10/28/2014
Table of Contents 1
Introduction.............................................................................................................. 2
2
Summary .................................................................................................................. 3
3
Lessons learned by the project .................................................................................. 4
4
Evaluation methodology ........................................................................................... 6
5
Impacts on Learning and Skills ................................................................................... 7 5.1 5.2 5.3
6
Learning opportunities created by the project .............................................................. 7 Learning outcomes for festival visitors.......................................................................... 8 Learning outcomes for project volunteers..................................................................... 9
Project’s engagement outcomes ............................................................................. 10 6.1 Tactics to attract and engage with audiences .............................................................. 10 6.1.1 Polish Scottish Heritage Festival ..................................................................................... 10 6.2 Volunteering opportunities ........................................................................................ 13 6.2.1 Oral history project ......................................................................................................... 13 6.2.2 Festival assistants ............................................................................................................ 14 6.2.3 Engagement with research ............................................................................................. 15 6.3 Hands-on workshops.................................................................................................. 15
7
New initiatives created as a result of the project ..................................................... 17
8
Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 17
1
Introduction
Polish Scottish Heritage Project started in April 2013 and finished in October 2014. It received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project worked towards achievement of four objectives: I. II. III. IV.
Discover stories, events and places of great significance for our shared PolishScottish history. Encourage communities to get involved in researching and discussing our joint history. Promote greater awareness and celebrate the common Polish-Scottish heritage. Preserve the diverse Polish-Scottish heritage for present and future generations.
Polish Scottish Heritage Project was run by the Polish Cultural Festival Association and employed 4 part time staff. A large network of individuals and organisations befriended by the project supported it in delivery of its aims.
2
Summary
Polish Scottish Heritage Project has achieved their objectives and delivered its outputs. It has engaged with a large number of individuals and organisations that volunteered time to contribute to its various activities. Project has also left an on-going legacy, not only in the format of an online repository of materials but also in the form new initiatives reaching beyond the project. Those initiatives include resurrection of a dance group Ojczyzna, and contribution to a newly funded knowledge exchange project led by the University of Aberdeen. The outcomes of the project that may have led to further impacts have been categorised according to the Heritage Lottery Fund evaluation guidelines. These include: People have learned about heritage The project has created a variety of learning opportunities in formats relevant to different learning styles and preferences including facilitated learning and self-study, research activities, hands-on workshops, talks, etc. It has offered those at a variety of locations, both online and physical. Polish Scottish Heritage Festival visitors reported many learning outcomes about aspects of contemporary and historical heritage. The most reported learning outcome was knowledge about the historical migration of Scots to Poland and its positive implication to Scotland. People have developed skills People engaged with the project as volunteers for the Oral History Project and as festival assistants reported acquiring of new skills. These included technical skills such as podcast editing, oral history research, creative writing, interviewing in front of a camera. The benefits to volunteers also included development of confidence, experience in visitors’ management, event organisation, workshops’ delivery, and working with children. People have volunteered time Project has offered many distinct opportunities for people to contribute on a voluntary basis. Two of them were explicitly named volunteering opportunities and recruited 35 individuals. The remaining opportunities included: 45 individuals volunteered time and shared their personal knowledge and life stories becoming project’s celebrities featured in podcasts, short movies and exhibition materials; 6 individuals volunteered time to research and write articles for the project’s website; 12 individuals contributed with their knowledge and feedback in regards to materials created and 16 individuals volunteered time as advisory group members. More and a wider range of people have engaged with heritage The Polish Scottish shared heritage was lacking exposure prior to the project as noted by the advisory group members and Polish Scottish Heritage project has filled this gap. The project has targeted diverse communities and audiences by trying to appeal to different tastes and preferences (e.g. talks, dance, music, film, articles, art, and
workshops), different ages and in different locations (libraries, art centres, schools, parliament and community centres). Overall, the project has attracted online audience of up to 7500 unique web visits, 1000 social media followers, up to 1000 event visitors across its various events and around 350 children through hands-on workshops.
3
Lessons learned by the project
Project team challenges Polish Scottish Heritage Project organisational challenges included a) Part-time employment status of all team members, which often slowed down communication and led to lacking capacity, especially in regard to supporting volunteers, workshops delivery or responding to external inquiries requiring staff time or resource b) Lacking joined office space where day-to-day communication could have taken place as well as availability of a meeting hub for project stakeholders Volunteering opportunity The first volunteering opportunity (Oral History Project) advertised by the project has received 16 applications. The final number of people who actively engaged in the Oral History project was 13 with 5 people dropping out for personal reasons later on. Each of the volunteers was tasked with recording an interview with a community member and / or editing the recording into podcast format. It was a challenging endeavour requiring significant time commitment, skills development and motivation from the volunteers. Hence many volunteers required extra support from the project. The project team realised it was lacking capacity, time and space to provide that support, to a level satisfying needs of all the volunteers. An external person has been contracted to support volunteers but despite that a few volunteers left the without completing their projects. The project has taken different approach when advertising for the second volunteering opportunity (festival assistants) where 19 individuals have been recruited. The tasks required from volunteers were designed so that they could be accomplished in a shorter timeframe, within the venues of the festival and under assigned supervision of all members of the team. All volunteers have completed their tasks and provided positive feedback. Schools engagement The project’s approach was to develop materials through research first and subsequently use the research results to devise content of workshops aimed at school age children. This has retarded the process of advertising the workshops in schools until early 2014. This might have slowed down the initial uptake of the workshops. The project has delivered the planned number of workshops however it was not able to respond to the demand that has grown amongst other schools in the later stages of the project when the resources and time have not been available anymore.
The initial plan anticipated development of three workshops. It has miscalculated the resource and time required for actual development and delivery of each of them. In addition, the challenges for the project to deliver three workshops at any given time in a school were underestimated. On one occasion, two workshops were offered to one school. The project has delivered them with support of the teachers. As the class sizes were small it was achievable but the logistic of that was so complicated that it may have jeopardised the quality of the experience of pupils. Following this experience, the project has adapted a new approach, and started offering individual workshops to school where more than one class could participate in the same activity on a rotary basis. It was found to work much better. More than one activity was offered only during events where volunteers were available to facilitate them. There have been two of such events in the duration of the project. Outreach and promotion Project has used variety of communication channels to advertise new materials, events and initiatives. The main tool used was Facebook, which was seen as an interactive and efficient way of getting feedback, and promote initiatives. To advertise the Polish Scottish Heritage Festival other media have also been used however some festival visitors have felt that the project might have advertised it more through mainstream press or printed channels to make it more visible. Some visitors also felt that the way the project events were advertised might have suggested to Scottish communities that the events were aimed at Polish audiences predominantly.
4
Evaluation methodology
The progress towards the objectives of the project was monitored and reported on by the project manager. The evaluation has been undertaken by the internal evaluator and focussed on the outcomes that the project was aiming to achieve while delivering its objectives. It followed the approached of the Impact Map outlining the inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts, the reasons why they mattered and the evidence for them. Activities undertaken by the project were addressing one or multiple objectives at the time. Those activities led to development of outputs which included: events, workshops, website, networks and collaborations, etc. Chosen outputs were measured in relation to what outcomes on individuals and communities have been achieved or are believed to be leading towards. Measured outputs included: Polish Scottish Heritage Festival, two volunteering opportunities, outreach workshops with schools, collaboration in the research process. Outcomes expected from the project included: a) b) c) d)
people have learned about heritage people have developed skills people have volunteered time more people and a wider range of people have engaged with heritage
In regard to each of those outcome and impact areas the evaluation looked into project’s efforts to achieve them - what has been done, and the results of those efforts. The results were presented in the format of short case studies. Some case studies provide evidence for achievement of more than one outcomes listed above.
5
Impacts on Learning and Skills
Evaluation of the learning and skills was based on analysis of opportunities provided by the project and an analysis of the learning outcomes of the visitors to the Polish Scottish Heritage Festival as well as that of volunteers. In the first instance data comes from survey questionnaires and the second instance from focus group and project’s records.
5.1 Learning opportunities created by the project Analysis of the project’s provision of learning opportunities suggests that all major types of learning styles were addressed and thus people with various learning preferences were catered for. The project has produced and utilised 24 unique learning formats that were used in multiple occasions. These included formal and informal settings, facilitated and selfstudy, project work, creative hands on workshops and training with external consultants offered for free to community members. Table 1 Learning opportunities by learning styles and preference
Reading
Doing / Experience
Watching
Online articles Oral History Movies Research training and practice Posters Podcast Exhibition editing training and practice Books Two distinct Performances hands onworkshops Exhibition Dancing group panels and event Hand-outs / Crafts taster leaflets
Listening
Interacting through social media Facebook
Interacting with other people Events
Podcasts’ exhibitions
Website comments
Exhibitions
Lectures
Email discussions
Workshops
Online podcasts
Concerts
Networking
Story Telling
The facilitated learning opportunities included two training session for volunteers: a) Podcast Editing training and b) Oral History Research training and two workshops for children delivered in 7 locations: a) Meet Wojtek, the bear soldier, and b) Mini Great Polish Map of Scotland. Learning outcomes have not been assessed during those learning opportunities as they were purposely kept very informal, however feedback from participants who subsequently put in practice the new skills (e.g.in regard to interviewing and podcast editing) as well as the engagement and enthusiasm of children involved in the workshops provide clues that the learning has taken place successfully.
5.2 Learning outcomes for festival visitors The festival visitors reported gaining new knowledge and insights into the past and present connections between Poles and Scots. The learning that has taken place covered roughly four areas: a) General historical knowledge, including the diversity and longevity of the cultural and economic links between the two nations. “I've learned that Scots used to emigrate to Poland. Don't think many people actually know that” or it was hilarious to learn “that the Scots were so prevalent in Poland that Poles used to threaten their kids with 'behave or the Scots will come and get you!'” b) Post war history, often related to the personal and family stories I have learned “that I am not alone as a child who resulted from war torn Europe” and ”that the kids of the post war generation are so present and eager to learn about their heritage despite being real British by now, not speaking Polish etc.” c) Learning about art and cultural heritage, especially music and dance, both Polish and Scottish “I was surprised to find out there is a Polish dance called SZOT that clearly must have been influenced by the Scottish Ceilidh!” d) Discovery of a community of likeminded people, interested in the shared culture either due to their own background, presence of Poles or other reasons. The festival seemed to have generated many occasions for eureka moments for participants, unaware of the length and depth of the historical connections between Poland and Scotland. It has also provided opportunities for people to learn from each other. A women representing contemporary Polish migration to Scotland reflected that she has learned a lot at the festival, but not that much from the materials and events but from conversations with British people who knew so much more that she herself was aware of. An elderly British man reflected on his experience of having many conversations with Polish people, who he believed had many misconceptions about Scottish recent history and festival was a great opportunity to discuss those issues with them.
5.3 Learning outcomes for project volunteers The volunteers’ skills were evaluated by a focus group and by reviewing project records. The focus group was attended by 9 participants following their roles as festival assistants. Discussing the diverse learning outcomes from the project, one person reported that the creative writing skills that he gained through the project have already improved his performance and confidence at work. Another volunteer reported gaining new skills when undertaking live interviews with the public in front of the camera – contributing to the project’s evaluation evidence. Her experience prompted her to think she would be able to make a documentary film, even though she has never considered that before. A volunteer with research background reported being inspired to revisit her research interest and focus towards the contemporary relationship between Scots and Poles. The skills that volunteers have improved following their participation in the project have been categorised in the table below.
Oral history volunteers Festival volunteers Festival goers Online community
X
X
X
X
X
Public engagement skills
Event management skills
Factual knowledge
Research skills
Confidence
Technical skills
Volunteers' skills
X X X X
X
X
6
Project’s engagement outcomes
6.1 Tactics to attract and engage with audiences Analysis of project’s activities suggests that the project’s approach to engage various audiences involved four measures: •
•
•
•
Use of a wide range of dissemination channels, with great emphasis on social media and art. These involved: formal and informal networking, social media, targeted mailing, collaboration with relevant initiatives, posters, leaflets, press and radio, website, podcasts, school visits, hands-on workshops, and events Use of themes, forms of expression and different event structures to attracts audiences of different tastes, interests and age. For example events featuring talks and discussions with distinguished speakers targeted more mature audience, story telling and hands on workshops targeted children and families, concerts and dance were aimed to attract younger audiences. Availability at various locations and time – the project has both created events where visitors were expected to come, and brought the project to the audiences’ hubs, such as schools, libraries or parliament. Other locations included: community centres, art centres, parliament, restaurants or schools. Timeframes for project activities. The project’s initiatives have ranged from a) one off events taking place on a specific date and time which were not repeated, e.g. some talks and concerts; b) events that have been repeated, e.g. workshops for children, c) events available for periods of time e.g. exhibition and festival, d) resources available ongoing basis, e.g. Facebook interactions.
The above examples provide evidence that the project’s outputs exposure to diverse communities were significant through use of diverse methods. The Polish Scottish Festival was evaluated as an example of projects’ efforts and successes to attract various audiences. 6.1.1 Polish Scottish Heritage Festival The festival featured 19 different events spread over period of 11 days, from 18th to 29th June 2014. This condensed format was chosen over a series of events throughout the year, as it was believed it could make bigger impact and attract bigger audiences. Majority of the events have been developed in collaboration with external stakeholders: artists, academics, businesses; some were developed by the project team only and a few were delivered by external organisations. The festival visits have been partly recorded by registration and partly available on the drop in basis. The estimated number of visitors was about 500 people, and average visitor attended at least 3 events. The feedback from the event was collected using online survey, yielding 30% response rate. It was complemented by filmed interviews with visitors and entries of people into the feedback books available at each event. Three quarters of the festival visitors fell
into the age group of 25-59, which was expected by the project. Visitors in the age group 60 and over constituted one fifth of the audience, which was very welcomed as project anticipated it would be a hard to reach part of the audience. The age group 16 to 18 have not been represented in the survey and observation has confirmed that this age group’s participation was limited. The participation of children at the festival was not recorded by survey, but head count was undertaken accounting for 50 children, which would equal to 10% of the visitors’ population. 60% of visitors recorded by the survey were women and 40% man. 80% of participants described themselves as white, 3% other ethic group, and 17% mixed or preferred not to disclose. The festival was rated as enjoyable experience by almost all respondents to the survey (96%). Vast majority admitted having learned something new (80%) and many, nearly three fourths have felt it made them feel proud of the shared heritage, where 44% admitted it made them think differently about the history as a result. The most frequently mentioned facts that people have learned related to the history of the Scottish migration to Poland in XVI century. Most of the attendees also benefitted from meeting new people. This was recorded especially in comments of Scottish nationals coming from Polish or mixed families formed following the demobilisation of Polish army in Scotland after World War II. In addition, one visitor pointed out that the festival provided an opportunity and space for the two communities to discuss the aspects of history and shared heritage that might have been misinterpreted by history teaching or media in Poland and Scotland and led to creation of stereotypes and misunderstandings, especially around the history of WWII. Benefits to the Festival Visitors
Please mark all statements that describe how you felt about the festival. I enjoyed myself I learned something new I felt proud of the shared heritage I met some new people It made me think differently about the history Nothing was interestign to me 0.0%
50.0%
100.0%
150.0%
The diversity of the festival programme was rated very high and majority of events have been rated as excellent or good. The negative ratings we explained in the comments and related to visitors having a perception that the speakers have used the opportunity to promote their political views regarding the vivid at the time debate on Scottish independence. Polish Scottish Heritage Festival events’ rating
Opening Exhibition at the Scottish… Billy Kay's lecture: The Scots in… Ceilidh with a Polish Twist (22nd June) Katy Carr's concert followed by the… MARTIN STEPEK and Jenny… Family Workshops: Outfits for… Martin Stepek’s exhibition "For… Davno concert (21st June) Excellent
Jenny Robertson storytelling session…
Good
Art based workshops for kids aged… Polish Scottish Fusion Cuisine…
Neither good nor bad
Scotland goes East exhibition…
Not very good
The Officer’s Wife… Chopin Piano Concert by Aleksander… Richard Demarco's Exhibition… Katy Carr's music based workshop… Louise Rutkowski's concert (21st… Tours at the National Library of… Nothing but the Poem session (28th… 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
6.2 Volunteering opportunities Project has offered two specific volunteering opportunities to ordinary members of the community: the Oral History project and Festival Assistance. They were advertised via social networks and press. There have been other opportunities for voluntary contribution to the project, for example invitation to support the research and production of materials for the website open throughout the project. Another opportunity was directed to the members of the community believed to have played special role in the creation of the shared heritage. They were asked to be interviewed or filmed for the project’s podcasts and short movies. Other opportunities included contribution to project’s events, providing feedback or access to archives or participating in the advisory group for the project.
Type of volunteering engagement Oral History volunteers
Numbers 16 recruited, of which 13 trained and 7 completed their tasks
Event volunteers
3 at the event in November 2013 and 19 for the main festival in June 2014 6
Volunteers contributing to research and materials production Podcasts’ celebrities Short movies celebrities
14 Ca. 30
6.2.1 Oral history project Ordinary community members were approached to contribute to the research process through creation of the Oral History Project. They recorded stories of individuals who have in a special way contributed to the creation of the shared heritage. Those stories were then edited and transformed into audio podcasts. The project was advertised in-press, through mailing network of the advisory group members, and Facebook. It recruited initially 16 volunteers: 9 people with Polish nationality and 7 people with British nationality, 5 men and 11 women. 7 of them went through the Oral History Research Training and 13 of them attended the Podcast Editing Training. Both trainings were free for them and delivered by external organisations: Living Memory Association and a member of Strathclyde University. Volunteers were consulted in regard to timings of the trainings, and as a result these were offered in the evenings and on the weekends. Those who could not attend were offered individual sessions. The training sessions were time consuming and some of volunteers felt they would not be able to commit much more time to the work of the project. Only 7 individuals have carried on to undertake interviews.
The project’s initial plan to engage volunteers in the process of interviewing the members of the Polish-Scottish Community has worked with some volunteers and failed with the others. Especially the volunteers who have had no previous experience of any research activity as well as the technical skills of podcast editing felt it was a steep learning curve. The project team faced a few additional challenges in regard to this part of the project. The capacity of the project to cater for the needs of the volunteers who required more assistance was limited. The lack of a physical space (the project had to rent venues every time) where the volunteers could meet to accomplish their tasks was restricting creation of relationships between volunteers and with the project team. It was an important challenge as this was the reason why some volunteers joined in. The challenges included the time of the year when this part of the project was planned for (October 2013-January 2014) as most interviews had to be scheduled for the evenings due to the working commitments of volunteers. The short days and cold temperatures contributed to the lack of confidence of some volunteers to undertake visits to interviewees. However, overall the Oral History Project has been successful in engaging 7 volunteers, up skilling them and jointly producing 14 podcasts featured on the website and during exhibitions displayed in various venues including Scottish Parliament. Those volunteers have remained in contact with the project throughout its duration. 6.2.2 Festival assistants Support from community members has also been sought for the events organised by the project. 19 volunteers have been recruited for the main Polish Scottish Heritage Festival in June 2014 and 3 for the first event in November 2013. They came from Edinburgh, Stirling and wider Lothian area and 4 nationalities were represented. They have been supporting the project in variety of roles where they could develop diverse skills. The roles included: visitors’ assistance, technical support, workshops facilitators, gathering feedback, set up and planning of the events. The project has taken a different approach with these two volunteering opportunities, which was more appropriate to the project’s capacity to support them. Volunteers were introduced to the project on the initial two meetings of which they needed to attend one. They were given choice to select tasks and responsibilities and assigned a person in the team who was also involved in the activities they were supporting. In this way their contribution was well defined, time restricted and better supported. They were also offered the opportunity to participate in all events by the project that they were interested in. Their feedback collected in a focus group following the event suggested they had different reasons for joining the project. Some wanted to gain new experience in festival management, some wanted to contribute to a cause they deemed important, some have had previous experience and wanted to make further positive experiences by contributing to the project. The feedback from them was entirely positive, reflecting that they were happy to be able to contribute to events that seemed to matter to people. They also reported learning new facts about the shared heritage which they did not know or expect;
being overwhelmed by the atmosphere during the festival; surprised by the diversity of visitors, especially the post war generation, and the quality of content. 6.2.3 Engagement with research A research manager appointed by the project has overseen the process of research and materials’ production. The research was partly desk based and partly through engagement with community members and targeted stakeholders. It was not meant to follow strict academic research rules but instead to be inclusive and participatory. Quality control was achieved by seeking feedback from professional historians. The project engaged with 8 organisations and 6 individuals. All of them volunteered time to contribute to the process by: validating research findings, contributing their knowledge, research or resource (books, archives), or producing materials and content for the website. The content produced in this way provided the baseline script for the short film productions, educational activities and exhibitions. The organisations involved in the process included: St Andrews Preservation Trust, Consulate of Republic of Poland, University of Aberdeen, Grangemouth Spitfire Trust, Map of Scotland Trust, National Library Scotland, University of Highlands and Islands. In regard to commitment to the project it was the individuals contributing time to researching and writing materials for the online repository that made the biggest contribution to the project and benefited most in the process of this engagement.
6.3 Hands-on workshops The project’s outreach approach with children was centred on development and delivery of three hands-on workshops targeting age group from 4 year old up to the age of 12 (the final year of the primary education). The project has developed the content of the workshops following the research phase, where from the most appropriate stories were selected. The workshops themes included the story of the Wojtek the Bear Soldier (WWII and post war), Great Polish Map of Scotland (Post WWI and contemporary) and Chopin’s music (pre WWII). The first two workshops have been received with greatest interest and repeatedly delivered. The interest in the third workshop was much smaller and it has been dropped due to the lack of resources and the demand for the other two. 7 schools and one nursery have participated which accounted to 350 children and 170 adults – family members of school staff. The teachers’ feedback, observation and demand have suggested the workshops have been engaging, attractive and educational. There have been further, unplanned outcomes of this part of the projects that are taking its outputs further. Two book writers Jenny Robertson and Aileen Orr have contributed to the public events and benefitted from the opportunity to promote their books. They have also been using the visuals created by the project in exchange for promoting the project along the promotion of their books. The Wojtek Memorial Trust expressed interest in future work with the project regarding the workshop’s content and method.
The Map of Scotland Trust has benefitted from the project by being given exposure to wider audiences. This was through the workshops, to which delivery they also contributed, and though a short film featuring the great Polish Map of Scotland. Their enthusiastic feedback suggested they may replicate the workshop activity developed by the project in their own engagement with school children. The project outreach has also been exemplified in the successful Knowledge Exchange project titled Linking Northern Communities socially, culturally and economically: East European Immigration in Scotland and funded by Scottish Universities Insight Institute. The project led by the Aberdeen University is planning to use the outputs of the Polish Scottish Heritage outreach programme to create materials aimed at professional development of history teachers in Scotland. If successful it will mainstream the Polish Scottish Heritage project outreach outputs by embedding them in the curriculum.
7
New initiatives created as a result of the project
The Polish Scottish Heritage Project has had wider, though unplanned impacts on the community. The most significant bottom up initiative was to reactivate a folk dance group Ojczyzna, originally created 30 years ago. The group has been reassembled for a performance at the Polish Scottish Heritage Festival and subsequently it was decided by the group leader and the new members to recruit more dancers and reactivate the regular meetings and training. Another outcome includes obtaining funding for the Knowledge Exchange Project titled Linking Northern Communities socially, culturally and economically: East European Immigration in Scotland from the Scottish Universities Insight Institute. The project is led by the Aberdeen University and plans to use the outputs of the Polish Scottish Heritage outreach programme to create materials aimed at professional development of history teachers in Scotland. If successful it will mainstream the Polish Scottish Heritage project outreach outputs by embedding them in the curriculum. The educational workshops about Wojtek the bear soldier have also attracted interest of the Wojtek Memorial Trust and further joint work is being planned.
8
Conclusions
The Polish Scottish Heritage project has made a difference to many members of the Polish Scottish communities. It has approached its aims and objectives very ambitiously and delivered all of them to greater extent. The quantity of learning opportunities, exposure, and diversity of formats has been significant providing the size of the team and their part time commitment to the project. It reinforces the great contribution made to the project by volunteers, both individuals and organisations. The quality of the undertakings was rated very high in most cases where in other cases the project’s capacity limits were visible. The interest in the topic of shared heritage generated much greater demand that the project has anticipated. The project’s team learning journey has been reflected in the changes and improvements to how project activities were undertaken, especially in regard to volunteers’ management, workshops delivery, promotion and networking.