Penryn-based Arts Well promotes the benefits of the arts and creativity for supporting mental health and wellbeing. The team works with organisations, communities and individuals across Cornwall and Scilly, with life-changing results.

While Arts Well, their partners and their clients can see the incredible difference their support makes to people’s lives, how is this improvement actually measured? Commissioners need access to quantifiable data before allocating work and resources.

Arts Well worked with Smartline to develop a consistent social value measure.

The Background

Arts Well provides direct creative programmes and activities for individuals and groups, as well as training, resources, advice and consultation for arts and health practitioners across Cornwall. They work in partnership with organisations in both the health and arts sectors, bringing the two together to promote wellbeing through creative engagement.

Founder Jayne Howard and her team come from a range of health and creative backgrounds, a perfect blend of skills to deliver their supportive services.

The Opportunity

Arts Well wanted to offer their partners a tool that calculates the social value of their creative interventions. A social return on investment (SROI) measure would help these organisations apply for further commissions.

Smartline held a two-day SROI workshop, attended by a diverse group of arts and health practioners from small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) across the county. The workshops looked at the theory of SROI followed by a session developing the practical application of social value theories. You can read more about these engaging social value workshops in our earlier article.

Arts Well was one of the SMEs that attended this workshop, and they came away inspired to create their own SROI tool, which they could offer to their arts and healthcare partners as another service.

How Smartline Helped

Jayne approached Smartline to apply for an Idea Generation Grant, which would support Arts Well with developing their SROI tool and take it to market – as a new product. This new digital service, called The Arts Well – SROI Partner Service, would enable their partner organisations to demonstrate the social value of their work.

The project, using digital technology to improve health and wellbeing, is a perfect fit for Smartline’s remit. We were able to provide the support Jayne asked for, which included the licence for the Social Value Engine (SVE), an existing SROI calculator that would underpin their new digital product.

What are the next steps?

Access to this bespoke calculator will benefit both Arts Well and their partners. Some of the smaller organisations and freelancers that work with Arts Well would otherwise have no access to a tool like this. Arts Well and partners can show commissioners and other stakeholders a measured and consistent value.

Arts Well can also increase its consultancy services, including out of county, by providing the SROI Partner Service tool as one of its offers.

Arts Well is project managing a strategic partnership for Cornwall (the Creative, Health and Wellbeing Partnership) and their new digital tool will be an essential measure of effectiveness for its work.

Jayne summarises the success of her collaboration with Smartline:

The way that we have benefitted … and the freelancers that work for us have benefitted is that we have been able to demonstrate the social impact that our work has.

With early calculations showing a ROI of £7 per £1 spent on one project, you can see why it’s so important that this essential work can be quantified.

Find out more about The Arts Well – SROI Partner Service in this short interview with Jayne.

Who is involved?

This Smartline project was funded by European Regional Development Funds (ERDF). Smartline’s Dr Tim Walker and Dr Andrew Williams led the initial SROI workshops, while James Rowberry and Emma McBurney worked with Jayne Howard from Arts Well to secure the Idea Generation Grant.