(Wie) Kultur wirkt
Wirkungsorientierte Evaluation von Kulturarbeit und kultureller Bildungsarbeit am Goethe-Institut

Abstract

In 2013, the Goethe Institut initiated a three-year project to develop an evaluation framework to measure the impact of its work on culture and cultural education. This article is divided into two parts: Part one relates to the experience of this development process and the conceptual considerations that led to a publication issued in 2016. By focusing on throughput (a value-based working approach) and analyzing the transfer of impact beyond the immediate sphere of activity, the Goethe Institut achieved added value in terms of evaluation. Part two of the article discusses the application of the evaluation concept based on a case study. Here, the authors illustrate the heuristic use of Bruno Latour’s and Michel Callon’s Actor-Network Theory in evaluations of cultural work. The article concludes with a short insight into the use of the evaluation concept for internal evaluations within the Goethe Institut as well as externally commissioned ones. The publication of the concept is also an invitation to continue a critical dialogue between cultural workers, cultural institutions, evaluators, and scholars about the opportunities and limitations of evaluating cultural work.