This report was published by Project Oracle Children and Youth Evidence Hub.

HERE’S HOW THE AUTHORS DESCRIBE THIS REPORT:

There is a wide variety of arts-based activities for children and young people across London, and yet it is often difficult to express their specific benefits and impact. Reviewing the evidence can help to shine light on how the arts help to improve outcomes for the capital’s young people.

In this study we review the evidence of arts-based projects in London. In doing so, we explore the link between arts activities, the outcomes that they achieve and the lessons to be learned from their approaches to evaluation and evidence-based practice. Our aim is to have a better understanding of how arts-based interventions and activities are beneficial, in which contexts and why.

The study has examined 18 examples of arts projects and arts-based practice in London. Across these, it has found a wide variety of different types of evidence and a range of outcomes from a sector developing its own approaches to evidence and evaluation.