9 Dimensions for evaluating how art and creative practice stimulate societal transformations

Abstract

There is an urgent need to engage with deep leverage points in sustainability transformations-fundamental myths, paradigms, and systems of meaning making-to open new collective horizons for action. Art and creative practice are uniquely suited to help facilitate change in these deeper transformational leverage points. However, understandings of how creative practices contribute to sustainability transformations are lacking in practice and fragmented across theory and research. This lack of understanding shapes how creative practices are evaluated and therefore funded and supported, limiting their potential for transformative impact. This paper presents the 9 Dimensions tool, created to support reflective and evaluative dialogues about links between creative practice and sustainability transformations. It was developed in a transdisciplinary process between the potential users of this tool: researchers, creative practitioners, policy makers, and funders. It also brings disciplinary perspectives on societal change from evaluation theory, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and more in connection with each other and with sustainability transformations, opening new possibilities for research. The framework consists of three categories of change, and nine dimensions: changing meanings (embodying, learning, and imagining); changing connections (caring, organizing, and inspiring); and changing power (co-creating, empowering, and subverting). We describe how the 9 Dimensions tool was developed, and describe each dimension and the structure of the tool. We report on an application of the 9 Dimensions tool to 20 creative practice projects across the European project Creative Practices for Transformational Futures (CreaTures). We discuss user reflections on the potential and challenges of the tool, and discuss insights gained from the analysis of the 20 projects. Finally, we discuss how the 9 Dimensions can effectively act as a transdisciplinary research agenda bringing creative practice further in contact with transformation research.

International Conference Socioecos 2024

“…For the evaluation of the changes that have occurred in the development of artistic initiatives, a very current instrument tested in 20 cultural projects at the European level has been used. It's called the 9 Dimensions tool and it is an evaluation tool with "three categories of change, and nine dimensions: changing meanings (embodying, learning, and imagining); changing connections (caring, organizing, and inspiring); and changing power (co-creating, empowering, and subverting)" (Vervoort et al, 2024). For a more detailed explanation, you can visit the following website: https://creaturesframework.org/.…”

“…The cultural dimension, understood as the set of meanings, beliefs, rituals, art, and stories that generate social habits and collective behaviors, is increasingly prominent in environmental studies. Accounting for the cultural dimension is a tipping point for generating transformations in our human systems (Vervoort et al, 2024). Neglecting these cultural aspects can render solutions to problems ineffective because, among other things, they do not resonate with what truly matters to individuals and communities (Adger et al, 2013).…”

Transformative foresight for diverse futures: the Seeds of Good Anthropocenes initiative

“…In social-ecological systems research, "transformation" refers to significant structural changes within both systems and societies (Moore et al, 2014). Meadows (1999) illustrates that transformations can manifest at different scales-from adjustments in the stocks and flows that maintain systems to deep shifts in the underlying paradigms that dictate how systems are understood and interpreted (Leach et al, 2012;Vervoort et al, 2024).…”

“…This involves crafting narratives that combine tacit knowledge of lived experiences, deep disciplinary or thematic expertise, and creative imagination (Moore et al, 2020). As Vervoort et al (2024) argue: "Those seeking to change societies imagine better futures to achieve, unwanted futures to avoid, and often both. Observing or experiencing novel ways of existence or action that were previously unconsidered can, in turn, spark fresh imaginative potentials" (Raudsepp-Hearne et al, 2020).…”

“…Understanding the non-linear and unpredictable nature of complex systems provides a foundational basis for exploring the diverse origins and impacts of transformative change processes as these vary widely. Some views suggest that they result from intentional actions by individuals or groups, while others see them as outcomes of broader sociopolitical and economic forces, or as a result of social mobilization (Feola, 2015;Patterson et al, 2017;Vervoort et al, 2024). External influences like climate change can also initiate transformations that, despite being human-influenced, are not controlled by any single entity.…”