46 Organiser perspective

You can use the FailSpace toolkit to evaluate a Jam from an organisers’ perspective. This is an output of a research project in the cultural sector.

The project was led by Professor Leila Jjancovich (University of Leeds) and Professor David Stevenson (Queen Margaret University), and was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). This work has been adapted for educational projects and we first trialled it for the Social Justice Jam: Spaces for Change event in June 2024.

The FailSpace toolkit can help you define what both success and failure look like in the context of your project. This framework focuses the evaluation on what lessons you can learn. It also provides a streamlined and meaningful approach to evaluation that can be useful to inform future practice.

“Our research process has demonstrated that talking openly about failures not only feels liberating and reduces the fear that one will be judged for failing when everyone else is succeeding, but also aids the ability to reflect critically upon failure as part
of a wider system.

This is where the potential for collective action and change may lie. We therefore argue that seeking out and discussing narratives of failure should be as important as recording and celebrating
narratives of success.

However, we recognise that doing so is not easy, and does not come naturally to anyone, let alone those who feel that their ability to “be creative” relies on the distribution of resources tied to an abstract notion of success.” (Jancovich & Stevenson, 2023, 139, 140)

Refer to Appendix 7: Evaluation exemplars for the adapted FailSpace grid used for the Social Justice Jam: Spaces for Change event in June 2024. You should develop a version that is applicable in the context of your work – make adaptations to the framework to meet your needs and those of your partners.