Ethnographic Evaluation of AmbITion:

Second Interim Report

Cambridge University Technical Services
Report authors: Lee Wilson (lw243@cam.ac.uk), David Leitner
(dl281@cam.ac.uk)
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................3

SUMMARY ...........................................................................................................................................................3

EVALUATION APPROACH ............................................................................................................................5

AIM OF EVALUATION ..................................................................................................................................5

METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................................................................................5

FORMAT OF REPORT ....................................................................................................................................6

CASE STUDIES ...................................................................................................................................................6

CASE 1: HOIPOLLOI ....................................................................................................................................6

CASE 2: LUDUS DANCE ..............................................................................................................................8

CASE 3: ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ............................................................................................9

CASE 4: ALDEBURGH MUSIC....................................................................................................................11

THEMES AND ISSUES....................................................................................................................................12

THE VALUE OF THE CONSULTANTS ...........................................................................................................12

TIMELINE ...................................................................................................................................................13

INFORMAL INTERACTION WITH OTHER ORGANISATIONS .........................................................................14

KNOWLEDGE PORTAL ...............................................................................................................................14

PERFORMING RIGHTS LEGISLATION ........................................................................................................15

UPTAKE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES..............................................................................................................16

THE IMPORTANCE OF ‘ PLAY’ ....................................................................................................................17

ENGAGEMENT WITH ORGANISATIONS ......................................................................................................18

CHANGE .....................................................................................................................................................19


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Introduction

This interim report is the second deliverable for the AmbITion project in satisfaction of
the requirements of Phase 2 of the programme of work defined in the contract between
Cambridge University Technical Services (CUTS) and the Manchester Digital
Development Agency (MDDA) to provide an ethnographic evaluation of AmbITion.

This report should be read in conjunction with the first interim report produced as part
of this evaluation process. The first report details at length the methodology, approach
that we have employed and the research objectives of the evaluation. That report should
be referred to for more detailed information on these matters. It was carried out prior to
the implementation stage of the AmbITion project, and in this respect provides a
‘baseline’ against which this second evaluation report should be read. That is, the two
reports should be read as snapshots of the AmbITion project before and after the
intervention stage.

We would like to thank all those that have given so generously of their time during what
were often frantic periods of organisational activity to engage with us to produce this
evaluation report. We warmly welcome any further comments and feedback on this
report.

Lee Wilson, David Leitner,

Cambridge, November 2008

Summary
We have noticed a marked change in attitudes towards digital technologies amongst the
arts organisations since phase 1 of this evaluation. Moreover, there is now a significant
commitment of resources, both time and budgetary, on the part of these organisations,
as evidenced by the creation of new job roles and a greater engagement with new media.
An interesting development is the degree to which companies are exploring the creative
potential for new technologies, especially video, in education, performance and
evaluation. Having the time to ‘play’ around with these technologies, to be creative with
them, seems to be a key factor in their uptake. Where they have been employed in novel
and unanticipated ways, the individuals using these technologies have viewed them as an
extension of their creative missions, and not merely marketing or fundraising tools
(although their value in this respect is not disregarded). Individuals seem to take on the
extra time and effort involved in using these technologies because they are approaching
the task as a creative opportunity. Whether incorporated into performance practises,
overcoming spatial and temporal restrictions to reach out to new audiences, or as a
means of ‘capturing’ experience to provide evidence of value to funders, the potential of
new media has captured the imagination of the companies that we have visited.

The implementation and upgrading of other technologies - new computer networks and
better databases - has addressed important issues for some organisations, facilitating
better communication, more efficient programming and targeted marketing strategies.
However, even where these technologies are most appreciated, they have yet to effect a

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complete conversion to a ‘digital office’. Factors that have a bearing on the continued
reliance on hard copy include the immateriality of digital media and the perceived ease
with which data might be lost or erased. The lack of training in and familiarity with the
use of critical applications such as Artifax are at the root of a lack of faith in digital media
for storing and accessing valuable data. In all of the groups that we have worked with
pen and paper and regular face-to-face meetings are still employed around office
functions that might be easily transferred to time management software. An over-
reliance on email, a mode of communication many saw as impersonal, was commonly
expressed as a concern and we often heard people voice a desire for more time to devote
to informal interaction in their organisations. Clearly personal interaction is not just
about ‘data sharing’ and resolving professional issues. These concerns about
depersonalisation as a consequence of the prevalence of digital technologies in the
workplace are commonplace. Indeed, there would seem to be efficient and effective
social aspects of intra-organisational communication that are, in some instances, lost in a
switch to the digital. The paperless office is not the ‘peopleless’ office, and information
systems do not replicate all facets of human social interaction. Rather, they encourage
different kinds of social interaction which might or might not be appropriate to the task
at hand. Thus, in most cases, the organisations we have observed have taken up the new
technologies in places where it was deemed advantageous to their missions while they
have, in a sense, ‘ring-fenced’ those places where preserving the intangible benefits of
face-to-face social interaction seemed important.

We feel the time scale for AmbITion has been tailored to suit the needs of the funding
agencies rather than the requirements of interventions and the path dependency of
individualised programmes mounted as part of the project. As we made clear in our first
report, the issue of the release of project funding has largely been beyond the control of
the AmbITion project team. Nonetheless, the lack of flexibility in the project timeline
has meant that the particular circumstances of some organisations cannot be addressed.
In particular, we feel that a greater investment should have been made in the initial stages
of the project to engage more directly with the organisations. While a risk assessment
was carried out prior to implementation, it seems to us that this was primarily to assess
the capacity of an organisation as a good investment for AmbITion funding. While this
was certainly important, in our view resources could have been devoted to more
comprehensive scoping exercises to prepare for the implementation stage of AmbITion.
We are aware of the limitations on time and resources at the outset of the project on the
AmbITion project team. Given these restrictions we feel that it was perhaps inevitable
that the earlier issues with project visibility and engagement with organisations, which
were flagged in our first report, arose. In light of this there is a case to be made for more
resources being allocated to scoping activities at the outset of a project like AmbITion.

Overall, however, many of the issues and concerns that were articulated in the first
report seem to have been addressed during the implementation stage of the project. The
AmbITion team has created far more networking and training opportunities. We still
have some concerns about the knowledge portal and the ways in which this is being
utilised. While video presentations showcasing the work of AmbITion with particular
organisations are useful, there are very obvious areas of expertise that the arts
organisations lack that could be addressed through the knowledge portal. Given the
aims of the project to effect change more widely in the arts sector, the role of the
knowledge portal as a resource for arts organisations needs to be carefully considered. If
this is not done we feel there is a danger of an opportunity to disseminate some of the
many lessons learnt by participants in the project being lost. As a change management

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project it seems fair to say that the commitment of resources and the increased
awareness of the potential of digital media are evidence that AmbITion has achieved its
aims in this respect. It remains to be seen what long term impact the project will have on
the arts organisations and the arts sector more generally.

Evaluation Approach

Aim of evaluation
We wish to stress in light of several questions raised about the aim of our research that
this evaluation is of the AmbITion project itself, and not of the organisations that are the
target of its intervention. The main aim is to assess the extent to which the project has
been able to achieve its goal of bringing about organisational change through the
implementation of digital technologies. The evaluation is not meant to reflect on
whether particular organisations have utilised AmbITion funding in the most efficient or
effective ways. The focus is on the intervention itself and whether this has proved to be
of value to the arts organisations that have participated in the project. What, if any,
changes has the project brought about in the working practises, both administrative and
creative, in these organisations? This having been said, in the course of our research we
have gathered data on the ways in which organisations work. Interpersonal relations,
organisational structure, tensions – both productive and potentially harmful – that exist
in companies, some of which, where appropriate, we detailed in the case studies we
prepared for the first report. Our intention, though probably not stated explicitly
enough in that report, was that the case studies and the report more generally might be
of value to the organisations as an appraisal exercise of their own working practises. Our
attention in this second interim report has been more tightly focused on the intervention
itself. While the insights that we have gained into the companies that we visited are
relevant to the success of any implementation, they are not, for the most part, issues that
AmbITion has the capacity to address directly. This is a matter to which we shall return
below in our findings, as it is an issue related to project timescales and pre-
implementation assessments that, in our view, should have been more obviously an
element of the AmbITion project. However, we feel that the value to be gained now is
from a stricter engagement with the intervention itself.

Methodology
We have carried out follow up site visits to each of the organisations we originally visited
prior to the implementation stage of AmbITion: Hoipolloi, Ludus Dance, Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic and Aldeburgh Music. We have conducted loosely structured
interviews with people in each of these companies to ascertain individual and
organisational concerns and attitudes towards AmbITion and to collect stories of
individual experiences with the new technologies that are being implemented. Where
possible we have attended AmbITion project meetings and events, talking to people at
these meetings and following up, where appropriate, with ethnographic interviews both
in person and by telephone or webcam via Skype. Our aim, as ethnographers, has been
to facilitate conversations with informants around issues relating to the AmbITion
project. In this second stage of the evaluation we have made more use of group
interviewing techniques when working with informants in an effort to elicit collective
narratives. This has provided useful insight into the personal interactions between
people and information flows within organisations. It has also provided a forum that
some participants have told us they have found useful as a space for reflection on the
project in relation to their own companies and working lives. Issues raised by these

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interactions have been used to generate further lines of enquiry, informing subsequent
iterations of the research framework and interview questions.

Our first report laid the ground for this second phase of the evaluation, giving us insight
into the perceptions, issues and concerns of the various stakeholders in the project. It
allowed us to map the particular dynamics between people in these organisations and
ascertain where tensions might potentially lie. Importantly, it also gave us a base line for
assessing whether and to what degree AmbITion can be said to have achieved its aim of
bringing about organisational change.

Format of report
As we noted in the first report, the evaluation strategy we have developed is both critical
and reflexive. In the light of feedback we received on the first report we have changed
the format of this report slightly to provide an easier comparison of the issues raised
across the groups we have worked with. We again provide case studies of the
organisations with whom we have worked. These ethnographic accounts have revealed a
number of common issues that are explored in detail under different thematic headings
that follow the four case studies. Rather than informants’ comments and insights being
confined to their respective case study sections, these thematic sections bring them
together to provide a snapshot of how the ground-level concerns and comments of
informants might link to larger project issues. Our aim in shaping the report in this way
is to make more apparent the potential points of common experience across the project
as a whole.

It should be noted that these case studies are snapshots of the organisations in mid-
September and early October 2008. Some of the circumstances that are noted have
developed or have since been resolved. Where appropriate, this will be taken into
account in our final project report. For the purposes of this report, we have focused on
the issues that were current or ongoing at the time of the site visits.

Case Studies

Case 1: Hoipolloi
The company has been working with the new Tier 2 consultant, Dave Potts, to develop
their customer relationships management systems. At the time of our visit they had
installed the equipment funded by the AmbITion project and are now in a position to
begin making capital bids. Creative equipment was purchased first and this was trialled
in the Spring production of their new touring show, The Doubtful Guest, based on the
Edward Gorey book. To accompany the production Simon Bedford, the Marketing &
Touring Manager, produced and edited a short trailer and production clips and added a
blog/vlog to the website. The blog and video clips attempt to give a ‘behind the scenes’
look at what goes into the production process and provide a focal point to encourage
visitors to return to the website regularly. Simon explained that the challenge has been
not falling into the trap of just having a website for the sake of having a website. He
feels strongly that it should be an extension of the work they do. In keeping with the
spirit of Hoipolloi, it should have a certain wit and creativity, and should do more than
simply advertise or announce shows. It should be something to play around with and
challenge the interlocutor in the same way that their stage work endeavours to do. As a
result, they have spent a lot of time playing around with the equipment, and they feel
there is a great deal of value in being able to do so. At the same time, they have

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recognised that training and experience have helped them become more efficient in
making videos and managing the website.
In the past Hoipolloi has frequently encountered problems with gathering data about
their audiences from performance venues. Going digital means that venues should be able
to share patron and box office data with Hoipolloi more easily. However, this continues
not to be the case. Simon Bedford suggests that this is likely because, in addition to a
lack of time on his part to chase up the information he needs, there is a great deal of
poor knowledge among theatre operators of exactly how to implement the Data
Protection Act in their operations. However, Hoipolloi have found that, to some extent,
certain digital tools have allowed them to get around this hurdle without relying on a
third-party to provide the information. Google analytics, for instance, has provided some
new insights into who is consuming their material online. After the trailer for the new
show was added to the web site, it was possible to discern certain patterns in the
locations from where the site was being accessed. Many of these new visits were coming
from IP addresses in the US. One of the biggest conduits for visitors to the site turned
out to be from someone who maintains an Edward Gorey fan site and mailing list. This
person had linked to the YouTube trailer and had written about it in his blog. Thus
Google analytics has allowed them to identify internet based audiences in the US, which
in turn has inspired opportunities and strategies for a planned American tour in the
future.
As a small touring company having remote access to the office network has been an
invaluable improvement in their working conditions. Simon made it clear that it is not
really an ‘innovative’ use of IT, but it now means that they can keep in touch and up to
date while on the road and able to claim back some of the time spent on doing things
that used to wait until a return to the office. ‘Where we’re going to be away for three, four weeks
at a stretch, we can’t get away with putting everything onto memory sticks, which is what we used to do.
So it’s a big change, but in a very basic way. It’s nothing that a good corporate company, I’m sure,
wouldn’t have.’
Overall people at Hoipolloi seem to feel like things are going in exciting directions and
that the purchase of equipment has opened up creative opportunities in marketing.
However concerns remain about how to sustain the new and added work with the same
staff levels. Unfortunately, the one thing AmbITion does not buy is more people or
time, and for Hoipolloi this has meant that the intern’s role has become increasingly
important. The company has been lucky that the current intern has a good knowledge of
new media and the internet and has been able to do much of the site maintenance that
Simon cannot always get to himself. Luckily there has been a great deal of interest on the
part of prospective interns, and they plan on creating more than one position this
coming year. However, relying on interns alone to compensate for staffing shortages
might not always work out. All are aware that the growth of the company is inevitable,
and employing new staff will be part of this expansion.
Communication between people in the company is very good. When on site, it tends to
be largely personal and face-to-face rather than through the information systems they
now have in place. There is a value placed on meeting face to face and using a wall
planner to schedule events. The wall planner acts as a visual reminder of dates and
deadlines in a common space, and Louise Coles, the Administrative Director felt that this
was particularly important. However Louise noted that things would probably have to
change soon with the increased work load and the need to hire new people who would
be unfamiliar with the ways in which they currently work. At that point it might be

7
necessary to give up the dependence on face-to-face interaction, something that Louise
considers to be a key strength of the company. For this reason, organisational
development is under discussion internally at the moment. It will necessitate changes
and Louise hopes that the ‘happy family’ aspect of how they do things at present will not
be lost in the process.

Case 2: Ludus Dance

The involvement with AmbITion has been particularly challenging for Ludus. The
company has had to contend with staffing issues and the resignation of their Director
and other key personnel, while simultaneously engaging with the changes brought about
by the AmbITion project. This has put considerable strain on personnel. As one staff
member put it when talking about managing change, ‘it’s unfortunate sometimes all those
changes come at once’. The urgency to complete the project within the AmbITion timescale
has added to the pressure felt by some staff members.

Along with the marketing manager, Jamie Wooldridge, the former Director, Jane Scott-
Barrett, was a key figure in negotiating Ludus’ involvement with AmbITion and
championing the project. Her departure has left Jamie as the sole remaining lead for
AmbITion at Ludus. However, the degree to which the rest of the company has engaged
with the project is perhaps testament to the trust that the company as a whole places in
Jamie’s ability and judgement.

The AmbITion project has enabled the company to implement a custom built database,
the purchase of cameras and the development of the web site. While both main strands
of the project are well under way, at the time of our site visit the database had yet to be
implemented. The new content for the web site, centred primarily on the use of the
newly purchased cameras to generate visual media, is starting to be developed, but has
yet to be implemented fully.

The switch to a custom built database will allow for the sharing of information across the
organisation, and importantly, the collation and use of statistical data for a more strategic
marketing approach. There is an expectation across the company that the increased
efficiency the database might provide will mean less time spent in administrative and
auditing duties, such as collating demographic data for government funders, and that this
will leave more time for dreaming up new ideas. There was a stated need for time to
play, to be creative, something that at the moment was lacking due to the need to work at
full capacity. There is concern that the focus on improving efficiency, on becoming
more ‘business like’, has implications for the character of Ludus as an organisation and a
place to work. Anna Daly expressed this: ‘it feels like we have moved from what was essentially a
person centred approach, to Ludus going out there and doing what it does, to a very target driven
company’.

These concerns have echoes in the process of reflection the company is undergoing in
the wake of Jane Scott-Barrett’s departure. At the time of our visit the company was
going through a lot of changes, including considering whether it should continue as a
cooperative organisation. This might have quite profound consequences for the
organisation, both operationally and ideologically. While it is difficult to tell whether
AmbITion has provoked these changes, we suspect the project, through its focus on
commercial practise, has almost certainly played a part in Ludus’ current reflection on the
cooperative structure of the organisation.

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The creative equipment that Ludus has acquired has already been used extensively. Video
blogs have been introduced as a means of documenting the activities of the touring
company. This is, however, part of a constant learning process; something that Jamie
stressed is ongoing. Initially it was seen as an extra task adding to the workload of the
already overloaded dancers and a company running at full capacity. However, after
timetabling dancers to work on the video diaries the practise now seems to be more
embedded in working routines. Another issue with video production was the quality of
the footage that was being captured by the dancers. As skill with the camera and
knowledge of the video editing process has increased, the production process has been
refined. The dancers now rough edit the clips before the marketing staff fine edit and
post them to the web site. By distributing the stages of the effort among several
members of the organisation, the size of the task has become more manageable.

The creative potential of the new media is being explored in education, in the ways in
which they might work with children in workshops. The cameras are being used to
encourage those individuals who don’t want to dance to be involved in choreography
and to direct and execute the performance as a way to take part in it. Anna expounded
further on the work that Ludus is doing with schools: ‘[ICT] brings a new element for you to
facilitate in your workshop. If you are good at facilitating people’s learning and creativity the camera is
an added possibility to that’. Artistically the use of video is very exciting. Editing a video is
similar to choreography, it is ‘about capturing a moment, or a phrase, or a dialogue in shape, space,
time, form - it’s very similar to the elements within the language of music and the language of dance.’

Ludus has also discovered an unexpected application of the video equipment by using it
to communicate the value of the work that Ludus does to funders, providing them with a
visual record of the qualitative benefits of Ludus programmes. Video is a means of
documenting process, and of portraying intangibles like the excitement and joy on a
person’s face when they realise dance is something they can do. It is difficult to describe
in words something as personally powerful as changing someone’s view of themselves.
However, in moving images it is extremely compelling. Being able to demonstrate this to
their funders is very beneficial. Good use is being made of video diaries to
communicate the value of what Ludus does. Because video ‘speaks more than words’ it is
also becoming a key tool for sharing good practise. As Gil Graystone pointed out, the
arts are about quality of life, about wellbeing. ‘Having another way to document that is to our
favour’.

Case 3: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

The main strand of the AmbITion intervention at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the
development of the production capacity of the Philharmonic Hall through the
installation of cameras, has been completed. While there were some issues with the
project management of the installation, which was carried out by a third party contractor,
these have been resolved. Now that the equipment has been installed in the Hall, the
company is making plans to recruit a video editor to carry out in house production.
Other strands of the intervention, such as the re-launching of the web site, have yet to be
realised as a suitable partner to carry out the work has not yet been located.

The cameras will generate new revenue streams, new ways of reaching out to and
developing audiences, and will provide lower-cost marketing and promotional videos.
Without AmbITion it is unlikely that the company would have invested in them.
Millicent Jones, the Marketing Director, has been responsible for the installation of the
cameras in the Hall, a fact that seems to have had some impact on the initial buy-in to

9
the project across the company. However, although it was often stressed to us that it
took time for others in the company to buy into AmbITion, all those that we spoke with
are very committed to the intervention and the changes it will bring to the company’s
business practises. Great store is being placed in the potential of new media and video
production to personalise and open up the Philharmonic Hall and to change perceptions
of the Philharmonic building.

A new position in the company, funded by a knowledge transfer partnership with Bangor
University, is being created in order for video editing and production, which is currently
outsourced, to be done in-house. The company is being innovative in the use of new
media for educational settings. Peter Garden, the newly appointed Director of Learning
and Engagement, explained that the AmbITion programme is ‘all about the future, and how
we can exploit digital technology, and new media specifically, around our learning programme and
increasing access to music-making, but supporting the live experience’. The possibilities for new
media to transcend spatial and temporal boundaries and to engage with new audiences is
being realised through AmbITion and the installation of cameras in the Philharmonic
Hall.

Another project for which AmbITion was cited as being the catalyst is the development
of a whiteboard widget for use in classrooms. This is part of an initiative to replace their
current educational material (a teaching pack of lesson plans and an accompanying CD)
with more interactive media. The project is being funded by the Technology Strategy
Board to the tune of £15000. Millicent stressed the importance of digital media to the
interviewers as part of RLP’s educational programme. ‘Digital media is where The Phil's
younger learners live and breathe. It's taken for granted by this audience that anything that wants to
engage, enthuse and involve their imaginations and aspirations will do so interactively’. The company
is currently working with the Wirral Children and Young Peoples’ Department, with
whom they have identified an absence of applications that can be employed in the
classroom to see and hear an orchestra in full flow. The whiteboard widget that they are
developing will enable the entire class to hear and see a real orchestra in its natural setting
within Philharmonic Hall via an interactive whiteboard. The focus is then upon ‘user
experience’, and the ways in which the experience can be captured, used and promoted.
Ideally, it will be used to inform local school audiences about the Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic and orchestral music months in advance of a schools concert series. Thus,
as Peter Garden was keen to point out, through the use of new media ‘the interactive
experience you will get in the classroom will be as if you are in a virtual Philharmonic Hall . . . so you
have a deeper connection with the organisation before you have ever set foot in here’.

The tension between the investment needed to keep an ensemble on site at the Liverpool
Philharmonic and the desire to promote a more diverse musical programme is perhaps
heightened by the soon to be realised production capacity of the Hall. The emphasis in
the recording and production of performances is currently on the orchestra, with whom
performance rights have been negotiated. In this respect the contractual constraints on
performance rights are an obstacle to the greater interactivity and audience engagement
that the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is striving to promote. New innovations in core
business activities in music and events could be explored if they can find a way around
the impasse of contractual processes and negotiate new forms of collaboration between
the venue and outside artists. While the production capacity of the Hall will allow the
generation of new revenue streams through venue hire, it seems that the issue of
performance rights, until resolved, will ensure that video production remains focused on
the orchestra.

10
Case 4: Aldeburgh Music
The intervention at Aldeburgh music is still in the consultation stage. With the aid of
the expertise provided by AmbITion, Aldeburgh Music is looking to improve its
information systems and re-design and re-launch its web site. While, as a Tier 2
organisation, the money for implementing any recommendations will still have to be
found, the exercise as a whole has proved to be a valuable experience for the
organisation. The value derived from participating in the project does seem largely to be
attributable to the engagement of Dave Potts as the Tier 2 consultant, and there was
much praise for his efforts to date working with the company. Harry Young, the
Operations Manager, noted that ‘[at] the outset we were concerned that we may not get, perhaps,
clear advice on where to move forward, but actually I think we are very pleased with his [Dave Potts]
report and he has been very patient with us.’ Harry also stated that Dave Potts seems to have a
good understanding of who Aldeburgh are as an organisation, the problems they wish to
address, and their organisational culture. Harry noted that Dave’s expertise is probably
with web sites, but they wanted assistance on software packages to house data. At one
point they felt that the consultancy was being steered towards web advice. ‘Actually that’s
not really what we need from him and he has now grasped that . . . Maybe we weren’t clear in our brief
to start off with about what we needed.’

Dave has been primarily concerned with the appraisal of the different databases that the
company currently use for programming. The main issues with these systems are
common access, interoperability and the lack of familiarity with software packages such
as Artifax. The systems and data manager, Nick Thorpe, was well aware of the issues
they have with different databases and information flows across the organisation prior to
involvement with AmbITion. However, Nick explained that that he was not aware of
how strongly people felt about these issues until he had heard the results of feedback
and interviews that Dave had carried out as part of his initial consultation.

While Dave is preparing a proposal for possible solutions to the company’s database
requirements, he has also provided advice on the development of the web site.
Interestingly, Harry was unaware of the fact that he has also been acting in this capacity,
again suggesting that the company might benefit from thinking about horizontal
information flows, and the ways in which these could be better facilitated. A lack of
faith in the reliability of information entered into the system also needs to be addressed.
As Harry observed, ‘at the moment people would want a second opinion to confirm that the
information they found on one system is correct and up to date and hasn’t been usurped by something
else’. Nick emphasised that improving communication is a goal, whether this is achieved
through implementing improved systems and databases or by changing the culture
within the company. However, he was concerned that they should not rush into a
solution. Whatever system they decide to implement, it must work long-term.

Mark Ernesti, the Marketing Manager, is responsible for re-launching the web site. He
noted that the value of interacting with Dave has been having a critical voice to reflect on
the redevelopment of the web site. ‘Interactivity’ is now at the heart of the way in which
they are thinking not only about the web site, but marketing, which, in Mark’s view, has
traditionally been a ‘one way street’ targeting the customer. According to him, this
marketing approach has been revised over the last twenty to thirty years in other sectors
with a far greater emphasis on interactivity. He feels that the art sector is far behind
other industries in this respect. Nick stressed that ‘interactivity’ and ‘community’ are key
concepts which feature in the ways that they have thought about redeveloping the web
site. He described the current web site is very ‘static’, having limited movement between

11
customers and the company. Mark sees the website not just as an outward facing
platform, but also as a potential source of information to different parts of the
organisation. He hopes that it will also serve to focus the editorial teams’ efforts and
help to channel their output on the production of copy for the web site. The extent to
which Aldeburgh has engaged with the kinds of changes that AmbITion hopes to bring
about is evident in their commitment of project funding to additional time with Dave
Potts, if required. Importantly, they have also created a new position in the marketing
department with a public relations portfolio.

On the changes wrought by AmbITion, Nick stressed that people are working at full
capacity most of the time and it is difficult to take the time to think about issues. The
project has thus given them the impetus to find the time in a very busy schedule as well
as providing much needed professional expertise. While AmbITion has pushed them
along, it is difficult to quantify the impact that the project has had on the company.
Harry commented that while AmbITion might have galvanised more focused reflection
on what the issues and possible solutions are, the creation of a new office over the road
might well have acted in the same way –as a prompt to review systems. However, ‘having
an expert on hand to help us sift through the options is what, I’m sure, has prevented us spending too
much money on the wrong system’.

Themes and Issues

The value of the consultants

We have had very positive feedback from the arts organisations on the work of the
consultants, which stands in contrast to some of the comments that we received during
the first phase of the evaluation. During our first site visits concerns had been voiced,
particularly in Tier 2, over what added value the consulting process might bring. These
concerns may have been coloured by some general disappointments with the project as
it ran into some early setbacks. While, in some cases, there seems to have been a
miscommunication between AmbITion and certain organizations about what the project
would entail and how it would benefit them, the apparent inertia of the project after
project bids were made and the unexpected delay in forthcoming funding did not help
matters. Post implementation the organisations seem largely to feel that the consultants
have proved their worth. People at Ludus spoke very highly of Mike Greenwood, and at
the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Roger Tomlinson was also highly praised. For both
of the Tier 2 groups it is clear that the work that Dave Potts has carried out on their
behalf is thought to be a significant improvement over the previous consulting
engagement. Generally speaking, perceptions of the AmbITion project are far more
positive now, and aside from the obvious financial and material benefits, the work of the
consultants and the expertise that they bring to the project is seen to be part of the value
of participating in AmbITion.

We do however have two main concerns that arise from the ethnography and from our
own critical appraisal of the project. First, there is no evaluation of the
recommendations made by the consultants themselves. That is, while the organisations
are pleased with the work that they have carried out, there is no independent expert
appraisal of their intervention. Dr Alan Blackwell appraised the technical development
of the knowledge base by Bedford University in his capacity as advisor to the project
team. However, there is no similar technical evaluation of the work carried out by the
consultants. Our ethnography of the project does not address the technical aspects of

12
the respective interventions, and any evaluation that we can provide is further
constrained by our limited period of engagement with the arts organisations. Related to
this is our second concern, that our evaluation is not able to ascertain the long-term
effects of the project. We would strongly recommend that the Arts Council, through
whatever capacity it has available, continue to monitor the changes that the AmbITion
project has brought about in the constituent organisations. This should be done not
only for the further evaluation of this intervention’s long-term benefits and to learn how
future funding initiatives might be implemented, but also in order to capture some of
the exciting and innovative examples of best practise that have taken place in the
project, particularly in the use of new media for the purposes of marketing, education
and performance.

The aim of the AmbITion project was to bring about change in arts organisations
through the use of new technologies, to make these groups more commercially aware
and efficient entities able to generate surplus through new revenue streams. However,
we feel that the most innovative developments have been the exploration of the
possibilities of new technologies in education, performance and outreach. AmbITion is
likely to leave its mark in ways that go beyond improved business practises as new forms
of creative endeavour and experiments in education and public engagement continue. If
the activities of the organisations we have worked with are any indicator, digital
technologies, especially new media and the internet, are blurring the line between the
creative and public service or educational missions of arts organisations and enabling the
arts to have effects beyond the stage, or screen. This will likely continue as the lessons
learned from AmbITion are passed on in the arts community and novel ways of using
digital technologies are increasingly embraced by educators and performers alike.

Timeline
In our view, the timeline for AmbITion has been tailored to suit the needs of the funding
agencies rather than the requirements of the interventions and the path dependency of
individualised programmes mounted as part of the project. As we made clear in our first
report, the issue of the release of project funding has largely been beyond the control of
the AmbITion project team. However, the lack of flexibility in the project timeline as a
result of this has meant that the particular circumstances of some organisations could not
be addressed. We made clear in our first report that the delay in the release of funding
had a significant impact on the activities of the Royal Philharmonic Hall, and their ability
to coordinate with and capitalise on Liverpool’s status as ‘European City of Culture’ in
2008 and its associated initiatives. Ludus Dance has, during the course of the project,
had staffing issues that could not have been foreseen at the start of AmbITion, and the
company is now working to the limit of its capacity. For Ludus, AmbITion is an
important project that has become linked to changing the ways in which the company
operates and engages with its audience. The implementation of the database and the use
of video will significantly transform working practises, both creative and administrative,
within the company. These are changes that have major implications for the future of the
company. Yet the project timeline does not allow for the contingencies of the individual
critical paths of the respective interventions, and has therefore put great pressure on staff
to ensure that the company complies with the March deadline for the completion of
AmbITion project activities.

Furthermore, given the implications of any implementation for the future well being of
the organisations - the introduction of new databases for example – it would seem more

13
logical for the project to have been run to the exigencies of the individual programmes
and the issues that have arisen with companies during the duration of the project.

We would also reiterate concerns about the timeline from the perspective of this
evaluation. As the project comes to an end in March it will be difficult to assess the
impact that it has had when much of that impact is ongoing. Aldeburgh Music is another
organisation that is expecting to have some solution to its IT problems from its
consultant, Dave Potts, around the time that AmbITion is scheduled to end. Nick
Thorpe pointed out that although the consultancy AmbITion has brought them has been
useful, it has yet to steer them anywhere. Until they are able to assess Dave Potts’
recommendations, it is not possible to tell if the process has been useful. The process of
consultancy has illuminated the complexity of the systems Aldeburgh Music runs, how
they stand alone from each other and that there is a need to resolve this. As yet, however,
there is no solution. The project timeline thus makes evaluation of this intervention
difficult to assess.

Informal interaction with other organisations

In our earlier report we noted the desire for more interaction with other organisations
and networking events to be included as part of AmbITion. The AmbITion project
team have responded to this by organising a programme of training and social events that
have addressed many of the needs that were voiced in the first report. Attendance at
these events, we are told by the AmbITion project team, has been good. There has been
increased activity in the AmbITion extranet, although as yet this interaction has been
somewhat sporadic. Hannah Rudman informs us that the aim of the legacy phase of the
project is to embed the lessons learnt through AmbITion in the arts sector more
generally via road shows, social networks and digital media assets. However, questions
of the sustainability of this programme and the relationships it might engender once the
project has come to an end are as yet unclear. Yet there is no doubt that it would be of
benefit to arts organisations if they could learn from the experiences of other
organisations that have been through similar processes of change and technological
implementation.

Aldeburgh Music mentioned that their AmbITion consultant, Dave Potts, has agreed
that he will facilitate an introduction to other people that he has worked with who have
gone through similar processes of change. The Aldeburgh Music management team
found this to be of great value, and it is something that the other consultants might also
be able to provide for the groups that they are working with. In this capacity they might
also work to socialise the AmbITion knowledge portal, perhaps providing answers to
common questions on software packages, database implementation and so forth. There
is much to be learnt from AmbITion, and the experience of the arts organisations
themselves is, we feel, of great value to the wider arts sector. This is an issue that may be
addressed through the incorporation of the existing knowledge base and, importantly, the
appointment of a social network creator by the AmbITion project management team. In
this respect the management team have responded thoughtfully and imaginatively to the
issue of the legacy of the project.

Knowledge Portal
Given that the AmbITion intervention is informed by the notion of ‘interactivity’ and the
use of new media for audience development, we would ask why, to date, the knowledge
portal remains an under-utilised asset? In our view too much time has been spent on
trying to implement a bespoke solution for the knowledge portal when open source

14
solutions might have provided a better and more cost effective solution. There has been
much criticism of gated online communities1, and if the aim of the Knowledge Portal is
to facilitate knowledge transfer from the AmbITion project to the arts sector more
widely, then it has yet to be used to its full potential. Activity on the AmbITion extranet
has begun to increase and sustained threads are beginning to appear. However, so far this
seems to be the result of Adrian Slatcher’s exemplary efforts to provide feedback and
generate provocative topics for discussion. In our view there is a danger of an
opportunity being lost here. Adrian’s efforts in generating posts and threads might not
be sustainable after the life of the project, and it is unclear whether the discussions will
begin generating themselves any time soon. We feel it was a mistake not to generate a
more public presence for the project from the outset, both to provide transparency, to
advertise the project and its benefits, and to provide a wider forum for discussions of
best practise and innovation using ICTs in Arts organisations.

From our ethnography, we would suggest that answers to specific queries are what would
be of greatest value to the participants. For example, the problem of trying to locate a
suitable web design company to work with is, as Harry Young put it, like ‘navigating at
night’. Arts organisations are bombarded with sales calls for new data base applications,
yet they often lack the professional expertise to evaluate what is being offered to them.
To date, information of this kind has not been available through the project website.
Case studies take time to read and it is not clear what will be gained from reading them
prior to doing so. This is a different kind of activity from, for example, using an object
focused query to search on Google for an evaluation of Artifax as a scheduling
application. Given the obvious constraints on peoples’ time, a more precise way of
extracting information from the experiences of others would be of value to the
AmbITion project constituency and the arts sector more generally. Discussions around
software choices, the purchasing cost of equipment and services and the performance of
website designers are the kinds of information that arts organisations are lacking. If the
knowledge portal were to make this publicly available, perhaps in simple threaded
discussion format, there is no doubt that this would be of use to arts organisations that
have little experience in these areas.

Performing Rights Legislation

The legal issues with recording live performances due to performance rights legislation
suggests a contractual process out of step with the advent of new media forms and digital
modes of production in the music industry. The possibility for new kinds of
collaboration between venues and artists could potentially transform relations in the
industry between artists, venues, and rights holders (e.g. production and media
companies or publishers). Yet it would seem that the potential for the transformation of
the relations of production has yet to be explored for fear of the cost implications and
the difficulties in negotiating the complexities of individual performing rights
agreements. We would ask if the Arts Council could do more to support the exploration
of contractual issues with regard to performing rights and digital production and
distribution.

1
See, for instance, Wilson, L. (2006) Some Problems with Assuming the Object of Learning is Learning Objects:
Knowledge Resource Network Evaluation Report. Cambridge MIT Initiative.

15
Uptake of new technologies
There are three key issues that arise from our ethnography relevant to the uptake of new
technologies and their being embedded in the working practises in the arts organisations
in which they are implemented.

1. Intangibility of digital media

The intangibility of digital media seems to be an issue. Comments from people that we
spoke with at Ludus Dance where a new database is to be implemented are informative.
Anna Frisch, a community dance artist, stated that when accessing information from
others ‘I find it easier if there is a post-it note on my desk.’ She likes to ‘flick through files’, has a
preference for the ‘real’ over the digital, as it were. This preference for using pen and
paper may suggest there is more at stake in moving from paper to digital systems.
Hannah Robertshaw at Ludus, noted that ‘often I find that I take things in a lot better if I write
them than if I type them’. The act of writing is, in Hannah’s account, part of the process by
which knowledge is assimilated. That is, the physicality of writing is an important part of
the way in which Hannah embodies knowledge2. This is not just an abstract process, but
rather a learned skill brought about through interaction with a particular kind of
technology. Working through a keyboard is a different kind of physical process, and this
may well have implications for the processes of knowledge acquisition. The knock-on
effect for the person familiar with other technologies of writing is seldom considered in
the move to digital technologies.

2. Depersonalisation
Additional concerns were expressed about the transformation of working practises
wrought by a focus on increasing the use of digital technologies. Specifically raised was
the expectation that technology might ‘depersonalise’ interactions between people in the
workplace. Although several studies have demonstrated that the effects of digital
technologies on social relations are neither universally positive nor negative3, the concern
on the part of the people to whom we spoke is significant. In several cases, face-to-face
communication within the company was described to us as more efficient than emails.
More than this though, several people observed that, for them, face-to-face
communication was not just about exchanging information for purely professional
purposes. At Ludus social interaction between people in the workplace was commonly
cited as an important factor in how the company functions and what people value about
working there. At the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic informal interaction is also an
important aspect of communication between people and departments. Improving
communication between departments in the organisation was not something that a
technological fix was seen to be capable of accomplishing. Communication issues are,
for the large part, perceived to be social issues. At both Ludus and the RLP concerns
were expressed about an over-reliance on email for communicating within the
organisation. As a mode of communication it was seen to be impersonal, ambiguous,
and to prolong issues that would be settled far more quickly and efficiently through
personal interaction.

2 See Downey, G. (2007) Seeing With a ‘Sideways Glance’: Visuomotor ‘Knowing’ and the Plasticity of
Perception. In Ways of Knowing: New Approaches in the Anthropology of Experience and Learning. (Ed.) Mark
Harris. New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books.
3
See, for instance: Boellstorff, T. (2008) Coming of age in Second Life: an anthropologist explores the virtually
human. Princeton: Princeton University Press. and Strathern, M. (2002) ‘Abstraction and
decontextualisation: an anthropological comment’. In Virtual society? : technology, cyberbole, reality. S. Woolgar,
ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

16
At Hoipolloi the switch to digital office practises has not been complete. Although the
intranet has afforded distinct advantages in terms of being able to work away from the
office, scheduling is still managed on several large sheets of paper taped over a wall
where the tea and meeting areas are located. The transfer of this scheduling sheet to a
digital equivalent has yet to happen because the company is at present small enough to
be aware of what other members of the company are doing. They also tend to
communicate with each other very well anyway, and it seems to them unnecessary to put
things into the network when they can just call or turn around to talk to someone. Thus
there is great store placed in informal relations within these organisations, and a
corresponding reticence to engage with systems that might detract from satisfying social
engagement. The paperless office is not the ‘people-less’ office, and information systems
cannot accommodate all facets of human social interaction.

3. Faith in digital systems

The issue of faith in the reliability of digital technologies was also a commonly expressed
concern. Gil Graystone, reflecting on the process of moving from paper-based systems
to the newly developed database at Ludus, noted that ‘you kind of occasionally have this doubt
where technology is involved. At the moment your pen and paper and your files and head, you store all
that information, and having been here for the years that you have, you just . . . by osmosis you absorb a
lot of that information. Whereas if it [information] comes to being in technology maybe that fraction of
doubt, is it right, is it all there, and can I trust it, but equally [is] everyone behind making that shift?’
Gil’s allusion to osmosis is interesting, and it may reflect her concerns over the ability of
a digital database to encompass all forms of knowledge processes and information flows
within the company. That is, the kind of tacit knowledge one gains from being located in
an organisation, through personal interaction with colleagues and doing the job over
time, is complicated and it might seem doubtful whether one can ‘translate’ one’s own
tacit knowledge into the structured knowledge management of someone else’s software.

Issues of access to information, including knowledge of the use of applications (which

has further implications for the reliability of data entry) and the use of more than one
system, all contribute to the preference for hard copy at Aldeburgh Music. Harry Young
commented that, at his previous organisation, he had done all his scheduling through MS
Outlook. However, at Aldeburgh he had got into the habit of keeping a paper diary.
This was working practise within the company, and used alongside Artifax to schedule
and programme events and artists. ‘Probably [it] is a good system – it just hasn’t been trusted and
not enough people have really got to know it well’.

The importance of ‘play’

Having the time to experiment and discover the potential for new media, to ‘play around’
with it, seems to have been an important part of engaging with new technologies in the
organisations. Training courses in video production have been a vital part of learning to
use new equipment. However, the ways in which this equipment has been employed, to
engage and challenge audiences in stimulating and exciting ways in both performance and
education, is due to the realisation of creative potential. At Ludus, dancers were able to
incorporate the use of video into their work with children to achieve learning objectives
by exploring the similarities between video direction and choreography. They were able
to do so because they had the space and time to experiment in their workshops. Simon
Bedford at Hoipolloi similarly stressed the importance of play in learning what it is
possible to achieve with new media. The process by which this experimental learning
takes place is in a sense improvisational. That is, it is generative of new kinds of
practises, new ways in which existing practises might be enhanced or transformed in a

17
fluid and changing social world4. It is perhaps no coincidence that this experimentation
was more evident in performance focused companies like Ludus, where, it would seem,
the creative potential of new media is more likely to be explored in an atmosphere of
open innovation in new products.

In companies where the distinction between the producers of an art form and its
consumers is more distinct, the most innovative uses of new technologies seem to be in
the field of education. At the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic new media is being
employed to improve access to music-making and capitalise on other developments in
classroom technologies. We were impressed on our first visit to Aldeburgh Music by the
Education department there. Their level of knowledge of developments in new media
and their technical competence was greater than that found in other areas of the
organisation. The ways in which they were attempting to make use of these new
technologies in their own practises in schools and prisons is a great example of the kinds
of best practise that the AmbITion project seeks to encourage and learn from. This is
not to say that creativity and improvisation is confined to these areas of the companies.
Rather, it is to say that there is perhaps more scope for experimentation, for ‘playing
around’, in these areas. The trick for these organisations is to ensure that innovative
practises are not confined to particular departments so that lessons learnt in one area of
the company are available to inform practise in other areas. In this respect using web
sites as a platform to engage both audiences and company personnel would seem to be a
good use of the resource. However, knowledge transfer does not happen in a social
vacuum, and co-location of creative and administrative teams might also help to facilitate
the cross fertilisation of ideas and practises between the departments more able to ‘play
around’ with ideas.

Engagement with organisations

We have been impressed by the level of awareness of the AmbITion project team of the
tensions within companies and of the individual dynamics and cultures of participating
organisations. However we feel that, to some extent, this knowledge has not been
employed to full effect. In our view the approach the AmbITion project has taken could
at times have been better tailored to suit the ways in which particular organisations
actually work, their levels of existing knowledge and expertise, and communication issues
that have had a bearing on the interventions that have been undertaken by the project.
While a risk assessment was carried out prior to implementation, it seems to us that this
was primarily to assess the capacity of an organisation as a good investment for
AmbITion funding. While important, more could have been done to prepare for the
implementation stage of AmbITion.

‘Champions’ within companies with whom Hannah Rudman and the AmbITion team
have worked have, in many instances, been chiefly responsible for driving the project
forward. While this has certainly been necessary, in our view a broader engagement with
several people within the companies might have been, in some cases, an option worth
pursuing given the time and resources available. There is obviously a line here – to what
extent should an intervention like AmbITion engage with the ways in which an
organisation operates both formally and informally? However, given the level of
knowledge that the AmbITion team has of these organisations and the project lead time
prior to the implementation stage, it is worth considering how things might have been
better addressed in the initial stages of the project. In some cases existing tensions in an

4
See Hallam, E and Ingold, T. (eds.). (2007) Creativity and Cultural Improvisation. Oxford, New York: Berg.

18
organisation have been exacerbated as a consequence of being involved with AmbITion.
The tensions to which we allude are to be found, to some degree, in most organisations
and are to do with access to resources, departmental priorities and personality clashes.
However, we feel that some of these issues might have been alleviated by a more
sensitive approach to the socialisation of the project and a closer engagement with
individual companies. We are aware of the limitations on time and resources at the
outset of the project, and it should be said that these restrictions have effectively
prevented the kind of initiative that we suggest here. We would further note that given
these limitations, the issues with project visibility and the disillusionment and frustration
felt by some organisations that were flagged in our first interim report were perhaps
unavoidable.

The point we wish to emphasise here is that it is worth considering that greater resources
might be allocated to scoping activities and maintaining relations with organisations at
the outset of future projects like AmbITion. A closer engagement with participating
organisations would have contributed to a higher profile for AmbITion, especially with
the Tier 2 organisations that have often felt to be at the margins of the project, and
would probably have helped to alleviate some of the tensions that have arisen as the
project has run its course.

Change
AmbITion is an advocacy project with goals beyond the implementation of digital
technologies. The broader aim of the AmbITion project is to effect change in arts
organisations and in the arts sector more generally at the level of both policy and
practise. It endeavours to strengthen the sector through a realisation of the potential for
better marketing and business practises offered by new technologies. In a presentation at
a recent AmbITion project meeting Hannah Rudman drew attention to the Arts Council
statement at the 2008 Labour Party Conference. In that statement, the Arts Council
expressed the need for a focus on, and investment in, digital technologies in the arts
sector. In Hannah’s view, the AmbITion project has thus achieved, or at least moved
further towards, the Arts Council’s goal of bringing about change in policy in the arts
sector. Whether the Arts Council statement can indeed be seen to be an effect of the
AmbITion project is a moot point. For some years now the notion of ‘interactivity’,
encompassing such concerns as ‘public participation’, ‘active citizenship’ and
‘empowerment’ and with more specific questions and anxieties about the proper way to
bridge the gulf between popular culture and the esoteric worlds of technical expertise has
been evident in public sector policy5. However, we have noticed a marked change in
attitudes towards digital technologies amongst the arts organisations we have worked
with as part of this evaluation.

There is an awareness of the potential for digital media to transcend spatial and temporal
restrictions, as evidenced by the use of new media and web technologies in a variety of
ways. For example, the use of video diaries by Ludus to introduce potential audiences to
their company before the commencement of a residency; the ways in which Hoipolloi
might reach out to an audience in the US, guided by their use of Google analytics; the
intention of Aldeburgh Music to use their new website not just as marketing tool, but as
a creative space for audiences; the use made by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall of

5Barry, A. (2001) Political Machines: Governing a Technological Society. London and New York: The Athlone
Press.

19
video to introduce people to both the Hall, a space associated with ‘high culture’, and the
orchestra, which they might otherwise find intimidating or hard to relate to.

There is good evidence of wide ranging transformations in practise in the companies

with which we have worked. We have no doubt that AmbITion is the catalyst of these
changes with both the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Ludus Dance. Amongst the
Tier 2 groups it is clear that the project has provided the funding, the expertise and the
impetus for addressing issues with information systems; the use of new media; strategic
marketing through the use of web technologies and customer management systems; and
the purchase of new equipment. The creation of new job roles for video editing and
audience development at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and Aldeburgh Music is
further evidence of a longer-term commitment of resources to interactivity and
personalisation agendas, and of organisational change. The AmbITion project
management team have responded to the challenge of finding mechanisms through
which information and experiences might be exchanged between members of arts
groups. They are clearly committed to effecting change across the wider arts sector, and
of leaving a lasting legacy through AmbITion for the sector. As a change management
project it seems fair to say that AmbITion has achieved its aims. It remains to be seen
what long term impact the project will have on these organisations and the arts sector
more widely.

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