Project work:

Embassy of the Netherlands

Impact measurement in cultural diplomacy
Simon Labrosse
Diane Terrier
Julie Zalcman
Chloé-Salomé Zehringer

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
INTRODUCTION

➢ Importance of culture for a country, both

on a national and an international level for
social and economic reasons

• highlighting of the role of an Embassy

➢ Context of budget cuts

• budget cuts in the Netherlands for

culture
• 2013 : 900 million to 700 million euros

• interest of the evaluation

• quantitative and qualitative approaches

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
OUTLINE

I - Presentation of the institution and the project

II - Evaluating the Embassy’s actions in the cultural field

III - A focus on the digital strategy

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
I - Presentation of the institution and the project

➢ The institution and the cultural service of the Netherlands Embassy

➢ The project of evaluation and monitoring

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
I - Presentation of the institution and the project

The institution and the cultural service of the Embassy of the Netherlands

➢ Embassy:
- diplomatic role to play between two states and cultures
• cooperation with the host country
- assisting role for expatriate people
- composed with many services

➢ Embassy of the Netherlands:

- in Rome
- one service for education and culture. This last sector is directed by Bas Ernst
• To promote the Dutch cultural events and artists in Italy
• To strengthen the already established collaborations with other institutions
- not a huge structure but many consulates
• Milan where there is a press and cultural service in the place-to-be for specific cultural activities in order to help the core
service in Rome

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
I - Presentation of the institution and the project

The institution and the cultural service of the Embassy of the Netherlands

➢ the cultural service of the Embassy of the Netherlands:

• In 2016, it took part to a lot of actions - until today they already supported 32 projects

- active in many fields, especially in :

• architecture
• design
• literature

- for example, focusing on design:

• the Embassy is involved in many activities like workshops, festivals or fairs
• partner in expert meeting during the Milan Design Week
• supporter of the communication and press desk of a big Dutch group exhibition in the Salone del
Mobile

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
I - Presentation of the institution and the
project

The project evaluation and monitoring

➢ We were asked to look for ways to evaluate the

actions of the Embassy in culture, and more
precisely in architecture, design and literature

➢ Request linked to the will of the Dutch Minister of

Education, Culture and Science and of the Minister
of Foreign Affairs to have a real evaluation of the
Netherlands’ international cultural policy

➢ Plan for 2017-2020: for a strong cultural sector

where international exchange and sustainable
cooperation ensure increasingly higher quality, and
which is recognized and valued abroad

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
I - Presentation of the institution and the project

The project evaluation and monitoring

➢ The cultural service of the Embassy has already thought of some indicators to measure the
impact of their work in the three fields

➢ We had to see if there were suitable and if others could be found

➢ We had to think of a practical method of monitoring and evaluation to analyze the impact
of their activities

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
I - Presentation of the institution and the project

The project evaluation and monitoring

➢ Determination of quantitative and qualitative indicators that reflect the effects of the projects of the
Embassy in the three cultural fields mentioned.

➢ 4 goals to respect:

• Supporting the bilateral exchange of expertise, knowledge and professionals between Dutch and Italian cultural and
creative professionals

• Expansion of activities and network of Dutch creatives in Italy

• Informing foreign artists, curators, and critics about developments and opportunities in the Netherlands

• Increasing visibility of the Dutch cultural sector in Italy

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
I - Presentation of the institution and the project

The project evaluation and monitoring

➢ Analysis of the situation: ➢ Our work methodology:

- strong dynamism of the Embassy (festivals,
fairs…) - Study of the documents of the Embassy

- mostly in the North of Italy - Research scientific literature on monitoring and

evaluation
- mostly oriented towards a professional - reports from the Unesco, the French National
audience Assembly or the National French Court of Audit

- “small budget” as it is written on the website - Contact with other Embassies

of the Embassy - French Embassy in Canada & Instituts Français

- small team : only three persons in the service - Look at the Embassy’s online communication

- budget cuts

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands

II - Evaluating the Embassy’s actions in the cultural field

➢ The four goals of the Embassy:

• Supporting the bilateral exchanges

• Expanding activities and network

• Informing about opportunities in the Netherlands

• Increasing visibility

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands

II - Evaluating the Embassy’s actions in the cultural field

➢ Quantitative indicators

• To evaluate the actions of the Embassy.

• To evaluate the presence of dutch professionals in Italy.

• To evaluate the image of dutch in Italy: recognition, number of visitors.

• Analysis of web communication: web analytics, keywords, hashtags.

• Media relations: number of coverage in printed and social medias.

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
II - Evaluating the Embassy’s actions in the cultural field

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
II - Evaluating the Embassy’s actions in the cultural field

➢ Qualitative methods:

• Data to collect: expectations, curiosity, satisfaction,

advices.

• Different types of qualitative evaluations

• Our recommendation: a survey sent by mass mailing

with Google Forms

➢ In the case of the Embassy, a qualitative data collection

would allow to get more informations about:

• Expectations
• Curiosity
• Satisfaction
• Unexpected
• Advice

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands

II - Evaluating the Embassy’s actions in the cultural field

➢ Different methods to collect qualitative data :

- Key informant or individual interviews

- Focus groups
- Open-ended questions on a survey or questionnaire
- Logs, journals, diaries and/or essays
- Stories/Case studies
- Participant observations/field notes
- Document review: examining written records such as logs, correspondence, meeting
minutes, news articles or other published accounts

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
II - Evaluating the Embassy’s actions in the cultural field

➢ Different populations to collect qualitative data

Italian professional who already worked with Dutch

or wishing to work with Dutch

Dutch professional who participated to events organized

by the Embassy

Survey on the public attending the events

in which the Embassy participates

Global opinion survey to learn about the opinion

that the Italian have about Dutch expertise in the concerning
fields

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
II - Evaluating the Embassy’s actions in the cultural field

➢ Summary of the results found

Number of people to whom the survey is sent

Number of people who effectively participated to the survey

Date : when the form has been sent

Duration needed to collect and analyze the answers

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands

III - A focus on the Digital Strategy

• Develop the Embassy’s network with

digital public relations (identify
influential people on social medias)

• Use analytics tools to measure the

effectiveness of the Embassy’s online
communication

• Collect data to know who speaks

about dutch culture on social medias.
Use hashtags and keywords to find
publications on specific topics (Twitter,
Instagram)

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
III - Digital Strategy
➢ Social Medias
Develop the presence of the Embassy on social
medias to reach more professional working in
cultural industries
➢ LinkedIn
• An official page: “Dutch Embassy in Italy”.
For Broad audience of dutch expatriate in
Italy.
• a LinkedIn group for italian and dutch
professional who want to build an
international network, collaborate with
peers and exchange some informations and
advices
➢ Instagram
Useful to reach creative people and artists
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➢ Newsletters
Identify different categories populations in order to reach
the good target.
➢ Focus on 6 categories of people:
• italian professionals in architecture / design /
literature
• dutch professionals in architecture / design /
literature
➢ Annual newsletter planning according to major italian
events (Milan Design Week, Biennale)
➢ Rethink the editorial content of the newsletter:
thematic newsletters on literature, architecture and
design
 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands
CONCLUSION

➢ A growing need for impact evaluation with low budgets ;

➢ Our recommendations would need at least an intern to be proceeded ;

➢ Lots of literature but a lack of precise operational methods to evaluate ;

➢ Possible opportunities of entrepreneurship which derives from this problematic.

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 Project work:
Embassy of the Netherlands

Thank you for your attention

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