The impact and legacy of the arts on people and places

What we did:

Made With Many is Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places programme for Corby and Wellingborough, working with local communities to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to experience and shape high quality arts and culture. Since 2020, Apteligen has provided independent evaluation support to help the organisation understand its reach, demonstrate its impact and generate learning that informs programme development and future investment. Over the course of the partnership, our evaluation has evolved alongside the programme, supporting Made With Many as it strengthened community leadership, developed new partnerships and explored its longer-term cultural legacy.

How we did it:

We designed a developmental evaluation that became embedded within programme delivery rather than sitting alongside it. Using mixed methods, we combined participant surveys, creative evaluation tools, demographic analysis, interviews, workshop observations, Ripple Effect Mapping, social media analysis and innovative approaches such as analysing participant conversations from WhatsApp groups. We worked closely with artists, community partners and the Made With Many team to generate continuous learning throughout the funding period, helping the Made With Many team understand not only what was happening, but why, and how delivery could continue to evolve.

What the project achieved:

Our evaluation demonstrated that Made With Many is successfully engaging people who are traditionally least likely to participate in arts and cultural activities, while building stronger community connections, supporting local artists and creating lasting partnerships across North Northamptonshire. During 2024/25 alone, the programme reached almost 14,000 people through nearly 200 creative activities, with more than a third of participants engaging with Made With Many for the first time. Beyond participation, the evaluation showed how creative activity acted as a catalyst for wider social change, strengthening confidence, encouraging community leadership and embedding culture within wider systems such as family support, education and local partnerships. The evidence generated through our long-term evaluation has helped demonstrate the programme’s value and supported Made With Many’s continued development, including securing a further three years of Arts Council funding.