Introduction
At Venice Arts, we are interested in finding meaningful ways to evaluate the broad goals of our programs, as well as the the specific learning objectives of individual workshops. Our hope is that such evaluation will not only inform our program planning, but will also generate data that may be of interest to the field.
This report summarizes data collected during 2004-05
in Venice Arts' Art Mentoring programs; it does not include data
from our other programs, such as our Social Art Initiatives or school–day projects, which are evaluated separately. Key findings from this evaluation show that:
›› 100% of youth report learning new art skills
›› 92% are satisfied with the youth–mentor
relationship
›› 71% show a strong sense of community
›› 76% of youth show strong self–efficacy
The fundamental principles of our Art Mentoring model are supported by a substantial body of research on the significant impact of arts learning(1) and mentoring(2) on youth development across a range of dimensions including creative, emotional, social, academic, and vocational.(3) Such studies indicate that quality arts instruction and mentoring can enhance youths’ motivation and self-efficacy (their belief in their ability to positively affect their environment); build positive relationships with their mentor and improve social relationships with others; and contribute to a sense of community and a more positive overall outlook on life.
Our Methods
We use a survey instrument comprised of qualitative questions developed by Venice Arts' staff, as well as quantitative items from three research-validated scales: “Perceived Self–efficacy Scale for Children,” “Sense of Community in the Classroom," and the “Youth Mentoring Survey.” The survey is administered as in–person interviews by staff and volunteer researchers; interviews assure the involvement of younger children in evaluation and increase the overall richness of our data. In our survey, we look at, among other things:
(1) whether individual workshops are meeting our baseline learning objectives;
(2) if participation in our programs affect youths’ perception of themselves as artists or creative people;
(3) the impact of the art mentoring relationship;
(4) whether our programs contribute to youths’ self–efficacy; and,
(5) whether or not youth involved at Venice Arts develop a sense of community belonging.
Data analyses are conducted by our Assistant Director, Alexa Adamo, a social science researcher. Using grounded theory, qualitative data is coded and then summarized along with quantitative data.
Our Sample
We surveyed a sample of 100 youth (69% of participants in our Art Mentoring program) working with artists at an average ratio of 1 artist to 2.3 youth. Of the 100 youth interviewed, 15% reported on their experience in art discovery, 40% in photography, 19% in media arts , and 25% in digital arts. Sample demographics mirror the VA population as a whole, although there was a higher representation of females and youth from mixed and “other” ethnicities in the sample. Specifically, 59% were Latino, 17% were mixed/other ethnicities, 12% Caucasian, and 12% were African American. Youth ranged in age from 6 to 18, with the majority of youth between the ages of 8.3 and 13.9 years. 61% were female and 39% were male (in the overall population, only 55% are female).
Findings 2004–2005
The broad qualitative goals of the Arts Mentoring program, 2004–2005, were to: (1) develop youths’ creative and expressive capacities and artistic and technical skills, (2) develop significant, positive relationships between youth and adult role models/mentors, and (3) increase youths’ self-efficacy and sense of community. Overall findings are displayed in Table A, followed by highlights about each construct examined.
Table A. Overall Program Findings
1. Youths’ creative/expressive capacities and art skills. One hundred percent (100%) of youth reported learning new art skills (see Table B).
Table B. Youth Art Skills
Additionally, 65% learned something about how they can work in the arts when they are older, 82% stated that their learning helped them in other parts of their life including relationships with friends (76%), school (48%), family (43%), and other ways (39%). 52% learned about people whose lives are different than theirs.
When describing what they liked best about their class, youth said (see Table C.; categories not mutually exclusive, totaling more than 100%):
Table C. What Students Liked Best
Additionally, 93% would like to participate in another Art Mentoring workshop in the future.
2. The Mentoring Relationship.
Data indicate that
the Arts Mentoring program fostered significant positive relationships
between youth and adult role models/mentors. Utilizing Jucovy's
(2002) Youth Mentoring Survey,(4) we examined 3 qualities of
the mentoring relationship: youths' emotional engagement,
satisfaction, and perception of the relationship as youth-centered.
Overall results, plus examples, for each quality are provided
in the tables below (Tables D1- D3).
Table D1. Satisfaction with the Mentoring Relationship Table D2. Youths’ Emotional Engagement in the Relationship
 
Table D3. Perception of the Relationship as Youth-Centered
3. Sense of Community
We utilized items from the Sense of Community Scale(5) to measure the degree to which youth feel Venice Arts as a whole is a supportive, welcoming and safe environment. Data indicate that the majority of participating youth experience a strong sense of community at Venice Arts. Over 70% of youth responded positively on every item. Detail on a sample of items is below (Table E).
Table
E. Youths' Sense of Community at Venice Arts
At this stage in the evaluation
of the sense of community construct, we cannot ascertain if participation
in Venice Arts increased youths' sense of community. However,
when analyzing the data by length of time in program, youth in
the program for a year or more showed a significantly higher
sense of community than those who had participated less than
a year; particularly in regards to the lowest scoring item “-Venice
Arts is like a family.” Overall, 71% of youth agreed with
this statement, but a total of 80% of continuing participants
responded positively, as opposed to 61% of youth who participated
less than a year. Our goal is to increase youth retention,
and as we do so, we expect to see an increase in youths' sense of community.
4. Youths'
Self-Efficacy
Items to measure self-efficacy were taken from the Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale for Children(6) to assess how sure participating youth are that new experiences, difficult situations, and problems with other people will work out positively for them. Data indicates student self-efficacy at Venice Arts is generally high (average overall score of 76% are confident that they can handle every proposed situation), particularly in regards to their relationship with their mentor, the highest scoring item. See table below for greater detail on a sample of items.
Table
F. Youth's Perceived Self-Efficacy
The item indicating youth feel most
strongly about their ability to work out a problem with their
mentor (97% of youth, including 61% who were very sure and 36%
who were sure) reflects the positive impact the Art Mentoring
program is making on participants. However, we cannot assert
that youths' overall self-efficacy is correlated to their participation
in Venice Arts programs without longer-term evaluation.
Future Directions
Our findings confirm that our strategic goal to provide greater depth, rather than breath, of programs is making a significant, positive impact on participating youth. Based on the findings from this study, we have developed a quantitative sub-survey to give us stronger data on youths’ creative/expressive capacities and artistic and technical skills. We have also refined our evaluation instrument to more closely align it with a new curricula guide that we created to improve our artist-mentor training protocol and to clarify, by workshop, our program’s learning objectives.
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