Thinking outside the box: galleries, museums and evaluation

Museums and galleries in the UK increasingly engage with educational and social concerns; this article refers to research to evaluate two such initiatives. Evaluation of the Museum and Gallery Education Programme Phase 2, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, ends in August 2004. The research partnership to evaluate the ‘En-vision’ pilot action research programme, established by Engage (the national association for gallery education) with support from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Carnegie UK Trust and three Arts Council regional offices, will complete in 2005. The article explores some key methodological issues relating to evaluation in this developing field. The conclusions are not necessarily endorsed by these sponsors; they are the views of the authors alone