In 2020, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the “la Caixa” Foundation launched the first edition of the PARTIS & Art for Change initiative, with the aim of testing and demonstrating the role that the arts can play in building fairer and more cohesive communities, thereby enhancing the impact of both foundations in this area.

Between January 2021 and December 2023, the first 16 projects of the initiative were supported, mostly focused on the performing arts, with a particular emphasis on theatre and dance. These projects were developed across mainland Portugal, from north to south, as well as on the island of São Miguel, in both rural and urban contexts – although with a greater prevalence of the latter.

To assess the impact of the initiative, an external team composed of Isabel Lucena (independent consultant in arts management) and Hugo Cruz (artist, cultural programmer, professor, and researcher) designed a monitoring and evaluation model from scratch. This model included participatory methodologies to gather input from the various stakeholders involved, namely the initiative managers (the Foundations) and field agents, that is, the promoting entities and their respective project partners.

The results of the implementation of this monitoring and evaluation model are now presented in a final report, which, in addition to providing a detailed description of the process and an analysis of the indicators, also includes a set of recommendations. These contribute to the development of knowledge in the field of participatory and/or community arts practices and inform future decision-making regarding the PARTIS & Art for Change initiative.