It’s been a busy couple of years for the team at Mission, Models, Money (MMM) but as the third phase of this widely respected, and at times provocative, “national action research programme” draws to a close what has it achieved?
The MMM programme started out as a reponse to the growing need for arts and cultural organisations (A&CO) to demonstrate their public value in order to continue receiving essential public funding (Money), whilst at the same time facing pressure from within to maintain the pursuit of artistic goals (Mission). The first two manifestations of the MMM programme were conferences held in 2004 and 2005. These were attended by arts leaders, programmers, policy makers, consultants, and other key industry figures. According to MMM they were successful in fostering “a more honest conversation” and developing greater awareness of the challenges and opportunities facing the sector. The third and current phase of the programme emerged from an evaluation of the discussions that took place during the conferences. A number of objectives were identified with the main challenge “to illustrate, build, share and test the applicability of best and emerging new practice through a number of different activities.” The MMM team has decided to focus on seven “exemplar projects” made possible by funding and business development support received through MMM.
