Since November 27th, 2016, Testing Grounds have been receiving live data from the website that provides valuable insight into how people are responding to the project and how this is reflected through the outputs of our creative programming.

In June 2017 we surpassed the projected number of EOI’s we would receive for that year.

The steady increase in the number of EOI’s we receive, and our healthy acceptance rate of EOI’s, demonstrates our commitment to initiating key actions of the Creative States strategy, which includes;

• Backing creative talent by supporting creative development, research and experimentation and supporting creative practitioners who want to take a calculated risk.
• Backing creative talent by providing vital space for development and 1:1 testing, which creates more opportunity for creative practitioners to create landmark works.
• Backing creative talent by providing opportunities for creative and professional development through residencies and a creative development program.
• Increasing participation and access by keeping the site free to use for creative projects made by independent creative practitioners.
• Increasing participation and access by accepting EOI’s from creative practitioners at all levels of practice and by actively seeking EOI’s from people who live in the outer suburbs of Melbourne or regional areas of Victoria, with the aid of Municipal Associations Victoria, local councils, community groups and arts organisations.
• Increasing participation and access by actively seeking to include creative practitioners of diverse gender, sexuality, ethnicity or cultural identity by consulting with community groups, organisations and creative practitioners.
• Delivering wider economic and social impact by accepting all creative education-related EOI’s.
• Strengthening the creative industries by accepting EOI’s from precinct partners and from creative organisations or companies who do not typically have access to the Arts Precinct, which encrouages a diversity of creative practices.
• Strengthening the creative industries by accepting EOI’s from precinct partners and from creative organisations or companies who do not typically have access to the Arts Precinct, which will continue to activate the Arts Precinct as a co-working space where knowledge and resource sharing is encouraged.

We review all EOI’s and select projects that are considered to be experimental, site-responsive or related to creative education. We value projects that provide access and are inclusive, reflecting a diversity of creative and cultural practices. We also accept projects form precinct partners when we believe it will help to strengthen our creative industry.

The infrastructure is designed to support a variety of use from creative practitioners without a specification or prescription of utility. This encourages creative practitioners to tell Testing Grounds what the site should be used for, rather than Testing Grounds telling the creative practitioner what sort of art they should be making. Being site-responsive puts the creative practitioner in the position of being an auteur, increasing self-initiated experimentation and risk-taking that leads to learning. This innovative ideology demonstrates our commitment to backing creative talent by supporting creative development, research and experimentation and supporting creative practitioners who want to take a calculated risk.

Reviewed against graph 3 this data tells us if we are programming in response to how people want to use the site.

Exhibitions, performances, arts or community events, live music/sound art, and call-outs for special programing are more commonly presentations of completed work.

This data is collected from every project agreement that has been submitted so far. These fee’s or wages are paid either by an institution or company using Testing Grounds or through grants.

Fees or wages come from institutions or organisations who use the site or grants. When Testing Grounds pays an artist they are not required to submit an acquittal.

The proportionally high number of females using the site demonstrates our commitment to increasing participation and access in the arts to groups of people who have historically been denied access and participation. We will continue to consult with community groups, organisations and creative practitioners to actively include creative practitioners of diverse gender, sexuality, ethnicity or cultural identity.

We ask the question “does anyone in your project identify as the following groups?”. It helps us develop our own cultural competency and we so we can continue to improve inclusion, access and participation in the creative industries. It helps us understand the projects, communicate and effectively interact with the people involved in the projects we accept. 

We want to be aware of people’s world views and continue to promote positive attitudes towards culturally diverse knowledge and practices.

The answers people submit are kept confidential and are not used to discriminate against anyone. We do not ask people for their cultural identity when they submit an EOI because they will tell us in the EOI if it is important to their project.

Testing Grounds has been consulting with Municipal Associations Victoria, local councils, community groups and arts organisations to increase access and participation from people who live in the outer suburbs of Melbourne or regional areas of Victoria. We have also actively pursued relationships with creative organisations interstate to increase access for creative practitioners from all around the country.

The total number for ‘Local’ includes people from outer suburbs of Melbourne and regional areas of Victoria.

This data tells us that approximately 89% of people find out about Testing Grounds by ‘attending an event’ or ‘word of mouth’. Printed and online articles are in the bottom 11%. This data identifies our current audience as the arts community and, with support, this is significant opportunity to develop new audiences by engaging with popular media or engaging a marketing role.