Using an evidence-based model to evaluate cultural provision aimed at attracting older people from global majority groups

Beamish is an open-air museum that brings to life the history of North East England from the 1800s onwards. During 2024-2025, the museum’s health and well-being team ran a project, funded by Historic England, to reflect the history of local South Asian communities from South Shields affected by dementia. This project was called: Our South Shields: Thanks for the Memories.

Michelle Kindleysides is Head of Health and Wellbeing at Beamish. She used a model developed by researchers from the University of Oxford to evaluate the Our South Shields project. The model was created as part of the TOUS study  (‘Tailoring cultural offers with and for diverse older users of social prescribing’). It centred on how to provide creative or cultural activities that are attractive, accessible and acceptable to older people (60+ years) from global majority backgrounds.

This blog contains Michelle’s reflections on using the TOUS model to support this evaluation.

Michelle’s reflections on using the model

“I feel we thought about all of these things (in the model) during planning, but perhaps not explicitly? And we and the artists delivering activities possibly had different ideas about some of these areas. I think it would have been really useful for us, as a team, to have thought about points within the model, together, at the very start.

The model has been really useful for us reflecting back on the project and identifying where the challenges were and what was successful. When you’re ‘in’ the project, and also spinning several other different plates, it can be challenging to stop and reflect!”

A key component of the model – getting people to engage

There are three key elements in the TOUS model related to getting people to attend a cultural activity. These are:

• Broker: Older people from global majority groups may require encouragement from a trusted member of their community or network to engage with cultural provision; someone they trust/respect, who can sell the cultural offer, potentially breaking down negative preconceptions or concerns older people have about engaging.
• Hook: Something that entices or encourages someone to try a cultural offer; this may be an activity familiar to them (e.g. they may have been in a choir or knitted before) or something new (e.g. they like the idea of acting for the first time or learning about a new topic).
• Opportunity: The timing has to be right for older people to take up a cultural offer. They may be at a point in life when they have more time or headspace (e.g. after retiring or if grandchildren have grown up and no longer need to be looked after). Or a new cultural offer may be starting in their local area, which is easy to get to and does not have fees attached to it so risks/effort associated with trying it are low.

Michelle made the following reflections on these three key areas associated with getting people to enter a cultural venue or to engage for the first time with a cultural activity/group.

Broker

“It is so important to build trust and maintain an open and honest relationship with the brokers. The broker will often continue to be the point of call throughout the project. There could be many different brokers within a community, which then raises the issue of people feeling that they haven’t been involved.

Sometimes the ‘broker’ takes on the role of being ‘the voice’ of the group – before you’ve met the rest of the group. Be mindful and respectful of this, otherwise you’ll never get to meet the group!

Unfortunately, we experienced what happens when a ‘broker’ leaves an organisation. For us, this meant that the connection with the community organisation was lost.”

Hook

“During the planning process, often as part of funding applications, the project team might think they know what the ‘hook’ is, or will be. But the hook will evolve once you’ve connected with the brokers and their groups. This may mean the ‘hook’ alters during the course of the project and as people build a relationship with you/your organisation. Also, there might be different ‘hooks’ for different people and different people within the same group.

You, as a face for the organisation, play a huge role in what the ‘hook’ is for people. So, the ‘hook’ could be a certain person, or it could be a certain person doing a certain thing. Or it could be a place, or an activity. But it’s very likely that the hook will be associated with a person/people.

There may also be a ‘hook’ that is predetermined by the funding. For Our South Shields project, the funding was to uncover hidden working-class stories, so we needed to be mindful of this throughout the activities, always linking it to this in some way.”

Opportunity

“This is really important to acknowledge! Sometimes it can be a challenge, especially if you’re constrained by funding deadlines. The ‘opportunity’ also needs to be very flexible. We felt that we had to think about the ‘opportunity’ each time we planned an activity with the group, to ensure there were several different opportunities for the group. But then always trying to link it back to the ‘hook(s)’ too.”

Conclusion 

We were pleased to hear from Michelle that other components of the TOUS model, aside from the three listed above, were also helpful when it came to evaluating the Our South Shields project. We are in the process of writing up this model for publication. In addition, we are developing an online tool that is based on the model, which can be used by cultural organisations when planning or evaluating activities or initiatives aimed at attracting audiences that may be underserved at present. We will publish this model on this website when it is ready.

The TOUS study mentioned in this blog was funded by a grant from UK Research and Innovation (MR/Y010000/1). The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the funder or the author’s host institution.