Evaluating SPRINGBOARD local assemblies for creative climate action

By November 2024 we’d held 21 local assemblies. After two years of an evolving programme across 11 local authorities, it was the right time to pause, reflect with our collaborators on what we had learnt and achieved, and to collectively imagine the future of the programme.

‘This is what we need: creativity infused in climate work. We need to be challenged and learn from a different way of thinking and doing.’
Victoria Lanata Briones, Edinburgh Communities Climate Action Network

Complexity-appropriate evaluation

Complexity was the starting point for our evaluation of SPRINGBOARD local assemblies. In our Evaluation Framework (PDF 1MB), it is defined as:

‘Complexity is a term that has been used across the social sciences, particularly in systems theory. It describes how the social world is made up of many diverse components that interact in unpredictable and dynamic ways. Social interventions are often complex, with unpredictable pathways, non-linear and unexpected outcomes, and components that adapt and change over time.’

As with many of our projects, when delivering local assemblies, we encounter complexity at the following different levels:

Each assembly is locally specific, unique and seeks varied outcomes.

• Places always have a specific set of conditions and a history, which inevitably differs from other locations, and the success of our interventions depends on this unique context.
• Often, multiple co-hosts are involved in designing and delivering local assemblies.
• At the assemblies, we often platform creative approaches to exploring climate issues. Arts-based interventions employ a broad range of approaches that may evolve over time or differ across locations or events.
• Over time, the local assemblies may change the context or environment in which they are operating.

As a result, employing a uniform, one-size-fits-all approach to evaluation or focusing on linear cause and effect was inappropriate for the local assemblies.

Evaluation methodology

Inspired by complexity-appropriate evaluation approaches, we sought to develop a rich, qualitative picture of the local assemblies, while involving as many stakeholders and perspectives as possible.

Between December 2024 and January 2025, we held 10 hour-long conversations with our local assembly co-hosts in Aberdeen and the Shire, Argyll and Bute, Ayrshire, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverclyde, Inverness, Scottish Borders and Orkney. This included 21 people with varied disciplinary perspectives, from folks working in climate hubs and local authorities to higher educational institutions and cultural organisations. Three open questions guided each conversation:

1. Has anything (projects, connections etc) emerged from the assembly?
2. What would you change?
3. What might a future assembly look like?

The Old Fire Station Storytelling Evaluation Method inspired our approach. Instead of setting outcomes to measure against, the storytelling method asks stakeholders to identify outcomes for themselves by telling a story – in their own voice and words.

Meanwhile, we sent a survey to 500+ attendees of local assemblies with one key question: ‘Do you have a story to share from the local assembly you attended?’

We then conducted an inductive qualitative analysis of the transcribed conversations and survey results. An inductive analysis is when a researcher has no preconceived themes or categories; rather, themes and patterns emerge from the data.

To contribute to our findings, we also reviewed 86 pre-existing, post-event attendee surveys from across all regions.

What did we learn?

‘Local assemblies spark meaningful connections, creating ripples that support growth, community and a shared vision for sustainability.’
Edinburgh participant

• Local assemblies are creating opportunities for new, ongoing and cross-sectoral connections. 99.9% of those who responded to post-event surveys strongly agree or agree with the statement: ‘I made connections with people I hadn’t worked with before’.
• 70% of co-hosts were concerned about how local assemblies move from engagement to practically developing local creative climate action.
• There is desire for more regular local assemblies, rather than annual events. Over 1/5 of those who responded to post-event surveys mentioned their hope for Culture for Climate Scotland and co-hosts to organise more regular local assemblies.
• There is desire for digital resources, particularly in rural and/or island communities, about the role of culture in place-based transformational change.

What have the local assemblies achieved?

We learnt that in almost every region we worked with, co-hosts or participants went on to lead post-assembly climate actions in their local area. We’re delighted to share three brief examples of the varied action that emerged:

• Argyll and Bute: At the November 2024 local assembly, Argyll and Bute Climate Action Network launched their climate action seed funding. Inspired by the biodiversity focus of the local assembly, Cove and Kilcreggan Community Council whose representatives attended the event successfully received £1000 to renovate the outdoor classroom at Peaton Hill Community Nature Reserve.
• Ayrshire: Christina Riley, founder of The Nature Library, met a representative of The Scottish Maritime Museum at the November 2023 local assembly. At the time, the library was a roving collection. In spring 2024, The Nature Library opened a physical premises in Irvine, Ayrshire, taking up residence in an old shipyard worker’s flat in partnership with the Scottish Maritime Museum.
• Edinburgh: Following the June 2024 local assembly – which was a collaboration between Edinburgh Communities Climate Action Network (ECCAN) and artist Jonathan Baxter – ECCAN developed an arts and culture sub-network to support embedding arts into climate work.

‘It was meeting face to face at SPRINGBOARD and having the opportunity to discuss current challenges and dreams for our individual organisations that encouraged those links to be made; people could make the connections of how organisations could help each other out, each one having what the other was looking for.’
Christina Riley, artist and founder of The Nature Library

How are we changing what we do?

Learning that many of our collaborators and participants felt stuck in their efforts to create change, we were guided by Canopy’s Compass for Social Imagination which asks ‘How is it really possible to unlock new possibilities that are more joyful, just and sustainable?’

We’ve decided to change how we do things, rather than limiting ourselves to the methods we already know.

• We recently launched a SPRINGBOARD local assemblies project page, with resources and guides about place-based transformational change.
• We are supporting our local assembly collaborators with online meetups to connect regional assemblies, platform transformational approaches, and discuss shared challenges and opportunities.
• We will only deliver four SPRINGBOARD local assemblies in 2025-26. These are in places we are returning to: where we can build upon the foundations, support transformational action and share our learnings.

If you’re interested in finding out more about our evaluation of SPRINGBOARD local assemblies, please reach out to [email protected].