Community Arts and Evaluation Practices in Egypt

Lack of governmental support, scarce of resources, organizational un-sustainability, high rate of turnover, lack of competences and know-how on a managerial level, and above all corruption, are added to the long list of challenges of an arts manager in Egypt. In order to develop her and her peers practices in her country, the researcher identifies the roots of the community arts, investigates the challenges of the field, and travels to the United kingdom seeking inspiration for the best method to evaluate the development of the community art projects in a challenging socio-political environment such as the Egyptian context. The report recommends a short and simple yet conscious and systematic evaluation of the internal process of Community Arts project. As a management tool, an efficient structure and content of an evaluation diary is suggested. By feeding this handy diary, the practitioner can evaluate and develop his practice systematically to assess the impact and the outcomes of these projects on the society.

Autorentext

Heba El Sheikh is an art manager based in Cairo. In 2011, she co-founded Mahatat for contemporary art, organizing art in public spaces and community art projects. El Sheikh studied French, translation and journalism writing about travel art and culture. In 2012 she had her Masters in Arts Management at Utrecht School of the Arts, the Netherlands