top of page

Research Facilitation Evaluation Moderation

I love questions. 

What is yours?

Let's talk!

Services

Cultural Management
Cultural Policy
International Cultural Cooperation
Cultural Education

How I can support you

Your questions are my motivation. Dialogue is key. My analysis supports you with insightful perspectives responding to your needs. Together we enable knowledge sharing  to improve strategies.  I provide concepts, research, evaluation, facilitation, moderation - with expertise, experience, and sensitivity for the needs of cultural organisations. Let's start with some questions. 

​

Culture works - but how? What are the effects and impact of your work? How can you improve and acknowledge what you are doing? How does co-operation work - between civil society and policy-makers, across sectors?  

I am looking forward to your questions. 

About me

I have been working in international research and consultancy projects in culture and related fields since 2006. have extensive expertise in policy- and strategy-oriented research. Before starting my career as an independent researcher and evaluator, I spent more than a decade working for EDUCULT - Institute of Cultural Policy and Cultural Management. Since January 2024, I am Executive Director and Head of Research at EDUCULT and lead the organisation together with Dr. Aron Weigl. 

In 2017 I graduated with a PhD (distinction) in Cultural Institution Studies from the University of Music and Performing Arts (mdw) Vienna. Supervised by Prof. Tasos Zembylas, I researched Cultural Governance in cities. I received the Award of Excellence by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research. In 2019 I was awarded with the Herta and Kurt Blaukopf Award for excellent dissertations at the mdw. The Master studies at the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies at the University of Warwick shaped my international perspective. In 2020, I taught cultural policy, cultural organisation and audience studies at the Zeppelin-University Friedrichshafen, where I have also been working with the research cluster on Arts Production and Cultural Policy in Transformation (ACPT). ​ From December 2020-August 2022, I have been working as Post Doc Researcher at the University of Vienna, Institute of Political Science, on the project Agonistic Cultural Policy (AGONART) - Case Studies on the Conflicutal Transformation of Cultural Quarters (headed by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Oliver Marchart). From 2016-2022 I have been a member of the board of the Association for Cultural Management, where I was specifically concerned with the networking of early career researchers and PhD students. I am also a board member at the research and consultancy institute EDUCULT. In 2019, I have been appointed member of the Expert Council on Cultural Diversity of the Austrian UNESCO-Commission. In 2022, I have been elected president of the council. ​ I live and work in Vienna, together with my husband and our two children. Vienna and its multifaceted past and present are a huge inspiration to my work. In particular, I love the coffee houses - drinking a Melange, listening to people talking in different languages, writing, and thinking. I love to travel to other places and meet new people.

Projects

Research, quality assessment, facilitation and strategic development

Cultural policy research and strategy development

Since 2006 I have been working in applied cultural policy research for various clients (including cities, foundations). 

Evaluation of the German Commission for UNESCO

2022-2023 I evaluated the work of the German Commission for UNESCO together with EDUCULT. The commissioner was the German Federal Foreign Office. The evaluation was based on a program theory, which justified methodological decisions and provided sound evaluation criteria for the review of goal achievement and implementation qualities. The dialogue-based evaluation process (interviews, focus groups) enabled the integration of different stakeholder perspectives. This made it possible to analyze both the complexity of the Commission and manifold external crisis phenomena.

Evaluation of the cultural funding of the city of Graz

In 2021-2022, together with the EDUCULT team, I evaluated the cultural funding of the Austrian City of Graz. The focus was on the funding agreements for cultural associations up to 2025. Their developments (including the effects of the pandemic) and perspectives (including with regard to fair pay) were discussed in detailed interviews with over 100 representatives of the city's art and culture scene. In addition, we derived strategic recommendations for the future cultural-political orientation of the city of Graz from an analysis of the entire cultural funding system. Find the evaluation report (in German) here.

Feasibility study Tanzhaus in Munich

In 2021 I have supported the Bavarian Association for Contemporary Dance with analyses in the development of a feasibility study for a dance house in Munich (client: City of Munich). In a comprehensive participatory process and an online survey, requirements, visions and implementation scenarios for a contemporary dance house with networking in the urban space and community and international appeal were developed.

Evaluation and Facilitation for the Goethe-Institut e.V.

Between 2013 and 2016 I co-developed the impact-oriented evaluation concept "Culture works" for the Goethe-Institut, the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany. How can evaluation support the assessment of impact, strategic decision-making and the dialogue between policy-makers and civil society stakeholders? is one question I have been continuously reflecting on ever since. In 2017 the Goethe-Institut contracted me as an external evaluator for projects and programmes .

Spaces of Culture – Evaluation of a Large-Scale Turkish-European Collaboration managed by the Goethe-Institut Istanbul 

In 2020-2021, in cooperation with EDUCULT, I evaluated Spaces of Culture, a large-scale project that has been running since 2017 in the three Turkish cities of Diyarbakır, Gaziantep and Izmir. The evaluation, which uses qualitative network analysis, focuses on the impact of European-Turkish partner relations and the sustainable support of civil society art and cultural actors in the regions. It provides a thorough analysis as well as recommendations for a third funding period.

EU 2020: The Goethe-Institut for Europe - Process-based Evaluation

2020-2021 I evaluated five projects realised by the Goethe-Institut and numerous cooperation partners in the context of the German Presidency of the European Council. I analysed the impact and effects of the projects on strengthening the European Community and on the participation of citizens in activities and discussions e.g. on European values, sustainable development, artificial intelligence and the future of Europe. Additionally, I looked into the challenges and opportunities of new formats for cultural projects - local, digital, hybrid - under the conditions of the COVID-epidemic.

SHARED CITIES: Creative Momentum - Evaluation of an EU-funded Cooperation Project

SHARED CITIES: Creative Momentum, co-financed by the Creative Europe Programme is a project that I have been evaluating between 2017 and 2020. From 2016-2020, 11 civil society organisations from 8 cities in Serbia, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were working on the question how urban spaces can be improved through sharing participatory and creative practices. The project has been coordinated by the Goethe-Institut Prague. In the process-based evaluation, based on the "Culture Works" evaluation approach, I collected data through interviews, group discussions, participatory observations and site visits. In January 2020, I presented the evaluation results for representatives of the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) in Brussels. Key results have been published in a brochure.

Freiraum - Evaluation of a European Network

In 2018-2019, I accompanied the project Freiraum Europa. Here, 42 Goethe-Instituts worked with civil society partners - NGOs, theaters, museums, art centers - on the theme of freedom. Two European cities were paired in tandems. I evaluated questions, such as which target groups were reached, how cooperation succeeded, and how the topic of freedom in Europe was addressed in the face of illiberal tendencies. In 2020, a follow-up took place, focusing on the digital-local Freiraum Festival in the context of the German EU Council Presidency.

Cultural Education and Co-operation

How can art and culture find an audience? What are the framework conditions and effects of mediation processes? How can young people of all backgrounds benefit from artistic and cultural education? How can complex ecological, political, social issues be communicated through artistic methods? These are some of the questions I address in the following projects: 

Conscious Consumer's Laboratory (COCO lab) – Impact Evaluation

The COCO lab at the Austrian Museum of Society and Economy provides children and young people with an experimental, exploratory and application-oriented approach to aspects of consumption and sustainability. On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, I evaluated the effects of this program together with EDUCULT and Peter Spindler in 2022-2023.

ZOOM Childrens' Museum - Audience Research

In 2022 I implemented a survey of private visitors and educators for the ZOOM Children's Museum. An online tool was used to reflect on the museum's offerings from the visitors' point of view. The research resulted in a report with recommendations for further development.

ZOOM Mobil - Process facilitation for ZOOM Childrens' Museum

In the summer of 2021, I supported the new outreach workshop program of the ZOOM Children's Museum with research and process facilitation. The aim of the outreach offer is to reach children and young people in the outer districts of Vienna who do not regularly come to the museum. Therefore, ZOOM collaborates with local social workers. The facilitation and research helped to reflect on the initial experiences and explore future perspectives.

Research on Cultural School Development

The study "Conditions of Cultural Education in Schools. Cultural School Development and Cultural Cooperation between Schools and Cultural Education Partners" (2017 - 2019, project lead Dr. Bettina-Marie Gördel), was part of the project "Creative Potentials and the Art of Living NRW". I supported the Federal Association for Cultural Education for Children and Youth by providing scientific advice, qualitative data analysis, and in the preparation of the report.

Lectures, Moderation and Workshops

Knowledge expands through sharing. Learning processes are based on appraisal, curiosity and positive confusion. I would love to support you and your team in areas such as evaluation and impact assessment, cultural co-operation, organisational learning, governance and strategy development. 

Some references:

Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, workshop moderation for the development of the anti-racism strategy of the ministry ​Goethe-Institut, headquarters/dep. of strategy and organisational development - internal trainings on impact-assessment, evaluation, and communication of results ​N2025 - Cultural Capital of Europe 2025 - workshop on intercultural city development ​Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Institute of Cultural Management and Gender Studies (IKM) - Lectures and collaboration in the organisation of scientific conferences ​Peter Spindler, Labor für kreatives Theater - project development ​Deutsche Kinder- und Jugendstiftung (DKJS), Kultur.Forscher! - lecture on research-based learning ​Landesvereinigung Kulturelle Jugendbildung Thüringen e.V. - lecture on cultural and civic education

Media

Some of my recent publications

1070 Vienna, Austria

+43 650 8082424

info@ankeschad.at

bottom of page