Do the arts perform at school?

Revisiting the impact and cost-effectiveness of Artis

Across the 2022-23 academic year, we have been working once again in partnership with Pro Bono Economics to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of Artis. Using data collected from a random sample of children at the beginning and end of a year with Artis, we have captured information on emotional difficulties, conduct, hyperactivity, peer relationships and pro-social behaviour of the children.

In our previous study, it was observed that children who demonstrated elevated levels of difficulties and those on Free School Meals saw a clear improvement in their outcomes between the beginning and end of the Artis programme. It was determined that if these improvements do not fade over time, Artis can generate lifetime benefits of up to £2,300 per child, or £8,700 for children with elevated needs, by improving truancy, exclusion, crime, smoking, mental health and earnings.

Through our most recent tranche of data, PBE has concluded that the findings are consistent with and supportive of the conclusions drawn in the previous study. This means that every £1 invested in Artis can generate up to £32 in lifetime benefits for the children we work with.

A huge thank you to all teachers and support staff for working with us on data collection this past year. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Pro Bono Economics through the current academic year as we continue to increase our data collection and evaluation processes.