Evidence library

The Cultural Pathfinder Programme in Scotland was developed by the former Scottish Executive as a way of supporting local authorities and their partners to explore ways of widening access to, and participation in, cultural activities across diverse communities. The Programme supported 13 projects across Scotland and was intended to generate useful learning that could be shared across the local authority, Community Planning Partnership (CPP) and cultural sectors to inform future planning and delivery. In order to help capture this learning, EKOS was commissioned by the Scottish Government to conduct an independent evaluation of the Programme. The study method combined a desk-based review of the information supplied by projects with a broad programme of fieldwork. The method comprised the following tasks: ? desk review of materials supplied by the projects (applications, evaluation plans, interim and final reports, as available); ? 62 depth interviews with Pathfinder managers, local authority and CPP partners and national stakeholders; ? case study analysis of each project drawing both on the desk review and the consultation outputs; and ? final review and analysis, including a workshop with Pathfinder managers and production of the final report and case studies.