'Beautiful Noise' evaluation report

Canterbury Festival’s Beautiful Noise Community Music Celebration is a free event in its second year, offering local volunteers an opportunity take part in a live performance. A total of 370 performers and 20 music groups took part in 2022. The Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health (SDHRC) supported this community initiative through a brief evaluation. This was funded as part of SDHRC’s ongoing arts and health research through OAK Foundation. A short digital questionnaire was created to capture individuals’ views and experiences of taking part in the Beautiful Noise event. This questionnaire detailed demographic and event data and included the Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) four personal wellbeing questions. It was completed in-person with 77 participants, aged 18+ years. Questions were multiple choice with a free text box for further comments. Data was analysed and general themes drawn out and discussed in the light of existing literature. The evaluation report offered festival organisers deeper understanding of the event’s impact on widening audiences, health and wellbeing, place-making and community connection, and accessibility and inclusion.