International Cultural Exchange Programs: The Curious Relationship of Program Design and Impact

This study seeks to discover how the impacts of international cultural exchange programs are considered in the programmatic design process. Impact and evaluation are the buzzwords of the decade. These buzzwords exist throughout the field of international cultural exchange, the arts and culture sector, non-profit organizations of all shapes and sizes and even businesses that are now measuring their social returns on investments with social impact indicators. International cultural exchange practitioners are weary and many, including several participants this study, are tired of being told to constantly demonstrate their impact to stakeholders, funders, investors and constituents. Numbers and data are the requirement, but many throughout the field of international cultural exchange find the change in thought or perception that their programs provoke difficult to measure and accurately prove. The impact encompasses human experiences and people-to-people contact that cannot be taken for granted. The study of impact within international cultural exchange is so important because the borders of our nations grow more porous every day, programs in this field require partnerships where cultural differences may be at odds, these programs have the capability to highly influence the communities in which they work and these requirements for proof will not disappear in a funding environment where resources are enduringly scarce. These are high stakes. It is imperative, in this field, to recognize the effects this work can have on the communities it serves. Through the opinions and strategies of program designers in the field, this study investigates how the impacts of international cultural exchange programs are considered in the programmatic design process. Ideas and thoughts for innovative programs are born constantly, but the motivations behind their creation and implementation are often unclear and left out of evaluation results. Often evaluation is an afterthought, something that is forced on organizations with limited resources because of funder requirements or partnership needs (Callahan 2004). The examples from these leaders in the field serve as a road map for program designers throughout the sector, providing a context in which to investigate and frame their own program design processes.