The Jack Wolgin International Competition

I recently joined the advisory committee for Temple's new major art prize, the Jack Wolgin International Competition. This prize awards $150,000 to an international artist, chosen from a pool of select nominees. Three finalists are invited to share their work in an exhibition that runs throughout October. Panels and other events dot the calendar across the month. Near the end of the exhibit, all 3 artists come in for a 3 day artists-in-residency. At the end of the residency, a winner is announced. The winner gives a public lecture the following day.

My role on the committee is to direct an impact assessment, examining the prize's effects on Temple University, the Philadelphia art world, and the artists themselves. This is tricky work, and I'll share some of our research design here, in hopes of getting some feedback and fresh ideas.

Measuring Impacts on the University: Our first and easiest measurement here is to track media hits that are generated because of the award. Quantitatively, because this is a new award, our baseline is zero. Temple received plenty of media coverage before, but it wasn't coverage about this award. So we're not measuring new media coverage to old media coverage, we're simply tracking new media coverage generated by the award. We'll not only counting the amount of coverage, but also examining the coverage qualitatively. What is the general tone of the news item? What publication does it appear in? Who is the audience? What section does it appear in?

We'll also be looking at direct impacts on the students, faculty, and staff of the university. We'll keep track of attendance at the exhibit, and at the related events. We'll make observations of all of the events, as well as any other moments where Temple community members are able to engage with the art and artists.

Measuring Impacts on the Philadelphia Art World: This is perhaps the trickiest of our research goals. Philadelphia has a large and vibrant art world that includes scores of arts organizations and countless artists. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is the largest and most visible arts organization, but there are many other art museums, galleries, community arts programs, arts non-profits, and artists organizations. Every member of this art world makes a difference, but finding that difference can be very difficult. Attempts to locate it quantitatively seem futile and expensive to me (though I welcome ideas and opinions on this). Our plan to conduct a series of interviews with art world leaders over the next several years, to see what they say about the role that Temple and of the Jack Wolgin Prize play in this large art world. We'll be looking to see what they say in general, and to see if that changes over the years as the prize continues from year to year.

Measuring Impacts on the Artists: Money follows money. When you win one prize, others follow. The bigger the prize, the greater the long-term benefits. Recognizing that, we'll be tracking the careers of the artists (all 3 finalists, not just the winner, though we will compare finalists and winners) to see what their future holds. We have three measures here. First, we are examining all available reviews and criticism of their work prior to winning the prize. We will compare these to reviews of their work in the exhibit, and then to new reviews of their work in the years to come--giving us a comparison of before, during, and after the prize. We'll examine the general tone and key themes of the reviews, and we'll watch for mentions of the prize in future reviews. Second, we'll be interviewing the artists to hear from them what difference they think it makes to be a finalist or a winner of this prize. Third, we are tracking the prize and award history of the artists, to see how this prize sits within a larger career of art prizes, and whether this prize does indeed lead to future prizes.


What may be missing is an assessment of the impacts of the prize on the larger Philadelphia community and on the international arts community. Both of these seem important, but also very difficult to measure.