Summary of findings

SL was the largest programme of its kind that BC had ever undertaken. To have put on and successfully co-ordinated so many events across so many countries is impressive in itself.
In terms of external, quantitative measures – Reach, Return On Investment and Return on Influence – SL did not fully meet expectations. Reach and Return On Investment would have benefited from a clearer statement at the outset from each of the delivery partners regarding how performance against agreed targets would be measured, and from a review of the targets during the course of the project.
In all other respects the programme was a success with CVM scores at or above expectations.
Over 1,000 UK government, education, civil society, arts or cultural organisations have been involved in supporting and delivering SL activity and cultural and educational partners said that SL had helped them develop new connections, networks or contacts.
Delivery teams were very happy with the quality of the materials created.
Co-ordination and communication between the central team and the regions started weak but improved considerably once there was a full-time member of staff in place.
Planning for the programme should have started earlier. The programme was not well enough established by the time of the key date of Shakespeare’s birthday.
Amongst audiences and users, feedback from events and analysis of social media content indicated that SL met expectations for the quality, creativity and educational/informative value of the content, and scored high for strengthening connections or promoting mutual understanding between citizens in the UK and abroad.