Creating an SROI analysis framework for Performing Arts Institutions’ societal Initiatives

This thesis concerns measuring the Social Return on Investment (SROI) of the Luxor Institute, comprised of New Luxor Theatre and Old Luxor Theater. In recent years, the impact of the CCIs rather than a purely quantitative performance metric such as ticket sales has been to the researchers' eye (Vermeulen, 2021; Maas & Vermeulen, 2021; Vigano & Lombardo, 2019 to name a few). Moreover, while the Theory of Change has been a helpful model in assessing inputs and outputs, it often needs more gravitas of a monetary figure- an essential variable in policy creation and fundraising. Using an evaluative SROI framework and methodology, a selected number of Luxor Theaters' social initiatives obtained a monetary value in their bottom line, clarifying their benefits for advocacy purposes and providing a stronger case for their continuous existence. Through qualitative focus group research, numerical values from the organization's documents, and national statistics, a final SROI ratio of 3,41:1 emerged for Luxor Institute's societal initiatives. This means that, for every 1€ invested, the Luxor Institute creates 3,41€ worth of social, cultural, and professional impact. The final aim of this thesis is to further the SROI bibliography and discussion, which is surprisingly sparse in the CCIs (Corvo et al., 2022). It is also the first SROI performed on a performing arts organization, furthering the literature on this particular methodology. Finally, its purpose is to aid the Luxor Institute by providing a bird's eye view of its impact causality chain and provide both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the impact it has on the program participants in particular and the south of Rotterdam in general.