How Return on Art Works
The field has been relying on outputs for too long. That changes here.
Return on Art is a measurable system that solves the field’s longstanding challenge. It proves the public value of the arts in terms that funders, policymakers, and boards already use. Instead of counting activity, it shows what changes in people because of the arts, using validated human outcomes including belonging, confidence, empathy, creativity, and a growth mindset.
The framework advances the Wallace Foundation Public Value research from theory into practice.
Return on Art embeds data, language, and governance tools that make public value measurable, fundable, and repeatable. It gives leaders a clear way to position the arts as essential civic infrastructure, not extras.
Every engagement with Meleca Creative Advisors begins with this foundation. We align your programs, people, and partnerships around evidence of human impact, strengthening relevance and attracting investment.
The ROA framework gives the field the proof it’s been waiting for.
A cross-sector perspective built this framework, grounding it in the systems funders, policymakers, and boards already trust.
Facilitating a professional development and impact roundtable with emerging arts leaders from Miami University.
Organizations work with me to strengthen their outcomes, align leadership, and move confidently into funding conversations.
These are the rooms where that shift happens.
When I guide emerging leaders or advise funders, councils, and boards, the work is always the same. We build the capacity to demonstrate measurable public value.
Inside the rooms where relevance is built.
Not from the arts —
and that’s the advantage.
After three decades working across journalism, politics, and public policy, I turned my focus to the arts, bringing a systems-level lens the sector had long been missing.
We bridge mission and metrics, translating artistic impact into outcomes that move funders, shape policy, and strengthen relevance.
From Awareness to Accountability:
The Pathway to Measurable Public Value
The Renaissance of Relevance™ Funnel is the pathway organizations follow to shift from attendance-based outputs to measurable public value. Each stage deepens understanding, alignment, accountability, and governance capacity.
It starts by reframing the problem of disregard, defines success through the 5 Outcomes Framework, operationalizes it with the 90-Day Impact Roadmap, institutionalizes it through the Governance Layer, and scales it using the Return on Art Framework.
This is not a consulting sequence. It’s a change model. One that helps boards, funders, and leaders turn artistic mission into measurable civic value. Every organization enters at a different point but moves toward the same goal: making relevance measurable, fundable, and sustainable.
A five-stage pathway that helps organizations move from awareness to measurable public value, transforming how boards, funders, and leaders define and demonstrate impact.
Renaissance of Relevance Funnel
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Awareness
Reframe the problem of disregard.
Learn the language of outcomes and connect artistic value to measurable human impact. -
Alignment
Adopt the 5 Outcomes Framework.
Define success through belonging, empathy, confidence, and creativity, not attendance alone. -
Activation
Implement your 90-Day Impact Roadmap.
Translate understanding into measurable, fundable outcomes. -
Accountability
Establish the Governance Layer.
Equip boards and funders to make outcome-based decisions that align resources with measurable public value. -
Advancement
Scale through the Return on Art Framework.
Strengthen relevance, attract investment, and shape policy.
“Angela gave us language for what we’ve always known: our work changes lives, not just attendance numbers.”