The power of hyperlocal storytelling – an evaluation case study of You Are Here

You Are Here is a podcast series produced by Levenshulme Old Library which shows that world class storytelling doesn’t need grand stages or metropolitan settings – it can thrive right where we are. The project is not only about finding art in your neighbourhood, it’s also about finding art about  your neighbourhood.  

You Are Here features five specially commissioned short stories by Manchester-based fiction writers, each set in and inspired by one of Levenshulme’s parks and green spaces.  

Visitors to these parks were met with signs inviting them to scan a QR code and listen to the stories. The series – which includes accompanying soundscapes and ‘A Portrait of the Park’ episodes relating to each park – marked a new departure for Levenshulme Old Library, as a celebration of hyperlocal storytelling. You Are Here received over 800 downloads in the first two months of release. 

Working with Richard Hirst, General Manager at Levenshulme Old Library (LOL), we used The Space’s evaluation framework to define a set of intended outcomes for audiences, creators and the wider world. 

As a community arts and culture organisation, LOL has three key aims: engaging local residents with their neighbourhood; creating high-quality artistic activities in the local area; and providing meaningful professional opportunities for creatives in Levenshulme and beyond. The intended outcomes for You Are Here were directly aligned with these. 

Intended outcomes 

Before embarking on the project, the Levenshulme Old Library team discussed the impact they hoped it would have on the community audience they were making this for. They wanted to know: 

1. Does the project generate a sense of pride in/ownership of your local area?    
2. Do people enjoy it? 
3. Will people who might not otherwise engage with the arts do so via this project? 

These questions became the following intended outcomes for audiences: 

1. To generate a sense of pride in/ownership of their local area  
2. To create enjoyment  
3. To engage people who might not otherwise engage with the arts  

Evaluation methods 

Audience questionnaire 

We mapped these intended outcomes to dimensions statements on the Culture Counts platform and created a short survey for listeners.  Levenshulme Old Library promoted the survey on social media and in their newsletter. To encourage people to complete the survey, the LOL team incentivised it by running a competition to enter a draw made up of prizes from local businesses. 

The survey asked people how much they agreed with particular statements, such as ‘It changed my understanding of the local area for the better’. LOL also used this as an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing campaign, by asking people where they heard about the podcast, and whether they had previously engaged with the venue. 

The challenge of online surveys 

The questionnaires gained 25 responses over a three week period. This small sample size reflects the challenge of generating survey responses from people online. This was further complicated by an oversight in the survey design – initially, we didn’t provide a clear contact field for people to enter the prize draw, and in order to do this we had to get data sharing agreement in place between The Space and Levenshulme Old Library which delayed promotion of the survey. (This serves as an important reminder to always user-test before launching!) 

Local impact 

The feedback from the survey indicates that Levenshulme Old Library achieved their first two intended outcomes. 

Outcome 1: To generate a sense of pride in/ownership of their local area  

• 82% either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘It strengthened my connection to the local area’  

• 89% either agreed or strongly agreed ‘it’s important that it’s happening here’ 

• 89% said it changed their understanding of the local area for the better  

Outcome 2: To create enjoyment  

• 84% agreed or strongly agreed ‘it was absorbing and held my attention’ 

Engaging new audiences

It also suggests they made some positive steps with the third outcome. 

Outcome 3: To engage people who might not otherwise engage with the arts 

• When asked ‘How often do you attend or participate in arts and culture experiences?’, two people responded, ‘This is my first time’  

Other feedback 

People were also given an opportunity to share open feedback. Here is a sample of responses: 

“A very inventive project. I really appreciate the creativity on my doorstep, and the chance to look at my local area in a new light.”

“Loved all the stories, and was very grateful that it happened.”

“I love the project, i like seeing it advertised in public places and think it is great to see art and creativity by local people about local places being shown!”

“This was a great initiative and I am looking forward to Levenshulme Old Library hopefully being involved in more similar projects in the future”

“It was a fascinating experience, stimulating both imagination and intellectual knowledge, alongside local history. I enjoyed this fusion and am sure next time it will grow & evolve into something different!”

“Really liked finding this in Nutsford Vale”

“More please, glad it’s happening. Was perhaps not the most diverse bunch of writers however”

“Was all interesting – I liked some more than others but was good to hear a variety of styles.
The selection of authors was perhaps not hugely diverse given the demographics of Levenshulme.”

The last two comments, calling for greater diversity of writers, provide actionable feedback that LOL will take into future projects. When people take the time to give constructive feedback like this, it indicates that they are invested in the outcome. 

Anecdotally, the LOL team found that there were many local residents for whom the ‘Portrait of the Park’ episodes were the most interesting and accessible elements of the project. Those who are interested in local heritage responded to encountering stories about familiar places. 

“We heard informally from people who enjoyed walking through a park, spotting a QR code, and being taken directly to something which tells them straightforwardly about the place they were standing in. This approach went on to inform our supplementary project Secret Lake Stories, which is focused entirely on local voices and their experiences with a local landmark.” – Richard Hirst, Levenshulme Old Library 

Marketing insights 

Recommendations matter 

• Most respondents (58% of those who responded – 11 people) heard about the podcast via social media, followed by 37% (7 people) who saw an outdoor advert. 11% (2 people) found out via email from Levenshulme Old Library and 11% (2 people) from friends or family recommending it 

• The Levenshulme Old Library team also received anecdotal feedback from visitors and members of the community, which reinforced how powerful word of mouth recommendations are for hyperlocal work of this nature

• Five survey respondents hadn’t engaged with Levenshulme Old Library before this (of this five, three people had never heard of the organisation before) 

• Online, Levenshulme Old Library found that the podcast generated the most engaged feedback from posts in local Facebook groups 

The second group our evaluation framework considers is creators – the individuals and organisations involved in the creation of a digital experience. For You Are Here, this includes: 

• Levenshulme Old Library 
• Marie Crook, Dipika Mummery, Valerie O’Riordan, Verity Platt, Hette Phillips – commissioned writers  
• Jason Cooke – sound designer 
• The Space – commissioner and funder of the project 

Thinking about where insights would be most valuable, Richard chose to focus their evaluation on Jason (sound designer), the five writers, and the impact on Levenshulme Old Library as an organisation.  

Intended outcomes 

1. Building new skills for the creative team was Levenshulme Old Library’s top priority here. We measured this in a few different ways: for Jason, we conducted an informal interview about his experience on the project as sound designer, and for the writers, we created a survey (which all five writers responded to).
2. For Levenshulme Old Library, in addition to fostering community engagement (see above), the goal was for You Are Here to spawn new partnerships that help the organisation to deliver work aligned to its aims and values.

The writers 

All of the writers said it was ‘Very beneficial’ to have a writing commission so local to them. 

When asked what made it beneficial to them, everyone selected all options:  

• Working with Levenshulme Old Library
• The creative writing commission being directly tied to where I live
• Creating work directly for my local community
• The audio story format
• The fee
• The mentoring (where applicable)

When asked, ‘Are there any changes you would suggest we make in future, with similar projects?’ some useful suggestions came through relating to the timing and structure of the project: 

“The posters went up a few days/ a week before the content went live, when ideally the links should be in place before the QR code is shared. I feel that people will click out of curiosity the first time they see the poster/ QR code and if they don’t find what they’re looking for, they may not click again” 

“Maybe more opportunities to meet with the other writers involved in the project and those of last years project, that might help motivation and build a greater sense of community.” 

“I think I would have benefited from a bit more structure and a clearer sense of the stages of the progress.” 

Skills vs experience 

It can be challenging to distinguish ‘new skills’ from new experience gained. We didn’t include a specific question about acquiring new skills in the writers’ survey – though for many of the writers, the audio element did involve new learning, as producing work specifically to be listened to (rather than read) required them to think differently about voice, pacing and delivery, and also how they perform their own work. On reflection, the intended outcome was perhaps more about wanting to create a meaningful professional experience for the writers, which their feedback speaks to. 

Jason Cooke, sound designer 

As Technical Manager at LOL, Jason played a central role in bringing the podcast series to life. He produced all of the recordings, conducted interviews for the Portrait of a Park episodes, and composed the soundscapes for the Field Notes episodes using found sounds from each specific setting. A member of The Space team interviewed Jason for this evaluation case study, to create a dedicated space for reflection and feedback distinct from established working relationships.  

When asked if this project led to Jason learning any new skills, his response was insightful: 

“I wouldn’t say so, but only because I’ve interviewed hundreds of people over the past 17 years, so I’m familiar with that. The thing it gave me – this is not new, but certainly refreshed and inspiring – was working on the soundscapes.  

I’ve always loved how Brian Eno has said that if you’re creative and you impose limitations on yourself, then your creativity finds a way of overcoming those limitations. So to work on the soundscapes and say, I can only use recordings from the parks – and that really was a self-imposed limitation – it’s kind of refreshed and re-energized that specific way of working. And I will be incorporating that into my next musical projects. It forced me to stretch myself a bit more creatively. Ironically enough, about three months ago, I finished reading a book on artists who include field recordings in their work, so I came off the back of that completely inspired to do this. It was a bit of a dream job.”– Jason Cooke, sound designer

So, while this project didn’t lead to Jason learning new skills, it brought other gains as an enriching creative experience.  

New partnerships  

Local  

The project has spawned a number of new local community partnerships for Levenshulme Old Library: 

• Since launching the podcast, LOL has recruited an outreach coordinator who has collaborated with three writers from You Are Here to deliver placed-based creative writing workshops in the parks their stories are set in. This enabled LOL to build on the engagement they had with the cafes and community gardens in each setting, testing a new model of working: hosting offsite events. 

• LOL hosted a sell-out evening event where each of the writers performed their stories in front of an audience, creating a kind of ‘closing ceremony’ for the project 

• Composer and sound designer Emily Zurowski got in touch with the LOL team after seeing one of the signs about You Are Here in a local park. LOL has since commissioned Emily to create a new piece created using field recordings taken from the Secret Lake (an old natural lake in Levenshulme which is hidden behind a rubbish dump) along with some interviews with people who know the space well and use it often. The result is Secret Lake Stories, released in December 2025. 

• A few other local organisations got in touch as a result of the project and may become potential future collaborators.  

National 

LOL recently received funding from the Home Office to produce a podcast series featuring the oral histories of migrants to South Manchester – a project that will leave them with a toolkit for gathering, storing and sharing oral histories going forward. It will go live in Spring 2026. The application relied heavily on the knowledge and experience we acquired via You Are Here.   

The third group in our evaluation framework is ‘the wider world’. This is probably the most challenging area to consider, as outcomes are often longer-term and more challenging to measure. However, it can be a useful thing to consider when it comes to thinking about ‘the ripple effect’ of the work you’re doing, and the impact you’re looking to have beyond the direct experience of the audience and creators. 

The LOL team are keen for You Are Here to inspire similar projects in other local communities. They are keen to share their processes and learnings in creating You Are Here with others, in the hope that other organisations will encounter the project and feel inspired by the potential of having rich, place-based creative projects, that they feel are now more accessible to them as a result. They want to pass on the baton, demystify what’s involved, and make this accessible to others. 

To help achieve this, the team is looking for ways to share the story and learnings of You Are Here with the wider arts and cultural sector.