Evaluation and MER capability — Arts & culture

Cobalt59 designs monitoring, evaluation and reporting frameworks and delivers independent evaluation for complex programs. This statement summarises 4 arts & culture projects, the practitioners involved, and the firm's published methodological work.

Demonstration document. Everything shown like thisis invented placeholder content, supplied by nobody and verified with nobody. Insurances, memberships, referees, qualifications and capacity are sample values only, included to show the finished structure. Cobalt59's real details must replace them before this goes near a tender. Project descriptions, publications and practitioner names are genuine.

The firm at a glance

Legal entity: Cobalt59 Pty Ltd
ABN: 53 613 360 348
Structure: Proprietary limited company
Established: 2016
Team size: 6 practitioners
Location: Earlwood NSW

Relevant experience

Arts House - City of Melbourne
Strategy and business planning
Arts House runs multiple venues in the heritage listed building complexes of the North Melbourne Town Hall and Metropolitan Meat Markets. Arts House presents a curated program of contemporary art featuring performances, exhibitions, live art, installations,and cultural events. They program three 440-850 seat plus venues, provide office and rehearsal space for a wide variety of artists, and run a box office and various food venues. Arts House also commissions new works.
Arts & culture
City Recital Hall
Benchmarking & Business Development
The City Recital Hall (Angel Place, Sydney) has a capacity of 1,238 seats and was designed for sound quality. The quality of sound enhances enjoyment by audiences of soloists, chamber musicians, popular musicians and spoken word. While the primary income of the City Recital Hall is providing a venue for concerts, it has important additional income streams through corporate hire, community events, box office and catering.
Arts & culture
National Music Festival Western Sydney
Business case through to production company tender
A new music festival and conference was imagined for Western Sydney (WS).
Arts & culture
Parramasala
Strategic Business Case Development
Parramasala is an arts and cultural festival in Parramatta that aspires to be the first nationally significant arts and cultural festival based in Western Sydney.
Arts & culture

Services applied

Strategic Planning and Cost-Benefit Analysis
Stakeholder Engagement and Co-Design
Program and Policy Evaluation

Practitioners

Brian Keogh — Director | Evaluation & Strategy · MEval, BSc; 20+ years evaluation practice
Dr Kara Scally-Irvine — Evaluation Specialist | Systems & Impact · PhD; 20+ years research, monitoring and evaluation
Rod McInnes — Senior Economist · MEc; 25+ years water and resource economics
Sue Donnelly — Senior Consultant | Arts Leadership, Governance & Social Policy · BSW; 30+ years arts leadership and social policy
Beth Medway — Principal Consultant | Environment · MEnvPlan; 25+ years environmental assessment and planning
Julieanne Campbell — Director | Strategy, Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement · MBA; 25+ years not-for-profit leadership

Insurances

Cover	Insurer	Limit	Expiry
Professional indemnity	Sample Insurance Australia	$10,000,000 any one claim	30 June 2027
Public and products liability	Sample Insurance Australia	$20,000,000 any one occurrence	30 June 2027
Workers compensation	icare NSW	As per NSW statutory requirement	30 June 2027

Certificates of currency available on request.

Memberships and panels

Australian Evaluation Society — organisational member
Australian Water Association — corporate member
NSW Government Performance and Management Services Scheme (SCM0005) — panel supplier

Capacity

Able to mobilise a three-person evaluation team within four weeks, with surge capacity through established associate arrangements.

Referees

Sample Referee One — Director, Evaluation, Sample Government Agency · Available on request
Sample Referee Two — Manager, Water Planning, Sample Water Utility · Available on request

Selected publications

Scally-Irvine, K., Elliott, J., Hawkins, A. and Keogh, B. (2025), AES Systems Special Interest Group, June 2025.
Keogh, B. and Maloney, J. (2025), Australian Evaluation Society International Conference, Canberra, September 2025.
Elliott, J., Hawkins, A., Keogh, B. and Scally-Irvine, K. (2024), AES Systems Special Interest Group, February 2024.
Renger, R., Keogh, B. and Atkinson, L. (2024), online workshop, Australian Evaluation Society.