Peer pressure

The following strategies were presented and voted on during the final Town Hall meeting of the National Performing Arts Convention. Many strategies were put forward, and we hope they all find champions and serve the field. Those with the majority of votes will emerge in the national strategies and agendas of the host service organizations, and will be encouraged as local and organizational priorities throughout the country. If you have specific examples, ideas, or ''best practices'' that relate to these top strategies, please post them in the comments section of this entry.

The Challenge/Opportunity
The increasing diversity of our communities creates an opportunity to engage a variety of ages, races, identities, and cultures in our audiences and organizations.

What should we do about DIVERSITY on a NATIONAL level?

Charge national service organizations to create dialogue at convenings, create training programs, promote diverse art and artists, and partner with grassroots organizations who are already connected to diverse communities - 43%

Diversify boards, management, and staff in all national arts organizations - 26%

Create a media campaign with artists from diverse communities including celebrities to provide exposure to diverse art - 15%

Raise national funds to support internships, reduced price events, and under-represented artists - 9%

Create national forums, listserves, and websites to support sharing of successful diversity efforts - 7%



What should we do about DIVERSITY on a LOCAL level?

Open an honest dialogue across community groups and sectors to share priorities and identify barriers to participation - 31%

Partner within the arts, as well as with community organizations, to build relationships - 23%

Expand beyond traditional venues to establish new points of access - 17%

Create programming to address the experiences of the diverse elements of the community - 11%

Engage community leaders from outside the arts to serve in arts leadership positions - 7%

Use diverse voices, experiences, and traditions to market arts programming - 7%

Organize a recurring local performing arts convention - 4%


What should we do about DIVERSITY on an ORGANIZATIONAL/INDIVIDUAL level?

Discover arts in your community offered by cultures other than your own and establish peer relationships - 37%

Set long term goal and plan to have staff, board, programming, and audiences reflect the demographics of your community - 32%

Program more diverse artists and content - 15%

Create an internship / entry-level staff program that attracts and recruits diverse staff - 6%

Convene diverse ad hoc steering committees (including youth) for specific projects - 6%

Produce at least one large-scale, publicly accessible event per year - 5%

THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE DISCUSSION. What do you think? Do you see strategies that are missing from these lists? What has and has not worked for your organization in the past? Do we need more specific action plans to really change things? Click here to share you ideas and experiences from NPAC and beyond.