How we talk about our relationships with audiences really matters. The degrees of engagement are different. [READ MORE] … [Read more...]

The arts industry is event-oriented, if not event-obsessed. Our principal contribution to public life is in the presentation of events. On the very deepest level we are “do-ers.” There is an inbred impatience with anything that delays doing. This is why, when discussing the process of building relationships with communities, a common question is how to “exit” the relationship … [Read more...]

When new communities meet representatives of arts organizations they often assume the intent of the latter is to get them to buy tickets or make donations. That's many people's experience with the arts. Successful community engagement needs to be based on mutual benefit. [READ THE STORY HERE] … [Read more...]

I have seen too many references to ‘intrinsic benefits’ and ‘intrinsic impact’ not to be aware of at least one wrong turn we have taken. The distinction we use this term for in the arts is, in this instance, the difference between things that are good for us personally and wider social benefits. We take ‘intrinsic impact’ to refer to our own individual benefits, and … [Read more...]

If the community is to be reflected in the theatre, and the community is in fact diverse, why not simply engage in an organic relationship [an on-going, permanent one] with the community and let the diversity in the audience be a result of that engagement? [READ MORE] … [Read more...]