I always proceed with fear and trembling when I venture into the topic of marketing. As I have said in the past, I am not a marketer. Nevertheless, there continue to be numerous valuable lessons from marketing that should support our work in and understanding of community engagement. Stick with me. This will get a tad "wonky." "Reach" and "frequency" are marketing terms that have much application to the discussion of various types of … [Read more...]
Lots of Coffee
Recently, in a conversation about beginning relationships with new communities, one of our new ArtsEngaged trainers, Anne Cushing-Reid, commented that, especially where there is negative history to be overcome, "There's a lot of coffee in our future." I flashed back to the thousands of cups of coffee I've consumed in the process of getting to know people. "Coffee" is, of course, a place holder for whatever means of social interaction is employed … [Read more...]
Announcing
It's official. As predicted in Changes, ArtsEngaged has a new and, to my eyes, snazzy website. The snazziness is entirely due to the efforts of our Marketing and Sales specialist, Achia Floyd. Many, many thanks Achia! While new is always (well, often) fun, what is most important to me about this website upgrade is the opportunity to share many more resources with the community engagement field. The Engagement Essentials page is packed with … [Read more...]
Engagement as Pure Research
Community engagement sometimes begins as an attempt to accomplish a specific task–mount a festival, put on what is considered to be a performance relevant to community interests (note the construction of that phrase!), or, ahem, satisfy the requirements of a grant. By now, readers of Engaging Matters understand that any attempt to employ community engagement to achieve an organizationally-envisioned end result is, as I have heard described, bass … [Read more...]
Two-Phase Engagement
Community engagement practitioners are frequently asked to justify their work using traditional arts marketing/development metrics: ticket sales and donations. Don't get ahead of me. This is not a touchy-feely objection to practical outcomes. Ticket sales and donations as well as grants from "unusual suspects" and friendlier public policy for the arts are all results of effective community engagement . . . eventually. However, when anyone in any … [Read more...]
Changes
This month I reach what the Social Security system thinks is my "full retirement" age. Knowing this was coming, I have been reflecting on the future of both Engaging Matters and of my business, ArtsEngaged. In August of this year Engaging Matters will be seven years old. For the first two years I posted twice a week. When that nearly killed me, I cut back to once a week, give or take time off for holidays. I continue to enjoy thinking and … [Read more...]
From the Q & A
In March I participated in the Intersections Summit hosted by Milwaukee Repertory Theater. It was a gathering of community engagement practitioners from theaters (mostly) across the U.S. Prompted by the event, I have previously commented on the meanings of the word engagement (The Problem of “Engagement”) and concern for justice and equity in engagement work (Justice and Engagement). This time, a couple of comments from a question and answer … [Read more...]
Justice and Engagement
In March I participated in the Intersections Summit hosted by Milwaukee Repertory Theater. It was a gathering of community engagement practitioners from theaters (mostly) across the U.S. As frequently happens, the conference sparked a number of thoughts. Last week I began by reflecting on the meanings of the word engagement. (The Problem of “Engagement”) In the opening keynote Carmen Morgan, a gifted diversity/equity/inclusion speaker and … [Read more...]
The Problem of “Engagement”
In March I had the privilege of participating in the Intersections Summit hosted by Milwaukee Repertory Theater. It was a heady gathering of community engagement practitioners from theaters (mostly) across the U.S. As frequently happens, the conference sparked a number of thoughts. One has to do with the essence of the convening, the word "engagement." Engagement is a problematic word; the way it gets used frequently prevents people from … [Read more...]
Systemic Privilege Revisited
In Systemically Privileged, I floated an idea. I discussed the difficulty I've had over the years in describing the kind of nonprofit arts organization most in need of developing authentic community connections. My suggestion to myself went as follows: Recently I have begun to experiment with a new label. The issue here is the historic preference given to presenters of a particular cultural tradition in the context of a rapidly diversifying … [Read more...]