A community engagement mindset can yield immediate results if the selected "community" is people not too unlike current patrons. You can reach thirty-year-old accountants by crafting marketing materials that are focused on them rather than on the organization. That should be a simple and effective switch as Aubrey Bergauer demonstrated at the California Symphony has demonstrated. (Although experience shows that arts organizations have a tough … [Read more...]
Beware Arrogance
As a teenager I was a huge (huge) fan of Peter, Paul, and Mary. Their folk music roots, musicianship, social consciousness, and wry humor blew me away. They had a number of breakout hits (slightly unusual in the late 1960s for what was essentially a folk music group). And one of these was a song I (and I guess many others) heard as funny: Peter,Paul & Mary I Dig Rock & Roll Music (1968). I had not thought about it much since then but … [Read more...]
New Year’s Manifesto
The New Year seems to be a good time to try to set down some of my basic thoughts about the need for and the path to effective community engagement. As often happens on this blog, this is a very rough first draft. Refinements will follow. Whereas The environment that nurtured the development of the nonprofit arts industry has changed radically. The sum of these changes create an existential threat to the future of that … [Read more...]
Fare Well
With the arrival of the New Year it is time for ArtsEngaged to bid goodbye (most regretfully) to Achia Floyd. For two years, she has been responsible for marketing at AE. Among many other things she brought our website into the 21st Century, created and maintained our Facebook and Twitter presence, and formed the Community Engagement Network. Achia has taken an exciting job (Development Manager) with the Atlanta Music Project. (To be honest, … [Read more...]
DEI Statements
Recently (Doomed to Fail), I wrote about the essential increase in conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion. I discussed the important role that commitment to community engagement can play in providing a foundation for an arts organization's work. More importantly, a succinct statement and commitment to equity and inclusion is essential for at least two reasons. Internally, it provides a common understanding for all stakeholders … [Read more...]
From the Ground Up
Periodically, I have the pleasure of writing about the work of my friend, choreographer Allison Orr, and her company, Forklift Danceworks. (Most notably in The Trash Project.) For the purposes of this blog, she is highly . . . bloggable. Ms. Orr has built a career on seeing "ordinary" people and creating dance inspired and performed (!) by them–gondoliers, Japanese women professional baseball players, power company workers, urban foresters, … [Read more...]
Public Art in Erie
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of assisting Erie (PA) Arts and Culture with their strategic planning process. I worked closely with their board and their executive director, Patrick Fisher and was impressed by their collective commitment to meaningful community engagement. My work there came in the middle of a long-term project of commissioning murals for the city. In October one was completed that impressed me so much I had to share it … [Read more...]
Doomed to Fail
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are–rightly and way too belatedly–important topics in the nonprofit arts world right now. I heartily applaud the focus. However . . . I worry about the way the topics are being approached. If an arts organization attempts to incorporate DEI awareness and efforts without a deep, mission-level commitment to being of the community; to forming mutually beneficial, lasting relationships with new communities; to … [Read more...]
Mission Creep??!!
A colleague recently shared that when they advocate for community engagement in their organization they get pushback about "mission creep." Mission creep??!! If connecting the arts with communities is not an arts organization's mission, what is it?! I know, I know. There is an assumption (conscious or otherwise) on some people's part that arts organizations owe their allegiance to the art they present. I will spare long-time readers (and … [Read more...]
Donor Myopia
In Grass Is Greener? I recounted discoveries about arts organizations with adequate or more-than-adequate government funding. They face problems that might surprise those of us working in the arts in the U.S. And more to the point of this post, my colleagues in South America and Australia were envious of the ability we have to tap private money–individuals, corporations, and foundations. In that earlier post I promised a consideration of the … [Read more...]