As part of Engaging Matters' 10th Anniversary, we are highlighting important and/or popular posts from the past. In reviewing such posts it became clear that many were grouped thematically. As a result, this Anniversary series will, for the most part, present the theme with links to relevant posts rather than simply re-posting individual items. One of the most significant observations in this blog has been the differentiation among audience … [Read more...]
Terminology
As part of Engaging Matters' 10th Anniversary, we are highlighting important and/or popular posts from the past. In reviewing such posts it became clear that many were grouped thematically. As a result, this Anniversary series will, for the most part, present the theme with links to relevant posts rather than simply re-posting individual items. "Community engagement" has the power not only to enhance viability but also to aid nonprofit arts … [Read more...]
Ten Years
This week marks the tenth anniversary of Engaging Matters. That's hard for me to believe. In that time this blog has had a little over 500 posts, mostly written by yours truly but also spiced up with work from some brilliant guests. When we began there was a frantic (for me) pace of two posts per week. After a few years writing that much "ate my lunch" so I cut back to one per week. Over the last two years the writing has become gradually more . … [Read more...]
Engagement Readiness Quiz
The verdict in the George Floyd murder trial provides your arts organization with an opportunity to take a very simple quiz to determine its readiness for engaging with communities. Here are three questions: Did your organization immediately think "In what ways can we help the people of our community deal with this?" Awareness of community issues is one of the most basic elements of community engagement. (Of course, it's a little difficult … [Read more...]
The Pursuit of Equity
Last week Selena Anguiano (Benchmarking? Maybe Not) cautioned us about attempting to develop benchmarks for progress toward equity. She was responding to the announcement of the Community Engagement Network's next Conversation, Benchmarking Equity. In her post I see her identify two primary problems with benchmarking. First, there is no one size fits all approach that's workable (no two organizations are even remotely alike) and, … [Read more...]
Reimagine Yourself
I had already clicked Save on Build Back Better when I saw the NY Times article about GM's plan to sell only zero-emission cars by 2035. Wow. Just wow! A world leader for decades in the production of vehicles with internal combustion engines has decided its business is personal transportation and is not specifically tied to those engines. This is exactly like the reimagining that libraries have been/are doing transitioning from a self-image of … [Read more...]
Build Back Better
One day –whether it's six months, a year, or two years from now– arts organizations will have emerged from their bunkers to once again make in-person arts experiences indoors. The trauma that we as individuals and as an industry have experienced between last March and then will be the backdrop for whatever that reality looks like. Many are making big picture suggestions: a 21st-Century WPA program, a cabinet-level department devoted to … [Read more...]
Matter
We have been considering the prospects for making the most of our organizations' post-pandemic potential. (Getting the Question(s) Right and Connect.) The thread that binds these posts together is this quote from Getting the Question(s) Right: So our questions should be, first, "What are our communities feeling/ experiencing?" and second, "How can we help them?" Once we have our questions right, we will need to position ourselves to be of … [Read more...]
Connect
The viability of our industry depends upon significantly expanding our base. To do so, we must connect with and come to matter to more and more people. This post is a follow up to an earlier one, Getting the Question(s) Right. It would probably be a good idea to read that if you've not done so. Here is an excerpt from the close of that post: So our questions should be, first, "What are our communities feeling/ experiencing?" and second, … [Read more...]
Getting the Question(s) Right
As a blogger, I think I'm supposed to begin the New Year with reflections and projections. But the traumas of 2020 are still too fresh for me and the way forward, while bringing hope, is far murkier than it has been at the beginning of almost any year of my life. So I won't try to do either. What I will do is suggest that at least one question I've seen raised about the nonprofit arts industry in 2021 is the wrong one. Roughly put, it is "How … [Read more...]