For over forty years, Winston-Salem, NC has been my hometown. Thanks to generous support in the 20th Century from family members of the Reynolds Tobacco and Hanes Textiles owners our arts institutions have a long history. Home to "the nation's first arts council" (though that is an arguable point) the city has fashioned itself as the "City of the Arts." More recently, as the result of considerable activity in biotechnology, it has branded itself … [Read more...]
Saving Virtue
In my two previous posts (Deadly Sin: I and Deadly Sin: II) I highlighted the toxicity of arrogance and its devastating impact on the future of the nonprofit arts industry. I promised an antidote and that's why this post focuses on humility. Why humility? Remember that to be/become sustainable we need to form relationships with many, many new people. While we may not have much experience in relationship building with groups, we all know that … [Read more...]
We Wish (A Lot of Things)
As is fairly common for me, I've been thinking recently about Stephen Sondheim lyrics. The Prologue to Into the Woods contains long lists of wishes. Here's just one list from Jack (and the Beanstalk)'s mother: I wish my son were not a fool.I wish my house was not a mess.I wish the cow was full of milk.I wish the house was full of gold-I wish a lot of things... There are so many things for which we wish. We wish: Everyone (or at least … [Read more...]
Assume . . . ?
We take care of our three year old grandson on Thursdays. Being "that kind" of grandparents we tend to buy things we think he might like. Our most recent purchase was a streetscape rug (see photo) where he can play with his prodigious quantity of cars and, especially, trucks. We had just gotten it out of the box the last time he came to our house. He thoroughly enjoyed it. And when it was time to go we told him we would lay it out flat on the … [Read more...]
Shoes
I was recently involved in a conversation in which the topic of shoes came up. (Yes, shoes.) Someone said they had read an article that the first thing people notice about someone else was their shoes. Shoes. Really? To be honest, I don't remember ever noticing someone's shoes, unless it was a clown with giant floppy ones. Years ago I had a friend who had said that was true of them but I sort of wrote that off as an odd idiosyncrasy. But … [Read more...]
Air Fryers: II
Last time (Air Fryers: I) I discussed the difficulty (and time-consuming nature) of "selling" things (whether air fryers or the arts) to people who did not understand the need for them or appreciate their value. This time I'd like to address a related but potentially uncomfortable topic. How much more difficult is it to sell things when the consumer's view of the maker/seller of the product is negative? There are people who, because of their … [Read more...]
Air Fryers: I
Bear with me. I'll explain this. :-) There are some things that we don't need to learn more about to know that we need. Refrigerators, for instance. When we need one, we know it and don't have to be convinced of the fact. Other things are either new or unfamiliar and it takes some explanation and experience to see why we would want them. As but one example . . . the air fryer. Several years ago my children were raving about them. I … [Read more...]
Do We Want Them?
This is by far the longest period that Engaging Matters has been "dark" since its beginnings over ten years ago. And as time has passed the negative inertia has gotten overwhelming. As a result, in attempting to resume my writing I've been thinking I should find a way to ease back in. Fortunately, Seema Rau at Museum 2.0 recently wrote a post (Do We Really Want People to Visit?) that makes it possible for me to venture back largely by … [Read more...]
Marketing and Engagement
It has been some time since I have had the courage to discuss marketing here. When I first did so many years ago I quickly learned that my view was hopelessly colored by the unfortunate marketing habits of many arts organizations–self focus, ignorance (sometimes willful) of the interests of the people they were trying to reach, and an elitist use of "inside baseball" language in promotional materials. I think I've learned a lot since then about … [Read more...]
Employee Engagement as a Strategy for Community Engagement
Guest Postby Kathleen Riemenschneider For more than two decades I have managed and developed education and community engagement programs, but while earning my doctorate in leadership studies I learned about ‘employee engagement.’ I began to wonder if there was a relationship between community engagement and employee engagement. There are similarities: both are about increasing involvement in the decision-making process or at least giving a … [Read more...]