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...]
Deadly Sin: II
Last time (Deadly Sin: I) I wrote about arrogance with respect to the work we present, the art of European Aristocratic Culture. This time I'd like to focus on arrogance in our beliefs (conscious or unconscious) about the people we need to reach to become/remain viable. The following is an inelegant statement of such a belief: Appreciation of Art of the European Aristocratic Cultural Tradition requires education, intelligence, and … [Read more...]
Deadly Sin: I
I have written about arrogance before, but in my last post (Cutting Back) I promised to keep my hand in when it seemed important. The topic of arrogance in our industry bears further consideration. As I said in Beware Arrogance, Arrogance, even unconscious arrogance, is a self-inflicted wound that can stop community engagement–the development of relationships with new communities–efforts in their tracks. So, if it is essential to substantially … [Read more...]
Cutting Back
Greetings. Very long time, no post. And I'm going to address that. Ten years ago I began focusing full time on issues related to the arts and community engagement. My work has involved authoring two books–Building Communities, Not Audiences: The Future of the Arts in the U.S. and Engage Now! A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable–and authoring/editing this blog, Engaging Matters. Through my company, ArtsEngaged, I have provided advocacy, … [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...]
Assessing Engagement
I have spent most of the last twelve years advocating for a robust understanding of the nature and value of effective community engagement for arts organizations. While much (much) work remains to be done, there does seem to be greater acceptance of the need for substantive relationship building on the part of arts organizations. AssessmentAssessment is another matter. There remains a lack of common understanding of community engagement. That … [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...]