Some time ago I happened to catch a segment on the PBS News Hour featuring the Harvard educated DJ Jace Clayton (who goes by the name DJ/rupture). He works by collecting music of all kinds from all over the world and creating fusions of many styles. He seeks out interesting and unusual music in villages, street corners, and back alleys. Any music is worthy of consideration. Dancing is, of course, an ultimate goal. By itself I found this … [Read more...]
Universality/Particularity
In keeping with the spirit of my just-concluded series on privilege I wanted to direct readers to a very good blog post by fellow ArtsJournal writer Alexander Laing. His Dear White Orchestras helps put some of the issues I addressed in a context specific to an arts form, in this case symphony orchestras. His introduction of the contrast between universality and particularity is especially important for those of us in the world of legacy arts … [Read more...]
Privilege/Encumbrance: Part III
This post is the last of a three-part series that is not strictly about community engagement. However, to engage with communities with which one is not familiar it is essential to understand the dynamics of privilege. This is especially true when the “engager” is as directly viewed as a representative of wealth and power as is the nonprofit arts establishment. (You may find the complete essay here: Privilege/Encumbrance.) Last week's post … [Read more...]
Privilege/Encumbrance: Part II
This post is the second of a three-part series that is not strictly about community engagement. However, to engage with communities with which one is not familiar it is essential to understand the dynamics of privilege. This is especially true when the “engager” is as directly viewed as a representative of wealth and power as is the nonprofit arts establishment. (When the series is completed, I will post the entire essay on my website.) Last … [Read more...]
Privilege/Encumbrance: Part I
This post is the beginning of a three-part series that is not strictly about community engagement. (When it is completed, I will post the entire essay on my website.) However, to engage with communities with which one is not familiar it is essential to understand the dynamics of privilege. This is especially true when the “engager” is as directly viewed as a representative of wealth and power as is the nonprofit arts … [Read more...]
Should We Bother?
My post reflecting on the presidential election, Blindsided, drew a thoughtful comment that seems to me to be worthy of a fuller response than a simple “Reply.” Here is a link to the comments section. The gist of the comment was that there is little merit in engaging with people who will not leave their homes for what we have to offer. I certainly understand the sentiment and it is worth considering. However, there are a couple of rather serious … [Read more...]
Your organization sucks at ‘community’ and let me tell you why
by Ronia Holmes, Assistant Director of Communications for Arts + Public Life at the University of Chicago This post is part of a series in conjunction with TRG Arts on developing relationships with both new communities and existing stakeholders through artistic programming, marketing and fundraising, community engagement and public policy. (Cross-post can be found at Analysis from TRG Arts.) Your organization sucks at ‘community’ and let me tell … [Read more...]
Blindsided
It's been a week since the election. I have spent the time (metaphorically) in the fetal position under the covers. I regret that I've not had the psychological energy to weigh in before; I'm now viscerally aware that with age comes a marked reduction in resilience. (Who knew?) I will confess that one of my first impulses was to throw in the towel on my work attempting to better connect arts organizations with their communities. Even then, … [Read more...]
Fifth Anniversary Highlights: Considering Whiteness
During the month of August, Engaging Matters is republishing some of the most widely read articles from the five years this blog has been in existence. One of the most pressing issues facing the future of the nonprofit arts industry is the role of race and culture in our work. Guest posts by Roberto Bedoya (Considering Whiteness, copied below, and The White Racial Frame) are important and have been widely read. My own response to his challenge … [Read more...]
Cultural Equity
On May 23 Americans for the Arts released its new Statement on Cultural Equity. Before going any further, let me acknowledge that I'm a white guy of a certain age and have no expertise to comment on it. Nevertheless, I'm vitally interested in this. My interest is based on 1) a deep personal conviction about the issue and 2) an awareness that without embracing substantive steps toward equity and making real changes as a result the nonprofit arts … [Read more...]