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Engaging Matters

Doug Borwick on vibrant arts and communities

Parsing Vocabulary

May 4, 2013 by Doug Borwick

DictionaryIn Engagement Vocabulary I introduced work-in-progress definitions of audience development, audience engagement, and community engagement.

[To repeat:

  • Audience Development is a marketing strategy designed for immediate results (sales, donations, etc.).
  • Audience Engagement is a marketing strategy designed for deepening relationships with current stakeholders and expanding reach over time.
  • Community Engagement is a mission strategy designed to create and maintain relationships with individuals and communities. The desired end results are deepened relationships and expanded reach for the arts organization and healthier, more vibrant communities.]

But definitions are abstract things. It’s a good idea to flesh them out in order to make them meaningful. Here is a chart of questions to ask of projects or programs that may be helpful in differentiating among them.

Audience Development

Audience Engagement

Community Engagement

When was the community considered?

Before programming selections were made

X

As programming decisions were made

Maybe

X

After programming decisions were made

X

X

Does a relationship exist with the community or subset?

 

 

 

Not really

X

Maybe

Yes, related to the event

X

Yes, separate from the event

X

Did the community have input into the event’s content?

No

Probably not

Yes

What was the nature of the community input into the event?

Conceptual

Probably not

Yes

Participants: Implementers, Co-creators, Creators

Maybe

Maybe

Has the relationship been maintained after the event?

No

Probably not

Yes

I’ll reiterate that all of this is still “work in progress.” However, the basic questions:

  • When was the community considered?
  • Does a relationship already exist with the community?
  • Did the community have input into content?
  • What was the nature of the community input into the event?
  • And particularly, has the relationship been maintained after the event?

all lead us to better understand the role (and timing) of relationships with the community in defining the terms. The third question is of considerable importance. If the selection of work presented does not come from relationship-based awareness of community interests or needs or from direct community input, there is really no community engagement involved. But it’s important to understand that the previous sentence is an “or” statement. Community engagement does not need to mean that the community picks the work. If the arts organization understand the community well enough to know the community’s interests (NOTE: This is a difficult thing.), then selections made that address those interests are a demonstration of community engagement.

And the last question is an important one. The world of the arts is by its nature event focused. We finish one and we want to move on to the next. However, community engagement demands relationship maintenance. Think how it would feel if you were invited to and participated in a major party by a new friend and that new friend then went on to hold many more parties and never talked to you again. That’s the experience of some communities who have been exposed to “hit and run” relationships with arts organizations.

Next time. I’ll try to explain this using a specific work to illustrate the three approaches.

Engage!

Doug

Photo:Attribution Some rights reserved by greeblie

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Related

Filed Under: Principles Tagged With: arts, community engagement, terminology

Trackbacks

  1. The Selective Echo » Utah Arts Festival nurtures art fans, roots of community engagement year-round says:
    June 6, 2013 at 7:19 pm

    […] a long-time arts administrator who curates the Arts Journal blog Engaging Matters, recently wrote, ‘Think how it would feel if you were invited to and participated in a major party by a new […]

About Doug Borwick

Doug Borwick is a past President of the Board of the Association of Arts Administration Educators and was for nearly 30 years Director of the Arts Management and Not-for-Profit Management Programs at Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC. He is CEO of Outfitters4, Inc., providing management services to nonprofit organizations and ArtsEngaged providing training and consultation to artists and arts organization to help them more effectively engage with their communities. [Read More …]

About Engaging Matters

The arts began as collective activity around the campfire, expressions of community. In a very real sense, the community owned that expression. Over time, with increasing specialization of labor, the arts– especially Western “high arts”– became … [Read More...]

Books

Books

Building Communities, Not Audiences: The Future of the Arts in the United States was published in 2012 as a “why to” book on community engagement. Engage Now! A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable is a “how to” manual for the arts organization seeking to become invaluable. Doug is … [Read More...]

Gard Foundation Calls for Stories

The Robert E. Gard Foundation is dedicated to fostering healthy communities through arts-based development, it is currently seeking stories from communities in which the arts have improved the lives of citizens in remarkable ways. These stories can either be full descriptions (400-900 words) with photos, video, and web links or mini stories (ca. 200 words) […]

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Archives

Recent Comments

  • Ned Canty on First You Talk: “Thanks, Doug. We will.” Dec 14, 10:36
  • Doug Borwick on First You Talk: “Thanks for giving this more context. Congratulations on a good start. Keep us posted on how this goes!” Dec 14, 08:12
  • Ned Canty on First You Talk: “Hi Doug, Ned Canty here. I'm the General Director of Opera Memphis. I can assure…” Dec 13, 17:20
  • Richard Kooyman on Excellence and Engagement: III: “Doug, What am I doing to foster the connection between the general public and the world of the arts you…” Oct 27, 16:28
  • Doug Borwick on Excellence and Engagement: III: “I should know better than to take the bait, but: • You’re right. There’s a lot of really bad stuff that…” Oct 27, 09:39

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