• Home
  • About
    • Engaging Matters
    • Doug Borwick
    • Backstory-Ground Rules
    • Contact
  • Resources
    • Building Communities, Not Audiences
    • Engage Now! A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable
  • EM’s List
  • AJBlogs
  • ArtsJournal

Engaging Matters

Doug Borwick on vibrant arts and communities

Committing to Engagement

March 23, 2016 by Doug Borwick

MosesStoneTabletsIn Engage Now! I discuss the importance of making a public commitment to engagement. When new communities meet representatives of arts organizations they often assume the intent of the latter is to get them to buy tickets or make donations. That’s many people’s experience with the arts. Successful community engagement needs to be based on mutual benefit. An official statement of the organization’s reasons for engaging and a dedication to mutuality can be a starting point for building trust.

In recent months I’ve been asked several times for examples of such statements and, while there are some out there, I’ve decided it might be a good idea to share a template I’ve been working on.

XYZ Arts Organization’s Commitment to Our Communities

XYZ Arts, in living out its mission commitment to “[portion of mission statement that supports community engagement],” sees itself as a resource for improving lives in and strengthening the civic fabric of [city/geographic region]. [Art form we support] is, of course, valuable in and of itself; yet we also recognize its power as a tool for human betterment. Insofar as our resources permit, we seek to develop mutually beneficial relationships with individuals and organizations to help us further the public good. We will approach these relationships as learners, understanding that our expertise lies in [art form we support] and that our partners are the authorities in their fields of interest. Out of these relationships we will develop experiences in which [art form we support] supports community goals. We aspire to be a contributor to all things of importance to [city/geographic region] and to be recognized as a reliable and flexible collaborator on projects that make [city/geographic region] a better place to live.

Board of Directors
XYZ Arts
Date

It would, of course, be silly to copy this verbatim, simply filling in the appropriate words and phrases between the brackets. However, a statement coming from the governing body committing to the things included here would demonstrate a seriousness of purpose that could be significant in building trust with new communities.

And, this is a work in progress. I’m not only open but anxious to get feedback on improvements to this as a basis for future statements from arts organizations.

Engage!

Doug

Photo:AttributionNoncommercial Some rights reserved by arbyreed

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Related

Filed Under: The Practice of Engagement Tagged With: arts, community engagement, relationships

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 …]

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,552 other subscribers

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

Community Engagement: Why and How

Building Communities, Not Audiences: The Future of the Arts in the United States Engage Now! A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable[Purchase info below] I have to be honest, I haven’t finished it yet because I’m constantly having to digest the ‘YES’ and ‘AMEN’ moments I get from each … [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) […]

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Archives

Recent Comments

  • Jerry Yoshitomi on Deserving Attention: “Doug: Thank you very much for this. I am assuming that much of the local sports coverage is of high…” Mar 25, 16:28
  • Alan Harrison on Deadly Sin: II: ““Yes, but it’s Shakespeare!” is a phrase I heard for years in defending the production of the poetry from several…” Feb 17, 19:38
  • Doug Borwick on Deadly Sin: I: “Excellent question.” Feb 11, 16:08
  • Jerry Yoshitomi on Deadly Sin: I: “When I first came into the field and I met our leadership, it seemed to me that ‘arrogance’ was a…” Feb 10, 15:36
  • Doug Borwick on Cutting Back: “Thanks for the kind words. Hope you are well.” Oct 2, 06:58

Tags

arrogance artcentricity artists arts board of directors business model change community community engagement creativity dance diversity education equity evaluation examples excellence funding fundraising future governance gradualism implementation inclusion instrumental international Intrinsic mainstreaming management marketing mission museums music participation partnership programming public good public policy relationships research Robert E. Gard Foundation simplicity structure terminology theatre
Return to top of page

an ArtsJournal blog

This blog published under a Creative Commons license

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in