Tom Borrup discusses asset-based community development and works to connect that way of thinking to the arts and culture world. In a nutshell, an asset-based approach seeks to discover and connect what a community has to work with — people, money, facilities, social networks, etc. — rather than working to import or create what it lacks. According to Borrup:
[It’s a] way of thinking that starts from an analysis of assets, strengths and capacities — to see change and power as things that most appropriately come from within. This is in contrast to the old approach of working from deficits, problems and limitations — perpetuating the sense that communities were powerless and had to depend on outside intervention, resources and problem-solvers.
Colleagues tell me that the approach has proven particularly useful in rural communities, where efforts for improvement and change can’t rely on the dense aggregation of wealth, cash, and capital of big cities, but rather succeed on their ability to reframe and reconnect what assets are already there. But Borrup suggests that the asset-based mindset has true power and potential in big cities, as well. As an example, he explores the implicit strategy of the large performing arts center:
Big-box arts presenters, increasingly part of urban fix-it strategies, import lowest-common-denominator material that sends the message that culture comes from somewhere else and requires big names and major sponsors to be realized. Focusing on and nurturing the unique and special strengths and assets of a city or neighborhood ultimately leverages and attracts more resources and creates a more sustainable and equitable environment. Exchanges with the larger world help in that process but not when they diminish the cultural practices of the local.
While Borrup may be painting with a rather broad brush (aren’t resident professional musicians, actors, artists, and support staff local assets too?) it’s an interesting analogy to chew on.
I have been an advocate of asset-based development in the arts sector for a long time, having first learned about the concept while working in the field of cultural tourism. It is a far more positive approach and more likely to succeed in the long run, in my opinion. We should encourage people to stop looking for the “big fix,” and to focus on supporting and fully developing their existing artistic strengths and resources.