{"id":718,"date":"2005-06-23T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2005-06-23T16:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2005\/06\/relearning_conversation_skills\/"},"modified":"2005-06-23T09:00:22","modified_gmt":"2005-06-23T16:00:22","slug":"relearning_conversation_skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/relearning_conversation_skills.php","title":{"rendered":"Relearning conversation skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been noticing a common thread in many of the conversations I’ve been having and hearing among arts professionals. There’s the tension between what a ‘curator’ presents and what the public wants; between ‘teaching’ an audience that doesn’t yet value our craft and ‘learning’ what they value; between being more engaged with a community but standing separate to be recognized and noticed as unique.<\/p>\n

It seems to me that all of these tensions are part of the same evolution in arts and cultural management — from monologue to dialogue, from lecture to conversation.<\/p>\n

I’ve touched on this issue before<\/a>, but it keeps bubbling up. We’ve grown used to the ”lecture,” the assumption that we know what is good and valuable, that we have the wisdom society so desperately needs, and that our job is to talk until they understand. And we quietly have a fear that if we truly listened and engaged, honestly and openly, we might stray from that wisdom or water it down.<\/p>\n

So, what does this dialogue look like? A quick Google expedition discovered at least one useful description of dialogue<\/a> and its essential elements, excerpted here:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nSuspension:<\/b>
\nSuspension of thoughts, impulses, judgments, etc., lies at the very heart of Dialogue…. Suspension involves attention, listening and looking and is essential to exploration. Speaking is necessary, of course, for without it there would be little in the Dialogue to explore. But the actual process of exploration takes place during listening — not only to others but to oneself. Suspension involves exposing your reactions, impulses, feelings and opinions in such a way that they can be seen and felt within your own psyche and also be reflected back by others in the group. It does not mean repressing or suppressing or, even, postponing them. It means, simply, giving them your serious attention so that their structures can be noticed while they are actually taking place.<\/p>\n

To suspend thought, impulse, judgment, etc., requires serious attention to the overall process we have been considering — both on one’s own and within a group. This involves what may at first appear to be an arduous kind of work. But if this work is sustained, one’s ability to give such attention constantly develops so that less and less effort is required.<\/p>\n

Leadership:<\/b>
\nA Dialogue is essentially a conversation between equals. Any controlling authority, no matter how carefully or sensitively applied, will tend to hinder and inhibit the free play of thought and the often delicate and subtle feelings that would otherwise be shared. Dialogue is vulnerable to being manipulated, but its spirit is not consistent with this. Hierarchy has no place in Dialogue….<\/p>\n

Guidance, when it is felt to be necessary, should take the form of ”leading from behind” and preserve the intention of making itself redundant as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do those sound like the qualities and tendencies of your organization’s programming, outreach, education, market research, fundraising, and audience interaction? If so, post a comment<\/a> to tell us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been noticing a common thread in many of the conversations I’ve been having and hearing among arts professionals. There’s the tension between what a ‘curator’ presents and what the public wants; between ‘teaching’ an audience that doesn’t yet value our craft and ‘learning’ what they value; between being more engaged with a community but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}