Greetings. Very long time, no post. And I'm going to address that. Ten years ago I began focusing full time on issues related to the arts and community engagement. My work has involved authoring two books–Building Communities, Not Audiences: The Future of the Arts in the U.S. and Engage Now! A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable–and authoring/editing this blog, Engaging Matters. Through my company, ArtsEngaged, I have provided advocacy, … [Read more...]
We Wish (A Lot of Things)
As is fairly common for me, I've been thinking recently about Stephen Sondheim lyrics. The Prologue to Into the Woods contains long lists of wishes. Here's just one list from Jack (and the Beanstalk)'s mother: I wish my son were not a fool.I wish my house was not a mess.I wish the cow was full of milk.I wish the house was full of gold-I wish a lot of things... There are so many things for which we wish. We wish: Everyone (or at least … [Read more...]
Assume . . . ?
We take care of our three year old grandson on Thursdays. Being "that kind" of grandparents we tend to buy things we think he might like. Our most recent purchase was a streetscape rug (see photo) where he can play with his prodigious quantity of cars and, especially, trucks. We had just gotten it out of the box the last time he came to our house. He thoroughly enjoyed it. And when it was time to go we told him we would lay it out flat on the … [Read more...]
Shoes
I was recently involved in a conversation in which the topic of shoes came up. (Yes, shoes.) Someone said they had read an article that the first thing people notice about someone else was their shoes. Shoes. Really? To be honest, I don't remember ever noticing someone's shoes, unless it was a clown with giant floppy ones. Years ago I had a friend who had said that was true of them but I sort of wrote that off as an odd idiosyncrasy. But … [Read more...]
Assessing Engagement
I have spent most of the last twelve years advocating for a robust understanding of the nature and value of effective community engagement for arts organizations. While much (much) work remains to be done, there does seem to be greater acceptance of the need for substantive relationship building on the part of arts organizations. AssessmentAssessment is another matter. There remains a lack of common understanding of community engagement. That … [Read more...]
Air Fryers: II
Last time (Air Fryers: I) I discussed the difficulty (and time-consuming nature) of "selling" things (whether air fryers or the arts) to people who did not understand the need for them or appreciate their value. This time I'd like to address a related but potentially uncomfortable topic. How much more difficult is it to sell things when the consumer's view of the maker/seller of the product is negative? There are people who, because of their … [Read more...]
Air Fryers: I
Bear with me. I'll explain this. :-) There are some things that we don't need to learn more about to know that we need. Refrigerators, for instance. When we need one, we know it and don't have to be convinced of the fact. Other things are either new or unfamiliar and it takes some explanation and experience to see why we would want them. As but one example . . . the air fryer. Several years ago my children were raving about them. I … [Read more...]
Do We Want Them?
This is by far the longest period that Engaging Matters has been "dark" since its beginnings over ten years ago. And as time has passed the negative inertia has gotten overwhelming. As a result, in attempting to resume my writing I've been thinking I should find a way to ease back in. Fortunately, Seema Rau at Museum 2.0 recently wrote a post (Do We Really Want People to Visit?) that makes it possible for me to venture back largely by … [Read more...]
Getting It Right
As part of Engaging Matters' 10th Anniversary, we are highlighting important and/or popular posts from the past. In reviewing such posts it became clear that many were grouped thematically. As a result, this Anniversary series will, for the most part, present the theme with links to relevant posts rather than simply re-posting individual items. Early this year, looking/hoping for a light at the end of the COVID tunnel, I wrote a series of … [Read more...]
Marketing and Engagement
It has been some time since I have had the courage to discuss marketing here. When I first did so many years ago I quickly learned that my view was hopelessly colored by the unfortunate marketing habits of many arts organizations–self focus, ignorance (sometimes willful) of the interests of the people they were trying to reach, and an elitist use of "inside baseball" language in promotional materials. I think I've learned a lot since then about … [Read more...]