• 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

Heard NY

September 21, 2013 by Doug Borwick

Some time ago I commented [Engaged Mission: I], in response to a NY Times article, that social practice art–art with an explicit social service intent, while admirable, is not the only way to approach community engagement. It’s a good and valuable way to engage, but it is not the sole means to do so. When I discuss community engagement I talk about the “issue” being addressed by a project, but an issue need not be a problem or something in need of “fixing.” An issue can also be the need for people to connect or even just have a good time.

I have in the past talked about how much I like the Knight Foundation’s Random Acts of Culture™  program. Earlier this year the NY Times has put me on to another example of serious fun: Watch Out for the Horses on Your Way to the Train. Chicago artist-choreographer Nick Caves created a work for Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Station. It was performed by students at the Alvin Ailey School in “costume-like sculptures” of horses (sort of).

The video below gives a sense of the work itself and of the delight of the unsuspecting Grand Central audience. The intent was to achieve something “magical and family friendly.” I think they succeeded.

To me, this is a great example of art taking the public seriously. The desire to connect and delight is clear. (Inspire, Delight, and Surprise) The costumes are gorgeous, the choreography is effective, the young dancers are clearly talented. There is no obvious social concern being addressed here. However, everyone who experienced this piece will remember it for a long time. That certainly bodes well for their future interest in dance. More to the point, though, from my perspective, each (or at least nearly every) audience member came away with a slightly brighter view of their day as the result of a work designed for them and brought to them–good for dance, good for art, good for us all.

Engage!

Doug

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: Examples Tagged With: arts, community engagement, dance, examples

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