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Engaging Matters

Doug Borwick on vibrant arts and communities

Air Fryers: II

April 6, 2022 by Doug Borwick

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 beliefs about the company, have nothing to do with Amazon, Chic-fil-A, Hobby Lobby, Nestlé, or Walmart. That’s just a partial list, but you get the idea. What would it take to get them to change their minds? Likely it would involve public statements from the company directly accompanied by significant changes in the corporation’s behavior.

Some (perhaps many) people view the nonprofit arts world as a creature of the elite, the 1%. They associate our work with wealth and power and, as such, are predisposed to distrust us. This is a generalized distrust.

Others have had negative experiences with arts organizations, having felt used to sell tickets or secure donations. “When did you ever talk to me except when you wanted me to buy a ticket or needed my endorsement for a grant proposal?” These people actively distrust that organization and, by extension, others in our industry.

If it is difficult and time-consuming to sell to people who don’t understand the product, how much more so is it when those people are wary or even harbor ill will toward the organization? It will take much time and effort to build enough trust before we can even begin to work on the sale of our unfamiliar commodity. Here again, community engagement, which is rooted in the development of trusting relationships, is the only path toward the necessary healing. And, again, it is not community engagement’s fault that the process of relationship building and/or repair takes time before it yields the results we need.

Engage!

Doug

Photo:

Some rights reserved by TheBetterDay

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Filed Under: Principles Tagged With: arts, community engagement, marketing

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 …]

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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) […]

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