It has been seven years since I retired from three decades in academia. Yet each year, come fall, I am still aware of back-to-class vibrations in the air and my inner professor seeks to remind me he is there. This year, at the same time, I am reflecting on the materials we have put together to support community engagement work. This thinking was generated by an email I got about one of my books. It said, in part, "I have to be honest, I … [Read more...]
Relationships Checkup
Some time ago, while discussing relationship maintenance, a student of mine shared with her training group a practice she employed to keep community relationships current. (One of the big pitfalls in engagement is losing track of relationships after an event is over.) I commented on what a great idea it was and made a note to visit it further here on the blog and in my own thinking. . . . I promptly forgot about it. Fortunately, the note … [Read more...]
Deep Engagement
In June it was my privilege to be a presenter at the II International Seminar on Cultural Management at GAM Center for the Arts in Santiago, Chile. The focus was on territories (neighborhoods, regions, towns/cites) and communities and it provided me with a great learning opportunity to observe the practice of community engagement in South America. (There were presenters from Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay as well as Chile.) As a result of the … [Read more...]
Shades of Meaning
At long last I am back from my journeys to Australia and Chile. It has been an exhilarating time full of making new friends, learning about the practice of community engagement around the world, and uncovering insights into new ways of thinking and working in this field. As is typical, I have several weeks of material for blog posts. At the CircuitWest Showcase in Perth, Australia artists, producers, and presenters met to discuss their work … [Read more...]
Presenter Engagement
When thinking about arts organizations and community engagement, it is easy to get stuck on producer organizations–symphonies, theatres, dance companies, and (most of the time) museums. But there is another major constituency under the heading "arts organizations"–presenters, usually performing arts venues. (When museums host traveling exhibitions they are, similarly, presenters.) I have spoken with staff members of presenting organizations … [Read more...]
Eureka!
A member of a current cohort of our Community Engagement Training is a professional musician who is passionate about connecting with communities and has been so for years. Even before running across my books she was intuitively aware of the need for deeper relationships between musicians and people outside the artiverse. She has been an eager and very perceptive participant in the training. All of that is why it was so revealing when she … [Read more...]
ArtPlace America Engagement Resources
As I mentioned in an earlier post I recently had the opportunity to engage with Lyz Crane of ArtPlace America in a discussion about creative placemaking and community engagement. In the course of that discussion she shared some resources that ArtPlace has made available that can be of considerable benefit to anyone involved in community engagement. The first is a blog post about crowdsourced funding for community-based projects. It offers a … [Read more...]
Creative Placemaking
Recently I had the pleasure of reconnecting with a friend and colleague. The Community Engagement Network hosted a conversation with Lyz Crane addressing the topic of creative placemaking and community engagement. (To join the Network, click here or email us a CEN@artsengaged.com.) Lyz is Deputy Director of ArtPlace America, the private agency whose ten-year mission is to encourage and support creative placemaking. She is also a friend whose … [Read more...]
Trees, Arts, and Communities
In January Joe Patti (Butts in Seats) wrote an exceptionally valuable post (Trees Come with Unexpected Baggage). It was about a nonprofit organization in Detroit planting trees in neighborhoods. It turns out that, for a wide variety of reasons, many people did not want the trees. For many of us, a free tree sounds like an unequivocally good thing. Why would anyone not want one? It turns out that there are a number of reasons. But a common … [Read more...]
Case Studies
The Community Engagement Training offered by ArtsEngaged is also preparing new trainers. As a culminating part of their work, they prepare a case study critiquing a project they know well. Here are the first four. To see the full case study, click on the links. A successful, on-going project between a major symphony orchestra and the city's African-American communities Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Classical Roots by Anne … [Read more...]