A respondent to an earlier post raised the issue of "quality" with respect to community engagement, suggesting in essence that engagement efforts inevitably result in a reduction in the artistic merit of the work. My response was, among other things, that if there is a decline in artistic quality in the arts engagement process, it's not engagement's fault. In fairness, I need to elaborate on that. We've got to address this elephant in the room … [Read more...]
Or?
A recent ARTSblog post Civic Engagement in the Arts in Action-Part I (thanks Maya Kumazawa) brought to mind a topic that needs to be addressed. The post featured an interesting organization called Dance 4 Peace. (I love it when a group nails its mission with its name. It's hard not to understand what D4P is about–"Dancing to inspire cultures of peace"–even if the methods need explaining.) Their website says that "Dance 4 Peace is a conflict … [Read more...]
What Is Engagement?
I am teaching a course this fall called Arts in the Community. One of the course requirements is for students to assist in a community arts project. For the purpose of the course we use the definition "arts-based project intentionally designed to address a community issue." A difficulty I (and they) run into in talking with arts organizations about this is a lack of understanding of what engagement really means. One of the most common first … [Read more...]
Yadkin Cultural Arts Center
An important principle related to community engagement work is that things in your own back yard can be just as meaningful as those from exotic (or distant) locales. I won't make a habit of touting the Piedmont area of North Carolina, but a recent article in the Winston-Salem Journal was too good to pass up. The Yadkin Arts Council in Yadkinville, NC (population 3500) has a new arts center that is celebrating its first birthday. As the result of … [Read more...]
Public Value, Public Funds
Fear and trembling I have. Yes. Talk of public funding for the arts. Happy no one will be. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Some time ago, Kelly Kleiman wrote a blog post for the Stanford Social Innovation Review that I only recently discovered: Second (and Third) Thoughts about Public Funding for the Arts. It has the entertainment value of presenting some pretty controversial (in the arts community) ideas, and it has the benefit of saying some … [Read more...]
Winds of Change: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is taking community engagement seriously and to an extremely individual level. The Center's YBCA: YOU program provides one-on-one introductions to YBCA and contemporary art. (Once again, and clearly not for the last time, I am indebted to Nina Simon's Museum 2.0 for highlighting an important aspect of community engagement. Guest blogger, Laurel Butler, Education and Engagement Specialist at YBCA, wrote the post … [Read more...]
What Matters
9/11/2001-9/11/2011 To be honest, until only a few moments ago, I had not intended to post an entry dealing with the anniversary of 9/11. I didn't (don't) feel I have anything particularly exceptional to say; many are weighing in with far more profound insights and examples than I have at the ready. Nor do I want to (or want to appear to) capitalize on this occasion for any purpose whatsoever. But in the end, with the date just two days away … [Read more...]
Under the Radar-2
For over a decade, the Community Arts Network was the world's single most comprehensive website devoted the potential that the arts represent for community growth and improvement. It will be shocking to some that I include it in the "Under the Radar" category. For those of us vitally interested in the work of the arts in communities, CAN is (was-more on that in a second) the shining beacon on a hill illuminating all that was wonderful about … [Read more...]
Arts 2.0
As the example du jour in The Eightfold Path, I raised the specter of crowdsourcing as an interesting concept for dedicated engagers (OK, for most of the arts world) to consider. It took a long time for me to get my head around the meaning of Web 2.0, the source of the Arts 2.0 idea. (Of course, Nina Simon got there far earlier, titling her blog Museum 2.0, and Beth Kanter talked about Arts 2.0 "way back" in 2008.) Simply put, while the "old" web … [Read more...]
CAT Institute
Last year I had the good fortune to attend a conference, At the Crossroads, hosted the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis. There I met or got re-acquainted with a number of people active in the community arts movement. I also had the opportunity to get some first-hand insight into a unique program, RAC's Community Arts Training Institute. CAT, begun in 1997, provides participants intensive training over five long weekends in how to connect the … [Read more...]