Several months ago Joe Patti of Butts In Seats blogging fame posted a reflection on advice from Seth Godin about why businesses might not be connecting with customers. While I've not met Mr. Patti, it seems that we not infrequently seem to be channeling each other on topics related to community engagement. He pulled out, from Mr. Godin's article, a list of problems that sounded way too familiar to me in my work attempting to get arts … [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...]
Response to Listen vs. Tell
In Listen vs. Tell I spoke of the necessary switch from telling people about our work to listening to them as a pre-requisite for effective communication. As happens not infrequently, Carter Gilles responded thoughtfully and at length. He has given me permission to share his expansion on my thoughts here. Carter Gilles This particular phrasing [Listen vs. Tell] reminded me of the work that the philosopher Carol Gilligan did I … [Read more...]
Listen vs. Tell
Over a year ago I began presented a somewhat tongue-in-cheek means of differentiating among two vastly different styles of approaching sales, audience development, audience engagement, and community engagement–the means by which we connect with the public. It was rooted in the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, the "tell" and "interact" versions of the internet. In sharing the concept with people I realized that basing it on Web 1.0 and Web … [Read more...]
Targets and Timeframes
I have recently found myself concerned with issues related to measuring community engagement, particularly its benefits to arts organizations. (Two-Phase Engagement; Reach and Frequency) There is a tendency among some to know that community engagement is a good thing and, therefore, to resist attempts to measure it's impact. If I'm honest, I may sometimes find myself in that group. There are others who assume that community engagement is at best … [Read more...]
Reach and Frequency
I always proceed with fear and trembling when I venture into the topic of marketing. As I have said in the past, I am not a marketer. Nevertheless, there continue to be numerous valuable lessons from marketing that should support our work in and understanding of community engagement. Stick with me. This will get a tad "wonky." "Reach" and "frequency" are marketing terms that have much application to the discussion of various types of … [Read more...]
Two-Phase Engagement
Community engagement practitioners are frequently asked to justify their work using traditional arts marketing/development metrics: ticket sales and donations. Don't get ahead of me. This is not a touchy-feely objection to practical outcomes. Ticket sales and donations as well as grants from "unusual suspects" and friendlier public policy for the arts are all results of effective community engagement . . . eventually. However, when anyone in any … [Read more...]
What They Want
There is an unfortunate tendency on the part of some in the nonprofit arts industry to believe that it is their responsibility to provide to the public art that they think the public needs. This is usually based on little to no understanding of what those needs might actually be. In addition, when examined a bit, what they are really giving the public is the art that they want to give them. Anyone’s true need has little to do with it. There is a … [Read more...]
Know Your Communities
This is part of a series, introduced in Baby Steps, about arts organizations’ initial efforts in community engagement. For details about the premises upon which these posts are based, see below. The essence is that simple, inexpensive initial steps offer the best way to embark upon community engagement. Know Your Communities: Community-Aware Marketing This is a sneaky post. The emphasis of this series is on the small, simple, inexpensive things … [Read more...]
Be What You Are
This is part of a series, introduced in Baby Steps, about arts organizations’ initial efforts in community engagement. The premises are twofold. First, since relationship building is the core of community engagement, attempting to do too much too fast (before the relationship is established) will likely not be productive and, in fact, may be counter-productive. Second, there are many things that can be done to support engagement that do not … [Read more...]