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Engaging Matters

Doug Borwick on vibrant arts and communities

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Ask

April 1, 2020 by Doug Borwick

Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. Like most people on the planet, I have been consumed with reports on the pandemic threatening us all. I have also been trying to figure out what I can do, both in reducing the spread and in making things better for people. I've had much more success with the former. I've also been watching with great interest the number of arts organizations making content … [Read more...]

Community Knowledge

November 8, 2017 by Doug Borwick

It's no secret that I advocate for arts organizations addressing community interests. (Well, duh!) And, in order to do that, we have to know what those interests are. (Again, duh!) On my website I address some of the ways we can start to discover those interests. (Community Learning) Of course, the simple answer is to talk to members of those communities. And we absolutely should do so. But if this is so important, here's another thing we could … [Read more...]

The Arts in the Small Community

March 2, 2016 by Doug Borwick

Today's post is by guest, colleague, and dear friend–Maryo Gard Ewell 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the start of The Arts in the Small Community project led by Robert E. Gard, and we invite you to celebrate with us! Robert E. Gard was a visionary in the field of community arts. While many people in the 1940’s and beyond were talking about “access” to the arts for people, typically, that meant that Everyman should be in the audience or … [Read more...]

Funding Is Not an “Issue”

February 17, 2016 by Doug Borwick

Title got your attention, didn't it? Recently Doug McLennan wrote about ArtsJournal's survey of readers about issues in the field: We Asked: What’s the Biggest Challenge Facing the Arts? By far the most cited was funding, beating out relevance, diversity, and leadership by a wide margin. In one way this is surprising in that the most talked about issues in the field of late have been diversity, equity, relevance, and leadership. On the other … [Read more...]

Public Charity

August 26, 2015 by Doug Borwick

Wonkiness Alert This post is only (or mostly) for those interested in nonprofit minutiae. There are two basic types of 501(c)(3) organizations: public charities and private foundations. Private foundations are limited in the deductions available to contributors, are subject to excise taxes, and have a different and more complicated Form 990 (990PF) to fill out. (In addition, they are required to distribute a minimum percentage of their assets … [Read more...]

AftA Thoughts 2015: The Arts and . . .

August 12, 2015 by Doug Borwick

This is the final installment in a series of posts reflecting on last June's Americans for the Arts convention in Chicago. (But don’t get too hopeful, there are several other impressions from the event percolating that I won’t label with this group.) A focus of Americans for the Arts over the next several years is going to be pairing of the arts with other disciplines. Conversations and work around the arts and medicine, the arts and … [Read more...]

AftA Thoughts 2015: Bait and Switch

July 22, 2015 by Doug Borwick

As I said in my last post, in June I attended Americans for the Arts convention in Chicago. As part of my annual reflections on that experience, I wanted to comment on something that's been on my mind for years. In plenary sessions videos and performers were featured that demonstrated the power of the arts to transform lives and make communities better places to live. Stories like those are what originally brought me to this work and continue to … [Read more...]

Rationales

August 20, 2014 by Doug Borwick

As I've mentioned before, I'm in the process of developing training options for arts organizations seeking a unified approach to community engagement–systemic, mainstreamed, and involving every facet of the work. Part of that, a relatively simple one to be sure, has been drafting descriptions of it. Several early comments suggested the need for including the rationale for community engagement. A first pass yielded the … [Read more...]

Improving Lives “vs.” Arts Mission ??!!

August 13, 2014 by Doug Borwick

As part of last June's conference of the League of American Orchestras in Seattle, I got to sit in on a pre-conference session of League members' Education and Community Engagement staff. It was great to be around a group dedicated to the work I believe is so important to the future of the arts. While there was much of value for me in that session, one participant question has haunted me for the weeks since. In a Q & A period, one woman asked … [Read more...]

The Self-Centered Pursuit of Diversity

July 16, 2014 by Doug Borwick

In my last post I reflected on the 2014 Americans for the Arts Conference in Nashville. I concluded by mentioning an important session on diversity and promised a follow-up. There is much discussion (lip service and otherwise) of and occasional work toward diversity and inclusion in the arts industry. One difficulty is that much of the support infrastructure in the arts is connected via metaphorical superglue to the white monied establishment. … [Read more...]

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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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Archives

Recent Comments

  • David Pankratz on Reimagine Yourself: “Hi Doug, Appreciated the library and automotive analogies. Here’s another from the world of public transportation. There’s an ongoing debate…” Feb 17, 11:22
  • Jerry Yoshitomi on Build Back Better: “Doug: Thank you again for this. Again, right on the mark. I’ve heard that rebuilding a house that has been…” Feb 4, 17:10
  • Alan Harrison on Build Back Better: “Excellent. If, in a year, the nation sees the arts as an elitist escape for the privileged – as they…” Feb 3, 03:01
  • Alan Harrison on Matter: “Brilliant once again. I think the issue of inward-facing acclaim (instead of outward-facing impact) being so prevalent among dying arts…” Jan 27, 07:17
  • Jerry Yoshitomi on Connect: “Doug: Thank you again for this. You’re suggesting that we must develop new ‘capacities’ or ‘muscles’ in order to be…” Jan 13, 21:24

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