![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Lightswitch1.jpg\" "\\"Lightswitch\\"")
There is a thought experiment I give students in a not-for-profit governance class:<\/p>\nThere is a thought experiment I give students in a not-for-profit governance class:<\/p>\n
\nA nameless, generic not-for-profit board recognized the need for more diversity in its membership. Aware that they functioned in a community with a large Hispanic\/Latino population but had no members from that group, they placed an add in the local H\/L paper to recruit someone to the board.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
What is wrong with this picture?<\/p>\n
When I first began posing the question, it proved to be a real headscratcher. Today, students more readily see that one answer is another question: “Why does no one on the board know anyone from the Hispanic\/Latino community?” That realization is a “Click” moment. A light bulb comes on. A new way of thinking about the world is revealed.<\/p>\n
The latest issue of Symphony<\/em> magazine (Summer 2011: available online here<\/a>) has many articles on the growing awareness of the need for community engagement on the part of\u00a0 orchestras in the U.S. I highly recommend it. One of my favorite parts of that edition is the point\/counterpoint essays from Bruce Coppock and Robert Levine. (Actually, from my point of view, there is very little distance between the two, but that’s a topic for another post.) The pertinent passage here comes from Mr. Levine’s essay, “Change, Sustainability, and First Principles.” Symphony<\/em>. Summer 2011: 25-31.<\/p>\n
A few years ago my orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, was on tour in northern Wisconsin shortly after six teenagers were murdered in a mass shooting in the small town of Crandon. We were 50 miles away and we had a night off. Why didn\u2019t it occur to anyone\u2013staff, board, or musicians\u2013that we could have done something remarkable by going to Crandon and playing a memorial concert? But no one thought of it, I doubt that more than a handful of American orchestras, or managers, or board members, or musicians, would have thought of it. (27)
\n<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nIn the words of Debra Barone on a particularly funny episode of Everybody Love Raymond<\/em>, “And there it is.”<\/p>\n
Click.<\/p>\n
It often seems that the arts world\u2013or at least portions of it\u2013does not see itself as a member of the community, although it is difficult to document a negative. Here is a textbook demonstration of the point.<\/p>\n
And we wonder about the reasons there is limited support for the arts in this country? [See the previous post “Why?<\/a>“]<\/p>\n
Of course<\/em> this does not mean that the arts world never<\/em> sees itself “in community” or that it never shares a community’s joys and sorrows. Far from it. Indeed, here is a great counter balance to the example above: http:\/\/blog.artsusa.org\/2011\/08\/04\/surviving-the-prairie-tsunami\/<\/a>. Hats off to the Minot (ND) Area Council of the Arts<\/a>. The point is that such a view has not been typical, not expected, not rewarded by some elements of the current arts infrastructure. That<\/em> is what needs to be addressed. We will do so regularly here.<\/p>\n
Engage!<\/p>\n
Doug<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Light switch picture (such as it is) by Doug Borwick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Aware that they functioned in a community with a large Hispanic\/Latino population but had no members from that group, they placed an add in the local H\/L paper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-overview","7":"category-principles","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s1G6h9-click","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6464,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/10\/not-charity\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":0},"title":"Not Charity","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"For California's Riverside Art Museum relationship building with the area's Hispanic communities led directly to a huge influx of capital and a massive expansion of the facilities.","rel":"","context":"In "The Practice of Engagement"","block_context":{"text":"The Practice of Engagement","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/the-practice-of-engagement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Gold-e1427122302387.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5258,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/04\/communities-of-necessity\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":1},"title":"Communities of Necessity","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Changing demographics make engaging with some communities an existential imperative even if we don't have pre-existing connections with them.","rel":"","context":"In "The Practice of Engagement"","block_context":{"text":"The Practice of Engagement","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/the-practice-of-engagement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Community-300x240.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4225,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/07\/afta-thoughts-2015-self-perpetuating-boards\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":2},"title":"AftA Thoughts 2015: Self-Perpetuating Boards","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Lack of board diversity reflects \"who they (don't) know.\"","rel":"","context":"In "The Practice of Engagement"","block_context":{"text":"The Practice of Engagement","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/the-practice-of-engagement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DWEM_Board","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DWEM_Board-e1435324376845.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1401,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/04\/a-question-of-focus\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":3},"title":"A Question of Focus","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last post, More or Different?, I said I was going to present a sequel detailing an alternative way to think about expanding reach in arts organizations. 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I begin by asking them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5437,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/12\/case-studies\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":4},"title":"Case Studies","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Community engagement case studies written by new CET Trainers.","rel":"","context":"In "Examples"","block_context":{"text":"Examples","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/examples\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/StackOfPapers-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4570,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/06\/gard-foundation-symposium-at-wingspread\/","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":5},"title":"Gard Foundation Symposium at Wingspread","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Gard Foundation Symposium at Wingspread: Considering the Past, Present, and Future of community arts development.","rel":"","context":"In "The Arts and . . ."","block_context":{"text":"The Arts and . . .","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/the-arts-and\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gard Foundation logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Gard-Foundation-logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}