![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/JensEar.jpg\" "\\"JensEar\\"")
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In this blog I attempt to highlight essential principles of effective community engagement work. In my recent posts Lead or Follow?<\/a> and Equality in Engagement<\/a>, I have tried to make the point that communities have valuable things to tell us when we work with them\u2013not just about topics or issues to be pursued but about content, form, and media of the art that comes out of the collaboration. In the last week two things have gotten me focused even more than usual on the fact that to engage well we need to think this is true, be<\/em> in the community, and, wait for it, listen!<\/p>\n Postcard Spotlight<\/strong> El Puente, a Brooklyn peace and justice organization, conducted a door-to-door campaign in which staffers and volunteers talked one-on-one with community residents to get their input on a visioning process for the future of South Williamsburg. While not specifically an arts project, the arts are part of this in that questions about leisure activities and celebrations were central to the process. El Puente, which has a vibrant arts arm, understands 1) that successful community planning needs to come from the grassroots up and 2) that the arts are an essential part of any cultural revitalization project. The notion of door-to-door canvassing as a prelude to (or part of) community engagement work is one worth remembering.<\/p>\n Casita Maria and Dancing in the Streets of the South Bronx are two organizations jointly working to create a cultural trail in an area credited as the birth place of Hip-Hop and Latin-American music but which has been “buried by\u00a0decades\u00a0of neighborhood development.”\u00a0 They are going into the neighborhoods and interviewing residents about important locations in the area’s cultural history. From this material, site-specific dance will be created that will be featured on the cultural trail. [NOTE: This was the first time I had seen “site specific” applied to dance. That’s a fascinating idea.]<\/p>\n Dancing in the Streets’ Executive Director, Aviva Davidson, says of this process:<\/p>\n We\u2019re going in with an idea and we have a project outline and we have goals\u2026 but it\u2019s a process of inquiry. So we\u2019re not going to come and say we\u2019re going to put on a show and it might fail because they hate it. \u00a0We\u2019re going go in and saying we\u2019re going to create a show in response to what we find out. \u00a0<\/em>It\u2019s a process of inquiry and if it\u2019s a process of inquiry you can\u2019t fail.<\/span> [Emphasis added.]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Chimpanzee Productions has organized the Digital Diaspora Family Reunion for the purpose of capturing history,\u00a0via the pictures and stories of community members, that would otherwise be lost. One staff member described it as\u00a0 “Antiques Roadshow meets StoryCorps.” Family photographs and stories are collected and made available both online and “offline.” This project reminded me (a bit) of one of the popup museums described by Michelle DelCarlo in my post Pop-Ups<\/a>.<\/p>\n Obviously, the common thread here is “getting out” into the community. Even if these do not all serve as the basis for creation of works of art, they are reminders that community input is a valuable thing and talking with the community is a valuable tool.<\/p>\n HGOco<\/strong> Believe, listen, and then<\/p>\n Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photo: Jen’s Ear In this blog I attempt to highlight essential principles of effective community engagement work. In my recent posts Lead or Follow? and Equality in Engagement, I have tried to make the point that communities have valuable things to tell us when we work with them\u2013not just about topics or issues to be pursued but about […]<\/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":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-principles","7":"category-under-the-radar","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-jn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1957,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/09\/engagement-principles-from-a-marketer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1201,"position":0},"title":"Engagement Principles from a Marketer","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In The Farmer and the Cowman I posited that arts marketers and community engagement advocates (in my case, probably \"zealots\" would be more appropriate) should be great friends and collaborators. In it I mentioned a series that Trevor O'Donnell (MARKETING THE ARTS TO DEATH) is doing on inexpensive approaches to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/HalOfMirrors-300x251.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4255,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/09\/best-practices\/","url_meta":{"origin":1201,"position":1},"title":"Best Practices","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Examples of community engagement success are often not transferable.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"BestPracitces?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BestPracitces-e1437663788937.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5137,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/01\/what-you-need-to-know\/","url_meta":{"origin":1201,"position":2},"title":"What You Need to Know","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Community Engagement Essentials: What You Need to Know","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Essentials-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6402,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/07\/equity-and-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":1201,"position":3},"title":"Equity and Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Good practices in community engagement and DEI work are closely related. Let's work together on them simultaneously.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Equity2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2234,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/11\/brilliant-advice\/","url_meta":{"origin":1201,"position":4},"title":"Brilliant Advice","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"November 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently returned from the National Arts Marketing Project Conference in Charlotte where I led a roundtable on mainstreaming engagement (pursuing all organizational systems from a community engagement perspective) and had a book signing. I had been concerned that I might feel like a fish out of water. (A pre-conference\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/LightBulb-500x333.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1903,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/08\/engagement-principles\/","url_meta":{"origin":1201,"position":5},"title":"Engagement Principles: Relationships","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Katya Andresen writes a very good (if somewhat breathless\u2013she has committed to posting every day) blog about nonprofit marketing, cleverly titled Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog. 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\nArtsForward had a recent post entitled Postcard Spotlight<\/a> in which they highlight 2011 Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund grantees. All of the organizations included were what I call “Under the Radar” organizations, those working outside of the arts establishment. The post featured several projects that highlighted the merits of listening.<\/p>\n
\nBut I said there had been two things in the last week that got me thinking about the “Listen” element of engagement. In editing Sandra Bernhard’s article about Houston Grand Opera’s HGOco program (the community engagement arm of HGO) for Building Communities, Not Audiences<\/em><\/a>, I came across her advice for effective engagement: “The secret is to show up, keep showing up, shut up, and listen . . . and never leave.” That may not be all you need to know about engagement, but it will get you farther than almost any other single sentence\u2013except, perhaps, “Believe it’s worth it and respect your partners.”<\/p>\n![\"Attribution\"](\"http:\/\/l.yimg.com\/g\/images\/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif\" "\\"Attribution\\""){kind=icon}
![\"Share](\"http:\/\/l.yimg.com\/g\/images\/cc_icon_sharealike_small.gif\" "\\"Share"){kind=icon}
<\/a> Some rights reserved<\/a> by Dr Stephen Dann<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"