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Several weeks ago at the Association of Arts Administration Educators’ Conference in California, I had the pleasure of attending a plenary session\/performance by Luis Alfaro. He is a “renowned . . . performance artist, writer, theater director, and social activist;” a MacArthur Fellow\u2013a truly brilliant one. But one story he told had a brief phrase that gave me mental whiplash. He was talking about an encounter at a box office he had had and commented that the box office is the first connection that arts organizations have with the community. He went by it so quickly and the truth of what he said is so “understood” that I almost missed it. However, seeing that I am focusing on the observation as an Engaging Matters post, can you guess where I’m going?<\/p>\n
When I caught myself thinking about his statement, I realized that if a purchase at the box office is, indeed, the first point of contact with the community, from an engagement perspective, it is *way* too late. The programming has been set, the marketing has been done, there has been no conversation with community members about how the work being presented is relevant (or could be made so) to them. It is business as usual (or at least usual as of 10-20 years ago) in the arts establishment.<\/p>\n
What was particularly telling to me is that it was a thought I’ve not thought before, at least not directly. The assumption that the box office is the first place the arts and the public intersect is pretty deeply ingrained in the performing arts world. Maybe it’s simply helpful to have an internal bell that goes off reminding us that the box office is too late a point for first contact if we are serious about engagement.<\/p>\n
Even if you or your organization has no interest in opening up discussions about artistic content, once the content is set it is perfectly reasonable to communicate with your community about that content and explore points of relevance\u2013before anyone even thinks about a trip to the physical or virtual box office. This demonstrates your interest in\/concern for the community, it will help with marketing, and it might just inform (positively) some aspect of the work itself.<\/p>\n
I would, of course, go further and argue that relationship building that precedes content selection can be advantageous for all, including the quality of the art. But this is a blog post, not a dissertation. We’ll come back around to that\u00a0 again later.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, when next you think about the box office, imagine that it is the location in which your organization is meeting with old friends rather than a point of first contact or even of repeat contact with a stranger. How do you get there? And what does it mean for your work? (And for your bottom line!) It will require for many some new thinking and new behavior. But it will yield positive results.<\/p>\n
Engage!<\/p>\n
Doug<\/p>\n
Photo Several weeks ago at the Association of Arts Administration Educators’ Conference in California, I had the pleasure of attending a plenary session\/performance by Luis Alfaro. He is a “renowned . . . performance artist, writer, theater director, and social activist;” a MacArthur Fellow\u2013a truly brilliant one. But one story he told had a brief phrase […]<\/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":[5,10],"tags":[12,19,13],"class_list":{"0":"post-1728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-principles","7":"category-the-practice-of-engagement","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-box-office","10":"tag-community-engagement","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-rS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4305,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/12\/transformative-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":0},"title":"Transformative Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Transformative Engagement\u2013Community engagement (built on community learning) that influences the organization's programming and\/or ways of doing business. Only transformative engagement builds an organization's relevance.","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\/2015\/09\/Caterpillar-Butterfyl-e1443036832677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2105,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/10\/how-to-engage\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":1},"title":"How to Engage","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been spending time of late trying to figure out the best path to engagement on the part of arts organizations. I am a firm believer that systemic engagement (mainstreamed engagement) is at heart the only way that will bear much fruit. Add-on activities won't get done. Seriously, where\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":2683,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/03\/engaged-marketing-sales\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":2},"title":"Engaged Marketing: Sales","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I am in the process of considering marketing as part of my ongoing series on mainstreaming community engagement\u2013figuring out how to be engaged without adding a lot of new \"stuff\" to do. Here, I want to discuss how the sales process can be \"engaging.\" (NB: In posts on mainstreaming engagement,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bazaar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Bazaar-300x174.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4631,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/08\/fifth-anniversary-highlights-transformative-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":3},"title":"Fifth Anniversary Highlights: Transformative Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If an organization is not doing anything differently as a result of its engagement efforts, it\u2019s not focused on the community. It\u2019s focused on itself.","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\/2016\/07\/FiveCandles.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5113,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/01\/docents-as-engagers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":4},"title":"Docents as Engagers","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Some time ago in a forum discussing community engagement, someone asked me what the role of docents should be in engagement work. It was a light bulb question for me. My professional background is primarily in the performing arts so I have always viewed box office workers and ushers as\u2026","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\/2017\/11\/Docent-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2755,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/04\/engaged-fundraising-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":5},"title":"Engaged Fundraising: I (More Pies)","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There is probably no element of the nonprofit arts management structure that better understands the importance of relationships than the development department. 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