{"id":2575,"date":"2013-04-03T07:10:03","date_gmt":"2013-04-03T11:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=2575"},"modified":"2013-04-03T07:10:03","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T11:10:03","slug":"excellence-to-what-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/04\/excellence-to-what-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Excellence\u2013To What End?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ExcellenceSign\"Taking a time out from mainstreaming engagement and questions of diversity (although both really are related to this), I feel a need to revisit (briefly) the “question of quality.” This is something that needs to be done with some regularity by anyone advocating for a community-oriented perspective in the arts. There is, among some, an almost knee-jerk response that quality and community are incompatible. I’m not going to repeat the many, many posts I’ve done on this topic. (Selected examples: Engagement Uber Alles?<\/a>,\u00a0 Lessons from a Pirate: I<\/a>,\u00a0 Lessons from a Pirate: II<\/a>,\u00a0 Quality and Community<\/a>, Quality and Community-2<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

An issue I have not previously addressed is in some ways the most important one. Granted that we all strive for excellence, what is the purpose of that striving? In other words, are we pursuing excellence for the sake of excellence? (Think about it, that’s a bit of a strange goal.) Do we pursue excellence for the sake of the art itself? Again, that’s an odd and, arguably, dessicated goal. Does the art really care? Do we pursue excellence for our own sake (individually or for an arts organization)? That’s a bit more human, but fairly narrow.<\/p>\n

Some of you may have already gotten where I am going with this. I would suggest that the pursuit of excellence should be, ultimately, for the sake of the perceivers (creator\/performers, audience, visitors, purchasers, viewers, etc.)\u2013all<\/em> of them<\/strong>. Why? Because, as human beings, we all deserve it. And it is then only a tiny leap for me to say that, at root, we should pursue excellence because the communities to which we present our art deserve excellence<\/strong>. Working from that frame, we must then be concerned not only about excellence but about our role in connecting with those communities. Here’s a koan<\/em>-like question: If we do not connect our communities with the excellence we as artists attain, is it indeed excellent? <\/strong>Upon reflection, for some of us, that question may not be nearly as “unanswerable” as it might at first appear.<\/p>\n

——————–<\/p>\n

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update on my ArtsEngaged<\/a> travels. Here are my whereabouts for the next few weeks:<\/p>\n

Washington, DC<\/strong>
\nApril 7
\nAmerican University Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium<\/a>: Audience Engagement\/Community Engagement<\/p>\n

North Carolina<\/strong>
\nApril 9
\nRaleigh-Arts Day 2013<\/a> (Arts NC): “Building Communities, Not Audiences”<\/p>\n

Florida<\/strong>
\nApril 19
\nFt. Lauderdale-Broward County Cultural Division\/ArtServe: “Mainstreaming Engagement”<\/a>
\nIndividual organizational consultations<\/p>\n

Michigan<\/strong>
\nApril 24
\nDetroit-CultureSource Annual Conference<\/a>
\nKeynote Speech: Engaging for Success
\nWorkshop: Engaging the Third Rail<\/p>\n

California<\/strong>
\nMay 15th – Los Angeles
\n“Mainstreaming Engagement” hosted by Emerging Arts Leaders\/Los Angeles<\/p>\n

May 16th – San Diego<\/div>\n
“Mainstreaming Engagement” hosted by Rising Arts Leaders San Diego and the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership
\n“Artists and Community Engagement” hosted by the Creative Catalyst program of the San Diego Foundation<\/div>\n

—————————<\/p>\n

Engage!<\/p>\n

Doug<\/p>\n

Photo:\"Attribution\"\"Share<\/a> Some rights reserved<\/a> by mikecogh<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking a time out from mainstreaming engagement and questions of diversity (although both really are related to this), I feel a need to revisit (briefly) the “question of quality.” This is something that needs to be done with some regularity by anyone advocating for a community-oriented perspective in the arts. There is, among some, an […]<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,13],"class_list":{"0":"post-2575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-principles","7":"tag-arts","8":"tag-community-engagement","9":"entry","10":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-Fx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6612,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2022\/04\/assessing-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":0},"title":"Assessing Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The time has come to apply greater rigor to evaluating engagement processes, results, and the state of community engagement in the nonprofit arts industry.","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\/04\/Clipboard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2724,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/03\/outreach-%e2%89%a0-community-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":1},"title":"Outreach \u2260 Community Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I \u00a0sometimes hear people equate outreach with community engagement. In my ongoing effort to clarify the language we use about these matters, I'd like to differentiate between these two terms. For me, the simplest distinction is that outreach is (at best) done \"for,\" community engagement is done \"with.\" \u00a0Outreach, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NotEqual","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/NotEqual.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6442,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/09\/terminology-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":2},"title":"Differentiation","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Differentiating between seemingly related terms is important to understanding them. This post looks at outreach and education in relationship to community engagement.","rel":"","context":"In "10th Anniversary"","block_context":{"text":"10th Anniversary","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/10th-anniversary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3506,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/03\/deconstructing-a-revelation\/","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":3},"title":"Deconstructing a Revelation","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Community engagement does require taking community awareness seriously, but never to the exclusion of quality art making.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"LightBulb","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/LightBulb-e1394129630406.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5015,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/09\/evaluating-engagement-outcomes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":4},"title":"Evaluating Engagement: Outcomes","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Evaluating Engagement: Outcomes as a follow up to an earlier post on evaluating engagement processes","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\/04\/Clipboard.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":452,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2011\/10\/engagement-uber-alles\/","url_meta":{"origin":2575,"position":5},"title":"Engagement Uber Alles?","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"To date I've avoided a direct answer to the unspoken question some of you may have about all of this. 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