{"id":3036,"date":"2013-08-07T06:19:44","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T10:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=3036"},"modified":"2013-08-07T06:19:44","modified_gmt":"2013-08-07T10:19:44","slug":"listening-to-serve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/08\/listening-to-serve\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening to Serve"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JensEar\"In AftA Thoughts (2013): II<\/a>, I suggested a question that can aid the transition to a community-oriented approach to the work of the arts: “How can we help?” In the aftermath of the June’s Americans for the Arts conference in Pittsburgh and the One State Together conference in Moline<\/a>, another “way of thinking” phrase that has potential for guiding us toward greater relevance has been crystallizing in my mind.<\/p>\n

In my Mainstreaming Engagement workshops I describe the relationship-building process as Meet, Talk, Work. And I clarify that the “talk” part requires “listening to learn.” A critique of typical communication centers around the fact that many of us approach “conversation” with the intent of figuring out how (and exactly when) we can interject what we want to say, a habit that leads us away from actually listening. That is the reason I’ve amended my description to emphasize the fact that we need to be gaining insight into the interests of our conversational partners: listening to learn.<\/p>\n

The budding insight for me is that what<\/em> we need to learn is how the skills we have to offer might serve the interests of those with whom we want a relationship. So my revised description of the “Talk” part of relationship building is morphing into “listening to serve.” Thinking this way helps keep the purpose of the enterprise in focus.<\/p>\n

I am constantly emphasizing the fact that in arts-community relationships the end results need to be mutually beneficial and both sides need to understand what the other brings to the table. People in the arts are expert in what the arts\u2013at least the particular artistic expression\/genre in which they work\u2013can (and can’t) do. Community members are expert in community interests and in what works (and doesn’t) in getting things done in their communities. (For instance, who must\u2013and sometimes who shouldn’t\u2013be included in planning and implementation.)<\/p>\n

The “listening to serve” advice is for the arts side of the equation since 1) that’s the target for this blog and 2) the self-interest in the relationship\u2013relevance, sustainability, survival (pick one or more)\u2013is more immediately obvious there. (It absolutely is<\/em> true that community self-interest is served through arts partnerships, it’s just that the self-interest can be less obvious and more distant there.)<\/p>\n

This is another of my conceptual trial balloons. I think there’s something worthwhile here for structuring our approach to community engagement. I’m just not sure yet how this can best be articulated and how deeply this needs to be rooted.<\/p>\n

Engage!<\/p>\n

Doug<\/p>\n

Photo: Jen\u2019s Ear \"Attribution\"\"Share<\/a> Some rights reserved<\/a> by Dr Stephen Dann<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In AftA Thoughts (2013): II, I suggested a question that can aid the transition to a community-oriented approach to the work of the arts: “How can we help?” In the aftermath of the June’s Americans for the Arts conference in Pittsburgh and the One State Together conference in Moline, another “way of thinking” phrase that […]<\/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":[12,13,31,22,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-3036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-principles","7":"tag-arts","8":"tag-community-engagement","9":"tag-mainstreaming","10":"tag-public-good","11":"tag-relationships","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-MY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2307,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/01\/mainstreaming-on-my-mind\/","url_meta":{"origin":3036,"position":0},"title":"Mainstreaming on My Mind","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My basic beliefs about the arts and community engagement are fairly well-known to anyone who reads this blog or who has read my book. 1) Community engagement is vital to a healthy future for the arts; 2) substantive community engagement is relatively rare in the established arts world; and 3)\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\/2012\/12\/OnMyMind.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2234,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/11\/brilliant-advice\/","url_meta":{"origin":3036,"position":1},"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":2575,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/04\/excellence-to-what-end\/","url_meta":{"origin":3036,"position":2},"title":"Excellence\u2013To What End?","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"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.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ExcellenceSign","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/ExcellenceSign-300x148.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2676,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/03\/engaged-marketing-research\/","url_meta":{"origin":3036,"position":3},"title":"Engaged Marketing: Research","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In my ongoing effort to imagine arts management structures\/practices\/programs in a community engagement context (what I call mainstreaming engagement), I'm in the midst of several posts attempting to do that with marketing. In the beginning (Engaged Marketing: Introduction), I discussed (with myself) what marketing is\u2013a task not without its own\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":2032,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/10\/engagement-demands-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":3036,"position":4},"title":"Engagement Demands Change","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've recently returned from presenting two workshops dealing with the arts and community engagement. Both in Grand Rapids, MI, one was part of the Midwest Arts Conference sponsored by ArtsMidwest and the Mid-American Arts Alliance. The other was at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. As\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\/09\/AnnLanders.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2250,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/12\/playin-in-peoria\/","url_meta":{"origin":3036,"position":5},"title":"Playin’ in Peoria","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In mid-November I had the pleasure of presenting two workshops for Illinois' Local Arts Network, an organization of local arts agencies supported by the Illinois Arts Council and Arts Alliance Illinois. These two gigs, in Oak Park and Peoria, were the shakedown cruise on a new workshop, \"Mainstreaming Engagement,\" designed\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\/11\/Peoria.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3036","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=3036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}