{"id":3146,"date":"2013-10-23T06:46:04","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T10:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=3146"},"modified":"2013-10-23T06:46:04","modified_gmt":"2013-10-23T10:46:04","slug":"the-pursuit-of-excellence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/10\/the-pursuit-of-excellence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pursuit of Excellence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ExcellenceSign\"In Excellence-To What End?<\/a> I made the case that serving people\u2013all of them, from artists to “the great unwashed”\u2013was the purpose of seeking excellence. In the months since that post, I’ve reflected more on this issue, one that is central to our field and of vital importance to all of us in it, myself included. It is of such weight that many of our organizational mission statements include it as a central “reason for being.” I still would like us to hold in mind that excellence is not something to be sought in a vacuum. Excellence is<\/em> something of value because people deserve it.<\/p>\n

Many of our organizational mission statements cite \u201cworld class\u201d (or its functional equivalent) as the artistic standard sought, a standard central to the mission. For the most part, such statements assume technical excellence as the basis for that standard. (Granted, technical excellence is important, but as I suggested in Quality and Community<\/a>, it is not\u2013and should not be\u2013the only<\/em> criterion by which we judge excellence.) Apart from the practicality of such goals from a resource perspective, if all arts organizations who so aspired were indeed world class, what would that mean? It sounds a bit like Garrison Keilor\u2019s Lake Wobegon where all the children are above average.<\/p>\n

The Radical Notion<\/em>
\nWhat if instead of an abstract excellence the goal were to be deeply valuable to the community in which the organization resides?<\/strong> This would, of course, require knowing the community well and programming to address its interests. I’m suggesting here that another way to view excellence is on the degree to which an organization enhances the life of its community. The goal of world class status in a strictly artistic sense is inwardly focused and, it could be argued, narcissistic. On the other hand, being \u201cworld class\u201d in value to the community has the advantage of providing benefit to that community in ways that will gain support for the organization, furthering its sustainability.<\/p>\n

Once again, before I stop here, let me reiterate that serving a community does not<\/em> necessitate lowering standards, unless “lowering standards” presumes having no concern for those not already “believers” or no interest in being of value to them. It does mean caring about being of importance in the community. To be clear, my “portfolio” is with the arts industry\u2013producing and presenting organizations and those that service them. I make no case for all artists pursuing a community engagement agenda. At most, I’d like to provide the rationale for any who wish to do so.<\/p>\n

I get tired of hearing comments that community awareness demands (or implies) presenting schlock. I grant that there are<\/em> examples of bad work being done in the name of engagement. But the assumption that that is what engagement takes often appears to be the product of willful arrogance, lack of imagination, or laziness of thought. Great art can and often does come out of awareness of people’s current interests and concerns. And, of course, some great art also looks forward, ahead of the pack\u2013sometimes way ahead. So it should. But that is not what much of the arts industry today is presenting; the repertoire is often showing a path to the past, a past that has little cultural or social relevance to any but a narrow slice of the population. That is not a path to sustainability . . . or even survival.<\/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":"

In Excellence-To What End? I made the case that serving people\u2013all of them, from artists to “the great unwashed”\u2013was the purpose of seeking excellence. In the months since that post, I’ve reflected more on this issue, one that is central to our field and of vital importance to all of us in it, myself included. […]<\/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":"The Pursuit of Excellence: Excellence in increasing our public value. http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-OK","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":[12,13,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-3146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-principles","7":"tag-arts","8":"tag-community-engagement","9":"tag-mission","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-OK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":452,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2011\/10\/engagement-uber-alles\/","url_meta":{"origin":3146,"position":0},"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. Even if engagement is important for some arts organizations, do I really think it is essential for all? After my Quality and Community posts (Quality and Community; Quality and Community-2),\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\/2011\/09\/Excellence.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":392,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2011\/10\/quality-and-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":3146,"position":1},"title":"Quality and Community","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A respondent to an earlier post raised the issue of \"quality\" with respect to community engagement, suggesting in essence that engagement efforts inevitably result in a reduction in the artistic merit of the work. My response was, among other things, that if there is a decline in artistic quality in\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\/2011\/09\/ElephantInRoom.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":3146,"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":3934,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/12\/excellence-is-heterogeneous\/","url_meta":{"origin":3146,"position":3},"title":"Excellence Is Heterogeneous","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Categories of excellence and of engagement goals, thanks to Nina Simon.","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\/2013\/02\/ExcellenceSign.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5053,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/10\/excellence-and-engagement-iii\/","url_meta":{"origin":3146,"position":4},"title":"Excellence and Engagement: III","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Excellence and Engagement: Considering equity and respect.","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\/2013\/02\/ExcellenceSign.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5041,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/10\/excellence-and-engagement-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":3146,"position":5},"title":"Excellence and Engagement: I","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Excellence and Engagement: Thoughts on Excellence","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\/2013\/02\/ExcellenceSign.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146","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=3146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}