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This is yet another example of how it’s nearly impossible for me to get away from things that tie in to the content of this blog. In September, during my trip to California to work with James Irvine Foundation grantees, I took some time to “play” in Napa Valley. One stop was at the Robert Mondavi Winery. We took an official tour led by one of Mondavi’s wine chemists. This was a man whose passion and life work is great wine. He knows his stuff and could go on interminably about the chemistry of wine making. But he did not.<\/p>\n
He told us that the driving force in his life now was introducing people to excellent wine and helping them appreciate it. He explained things in ways that those of us who were not experts could understand. He also acknowledged that his preference was for wines that simply “tasted good.” He shared with us a frustration with oenologists and connoisseurs who believed that complexity of taste was the most important element in determining the quality of a wine. To our guide, that was a perspective that kept the non-expert away from wine and from its enjoyment. He was concerned that a focus on esoteric knowledge created an insider\/outsider split that would limit the number of people who would be drawn to good wine; his was a passion to include.<\/p>\n
To be clear, knowledge of wine improves appreciation of it, at least up to a point. The point where knowledge moves beyond educating the palate to secret handshake excluding the masses is the point where any field cuts itself off from the world.<\/p>\n
There is great depth in great art, and the deeper the understanding, the greater the enjoyment. However, there is real danger of knowledge becoming a fence that has the effect of keeping non-initiates out through 1) making them feel inferior or unwelcome and 2) creating a sense of superiority among\u00a0 the “insiders” that is felt as condescension. (See Discovering Humility<\/a>) Our industry cannot afford to surround itself with artificial barriers to appreciation of what we do. On the contrary, circumstances are such that, like our guide at Mondavi, we must reach out beyond the inner circle and do everything we can to help them find a way in.<\/p>\n Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n This is yet another example of how it’s nearly impossible for me to get away from things that tie in to the content of this blog. In September, during my trip to California to work with James Irvine Foundation grantees, I took some time to “play” in Napa Valley. One stop was at the Robert […]<\/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":"Inside\/Outside: The difficult trick of pairing expertise with inclusivity. http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-Pz","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":[12,13,48,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-3197","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":"tag-relationships","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-Pz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4781,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/12\/wine-and-cheese\/","url_meta":{"origin":3197,"position":0},"title":"Wine and Cheese?","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Why is our industry so closely tied to wine and cheese?","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":"beer_and_wine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Beer_and_Wine-e1479400193991.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5835,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2020\/02\/planting-vineyards\/","url_meta":{"origin":3197,"position":1},"title":"Planting Vineyards","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Engaging new communities is an existential imperative. We don't get a choice about the fact that it takes time. Vines take years before they produce. The same is true of some aspects of community engagement.","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\/2020\/01\/NewVIneyard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3824,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/09\/being-local\/","url_meta":{"origin":3197,"position":2},"title":"Being Local","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Artcentric organizations see \u201cthe art world\u201d as their frame of reference; their programs are reflect the traditions (usually European) of their art form rather than the character of their communities.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"YouAreHerePlate","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/YouAreHerePlate-e1409949020727.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3370,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/01\/73000\/","url_meta":{"origin":3197,"position":3},"title":"73,000 of My Closest Friends","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Random Lessons from the NFL: 1) Develop opportunities for adult participation. 2) The event is not the sole attraction. 3) Commit to service. 4) Let's not get stuck in a wine ghetto.","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\/12\/PanthersStadium.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4862,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/03\/doin-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":3197,"position":4},"title":"Doin’ It","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Our industry as a whole is in desperate need of larger percentages of the population \"doing\" the arts.","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\/02\/YouthSoccer.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1903,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/08\/engagement-principles\/","url_meta":{"origin":3197,"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. In a recent post, Thriving in the social media gift economy, she discussed some important social media concepts, comparing the market economy with the \"gift\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3197","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=3197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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<\/a> Some rights reserved<\/a> by CC Chapman<\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"