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In December, as a ritual family celebration, I accompanied various of our children and significant others to Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium to watch the Panthers play the Saints in what turned out to be (for pro football this year) an important game. So much so that the place was packed with over 73,000 people . . . in what became a torrential rain.<\/p>\n
This was not a pilgrimage of desire for football on my part. Quite the contrary. It was<\/em> a Holiday family bonding opportunity as many of our troupe do love the game and their Panthers. Clearly, they were not alone in that. And once again, I’m finding myself virtually incapable of doing anything without considering implications for the arts and community engagement.<\/p>\n A small city (well, maybe large town is more like it) worth of people paid a lot<\/em> of money to attend an event that could have been far<\/em> more comfortably watched in the comfort of one’s living room (or man cave, presumably). The deluge that broke out in the second half was nearly the heaviest rain I’ve experienced in my lifetime. I’m grateful for a very well-made poncho. So here are some take-aways:<\/p>\n A significant percentage of the attendees were knowledgeable about the game, its technique and execution, and the ramifications of each game for the standings and playoff options. Those who did not play the game as amateurs (and most who did) had taken the time to familiarize themselves with these things.<\/p>\n Rooting for the “home team” is a significant part of the attraction of fandom and, more significantly, the decision to spend money and time on the in-person participation.<\/p>\n Even for those of us who were not wild about football, the game was remarkably more interesting, watchable, and entertaining in person than on TV.<\/p>\n People like to share the game with like-minded people. I saw an astonishing amount of conversation\/interaction among strangers. This is not typical of the way most of us normally live our lives. Such events allow us to bond (superficially, of course) with others in ways we would never do in different circumstances.<\/p>\n As I’ve written before about minor league baseball (Lessons from the Ballpark<\/a>) and Jimmy Buffett concerts (Lessons from a Pirate: I<\/a>), the event, while the critical catalyst for gathering people together, is not the sole attraction. Tailgating, street dancing, chanting, singing, and other forms of communal activity even outside the boundaries of the event facility serve as part of the package that entices people to part with their time and money.<\/p>\n As the Germans would say, aber nat\u00fcrlich<\/em> (roughly, “but of course”).<\/p>\n So, my thoughts for the arts?<\/p>\n Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3371,"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":"73,000 of My Closest Friends Lessons from the NFL: http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-Sm","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-3370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-principles","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-community-engagement","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/PanthersStadium.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s1G6h9-73000","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4272,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/09\/artcentric-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":3370,"position":0},"title":"Artcentric Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In artcentric engagement the community engages with the arts. In transformative engagement, the arts engage with the community.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"EngagementRing","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/EngagementRing-e1429555281389.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2328,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/01\/an-engagement-continuum\/","url_meta":{"origin":3370,"position":1},"title":"An Engagement Continuum","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"[Note to new readers: This is a very old and widely read post. In the interest of providing up-to-date information about thinking on this topic, you can find updated definitions of terminology related to community engagement and related arts management tools on the ArtsEngaged website here.] I'm on a roll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/TownHallMeeting-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1991,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/09\/lessons-from-the-ballpark\/","url_meta":{"origin":3370,"position":2},"title":"Lessons from the Ballpark","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Blogging comes with an \u201coccupational\u201d hazard. Everything you do ends up having the potential for becoming a blog post, often when you least expect it. (Wait until you see the upcoming essay that began at a Jimmy Buffett concert!) Last month I was minding my own business attending a minor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/WS_DashNightGame-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4733,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/11\/who-benefits\/","url_meta":{"origin":3370,"position":3},"title":"Who Benefits?","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"November 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Definitions are important to me. That's probably a reflection of my former life as an academic. (Or, I suppose, it could be why I was an academic.) They've also become critical to my work as an advocate for community engagement. I have presented numerous attempts at defining things like audience\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dictionary","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Dictionary.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2627,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/04\/the-engagement-quiz\/","url_meta":{"origin":3370,"position":4},"title":"The Engagement Quiz","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I am in the midst of a series of workshops and speaking engagements, centered around the theme of Mainstreaming Engagement. One early sponsor, Anne Katz of Arts Wisconsin, asked me to come up with questions for workshop participants to consider ahead of time, and I realized that a set of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"FinalExam","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/FinalExam-300x151.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5590,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/04\/presenter-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":3370,"position":5},"title":"Presenter Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Presenting organizations and community engagement: great potential.","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/SegerstromCenterPlaza.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370","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=3370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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