{"id":3387,"date":"2014-01-15T06:48:20","date_gmt":"2014-01-15T11:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=3387"},"modified":"2014-01-15T06:48:20","modified_gmt":"2014-01-15T11:48:20","slug":"dark-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/01\/dark-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Future?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-3389\" alt=\"TunnelOpening\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/TunnelOpening-225x300.jpg\" width=\"203\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/TunnelOpening-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/TunnelOpening.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/>In a recent post, Elizabeth Merritt, the founder of the American Association of Museum&#8217;s Center for the Future of Museums, gave a good synopsis of impending threats to nonprofit status that the arts may well be facing in the near (or immediate) future. (<a href=\"http:\/\/futureofmuseums.blogspot.com\/2014\/01\/dark-futures-nonprofit-fragmentation.html\" target=\"_blank\">Dark Futures: Nonprofit Fragmentation<\/a>) The essence of the argument is that in a time of budgetary despair for government, there is great pressure to examine the legitimacy of the tax benefits granted the nonprofit sector. We are already seeing the proliferation of voluntary (and not-so-voluntary) PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) and crowds at the barricades questioning the nonprofit status of gigantic hospitals and amply endowed universities.<\/p>\n<p>The likelihood is that a public re-examination of 501(c) status is on the horizon. (For those unaware, 501(c)(3) is only one of the tax exempt status categories, but it is the one into which most nonprofit arts organizations fall.) This will apply to all nonprofits and will likely have a strong element of evaluating the relative worthiness of the differing elements of the field, once again raising the question of social service providers <em>versus<\/em> all others, including the arts.\u00a0 And, for all the legitimate arguments to the contrary there is a fairly broad-based assumption on the part of the public that the arts are <em>for<\/em> those with money, education, and\/or power\u2013not the 99% or 47% or whatever clich\u00e9d percentage you choose to employ.<\/p>\n<p>Whenever some segment of the arts community sounds as if it feels entitled to public support, whenever there is artcentricity (focus on the art rather than its impact on people), whenever there is out-of-hand dismissal (based on stilted notions of curatorship and\/or &#8220;quality&#8221;) of calls for community awareness in programming, this unfortunate (and now potentially debilitating) assumption is bolstered.<\/p>\n<p>It is critical for the future health of the arts sector that we act preemptively to change the perception. As I have said before, we must come to be seen as\u00a0 valuable by <em>being<\/em> valuable to communities. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/02\/matter-by-mattering\/\" target=\"_blank\">Matter by Mattering<\/a>) This is not to say that there is not good work happening. Far, far from it. However, in the face of this looming threat, <em>all<\/em> arts organizations must examine their relationships with communities (of every kind) around them and learn (and work) to more fully<\/p>\n<p>Engage!<\/p>\n<p>Doug<\/p>\n<p>Photo:<a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/2.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Attribution\" alt=\"Attribution\" src=\"http:\/\/l.yimg.com\/g\/images\/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif\" border=\"0\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Noncommercial\" alt=\"Noncommercial\" src=\"http:\/\/l.yimg.com\/g\/images\/cc_icon_noncomm_small.gif\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a> <a title=\"Attribution-NonCommercial License\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\">Some rights reserved<\/a> by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dippy_duck\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mr. Ducke<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A re-examination of 501(c) status is on the horizon. This will pit social service providers against all others. In the face of this threat, we must learn to more fully engage with our communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3389,"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":"Dark Future? Engage with communities to support friendlier public policy: http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-SD","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":[4],"tags":[12,13,48,22,16],"class_list":{"0":"post-3387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-overview","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-community-engagement","10":"tag-mission","11":"tag-public-good","12":"tag-public-policy","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/TunnelOpening.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-SD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4250,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/08\/public-charity\/","url_meta":{"origin":3387,"position":0},"title":"Public Charity","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Every arts organization is, in the eyes of the tax code, a public charity. What should that mean in the ways we conduct our business and interact with our communities?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IRS_Form990-2014","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IRS_Form990-2014-e1437588254901.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4415,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/02\/funding-is-not-an-issue\/","url_meta":{"origin":3387,"position":1},"title":"Funding Is Not an &#8220;Issue&#8221;","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Insufficiency of funds will never go away. It's a state of being in the nonprofit sector. Overfocus on it can get in the way of addressing potential causes of the insufficiency.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Overview&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gold","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Gold-e1427122302387.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5606,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/05\/gaia-healthcare-and-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":3387,"position":2},"title":"Gaia, Healthcare, and the Arts","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"May 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Pondering the future of big-box nonprofit arts institutions.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Overview&quot;","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\/Earth-BlueMarble.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4993,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/08\/the-boards-role-in-community-engagement-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":3387,"position":3},"title":"The Board&#8217;s Role in Community Engagement: I","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The board of directors can and should be a supportive resource for community engagement.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Practice of Engagement&quot;","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\/06\/BoardOfDirs-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3659,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/08\/rationales\/","url_meta":{"origin":3387,"position":4},"title":"Rationales","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Which reasons are more important in becoming more effectively engaged with the community\u2013the \"moral\" ones or the practical ones?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Why?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Why-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6612,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2022\/04\/assessing-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":3387,"position":5},"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 &quot;The Practice of Engagement&quot;","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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3387","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=3387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}