{"id":3612,"date":"2014-05-28T05:50:51","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T09:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=3612"},"modified":"2014-05-28T05:50:51","modified_gmt":"2014-05-28T09:50:51","slug":"engagement-working-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/05\/engagement-working-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Engagement Working Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PenguinConspiracy\"This is part of my continuing series on “How” to build a community-focused arts organization. An early step is organizing a group of “believers” who can work to generate enthusiasm and support for a transition. For lack of a better term, I call this an engagement working group. The means by which potential members of such a group \u201cfind\u201d each other can be as varied as are organizations. Some individuals probably already are aware of like-minded colleagues. Others can be identified by sharing short articles or examples and gauging the enthusiasm with which their peers respond.<\/p>\n

Once organized, this group can spend time becoming more familiar with the principles and practice of engagement as well as with examples of success. Over time, plans for opening dialogue about the merits of community engagement among the rest of the staff and, eventually, the board can be developed.<\/p>\n

A valuable starting place in those considerations is assessing the readiness of each constituency. As discussed in Yep, We Do That<\/a>, there are often conflicting assumptions about the actual depth of commitment to engagement in arts organizations. That post contained questions to raise as an aid in understanding that community engagement demands a deeper restructuring of thought and decision-making processes than some imagine.<\/p>\n

For these purposes, it can be helpful to become more fully aware of the attitudes of principal players. Creating a chart in which the internal stakeholders (CEO, administrative staff, artistic director, artistic staff, and board) are rated as being negative, skeptical, ambivalent, interested, or enthusiastic about community engagement can aid planning for approaches to use with each. (In chart form this can be graphically illuminating.)<\/p>\n

It is essential, however, to understand that the ratings need to be based on serious understanding of engagement, not simply lip service to an abstract (and poorly understood) concept. In other words, the ratings should not be those that would be self-reported by each individual or category. They must reflect the actual commitment to substantive engagement long-time readers of Engaging Matters will recognize. This form of knowledge is an important early step in becoming an “engaged” organization. Once this has been done, it is possible to develop plans for developing allies, increasing the number of stakeholders committed to truly valuing a focus on community.<\/p>\n

Engage!<\/p>\n

Doug<\/p>\n

Photo: \"Attribution\"\"Noncommercial\"<\/a><\/span> Some rights reserved<\/a> by blue_j<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Assembling a core team and assessing readiness on the path to engagement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3619,"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":"Engagement Working Group-Assembling a core team and assessing readiness on the path to engagement: http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-Wg","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":[10],"tags":[12,13,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-3612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-practice-of-engagement","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-community-engagement","10":"tag-implementation","11":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/PenguinConspiracy-e1400685832905.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-Wg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6034,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2020\/09\/community-engagement-network\/","url_meta":{"origin":3612,"position":0},"title":"Community Engagement Network","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Community Engagement Network\u2013offering support to people working in the arts and community engagement.","rel":"","context":"In "Community Engagement Network"","block_context":{"text":"Community Engagement Network","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/community-engagement-network\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Network.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5396,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/09\/targets-and-timeframes\/","url_meta":{"origin":3612,"position":1},"title":"Targets and Timeframes","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"To be sustainable, community engagement must benefit the arts organization in tangible ways. To be supported institutionally, the path to ticket sales, funding, and public policy must be articulated and tracked.","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\/2018\/09\/TargetWithArrows-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4945,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/06\/engagement-terminology\/","url_meta":{"origin":3612,"position":2},"title":"Engagement Terminology","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We need good definitions to make our work more effective. Here is an updated set from my perspective, for what it's worth.","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\/2015\/08\/Dictionary-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4595,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/07\/community-engagement-training-request-for-assistance\/","url_meta":{"origin":3612,"position":3},"title":"Community Engagement Training?\u2013Request for Assistance","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A request for advice on the need for and nature of community engagement training for the field.","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":"Help?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Help-e1467384634528.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2312,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/01\/new-thought\/","url_meta":{"origin":3612,"position":4},"title":"New Thought on Audience and Community Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 16, 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.] Let me make it\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\/ThinkingPleaseWait.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5279,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/05\/justice-and-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":3612,"position":5},"title":"Justice and Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"May 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In attempting to engage many communities, working for justice is critical; however, advocating for engagement does not diminish the need to work for justice as well.","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\/2018\/03\/JusticeStatue-185x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3612","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=3612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}