{"id":3659,"date":"2014-08-20T04:44:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-20T08:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=3659"},"modified":"2014-08-20T04:44:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T08:44:00","slug":"rationales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/08\/rationales\/","title":{"rendered":"Rationales"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3668\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Why-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Why?\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Why-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Why.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>As I&#8217;ve mentioned before, I&#8217;m in the process of developing training options for arts organizations seeking a unified approach to community engagement\u2013systemic, mainstreamed, and involving every facet of the work. Part of that, a relatively simple one to be sure, has been drafting descriptions of it. Several early comments suggested the need for including the rationale for community engagement. A first pass yielded the following:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Fundraising: When the arts connect with communities around issues beyond the arts, a wider range of funding options become available. Funders\u2013individual, corporate, and foundation\u2013that do not fund the arts will support projects that address, for example, civic improvement, education, healthcare, or social services.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Sales: When new communities see an arts organization cares about them, they are more open to participating in its programming, especially when that programming speaks directly to their concerns.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Programming: High quality work that inspires the passions of a community energizes the presenter. Art rooted in diverse cultural expressions enriches both the organization and the industry.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Public Policy: When arts organizations visibly serve the public good, the voting population comes to support them. This translates into more beneficial policies and greater potential for governmental appropriations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">One friend, a prominent figure in a national arts service organization, was concerned by the pragmatic tone of the list. Their point was that these arguments seem self-serving. These reasons have an inward focus (OK, I&#8217;ll use the word yet again\u2013artcentricity) and if that is the motivation it will not, in the end, be successful. My colleague said the important reason for engagement was that the arts are a vital resource for individuals and communities; engagement should be essential because of the mission (not to mention the legal requirements inherent in 501(c)(3) status).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That stopped me in my tracks because I&#8217;ve always believed that what I call &#8220;the moral argument&#8221; is the most important one. I&#8217;ve just reviewed some of my earlier posts and was reminded that I&#8217;ve discussed this before. I&#8217;ve cited the practical reasons for engagement but cautioned that they can be distractions from the business of building relationships. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/01\/an-engagement-continuum\/\" target=\"_blank\">An Engagement Continuum<\/a>, I even said, &#8220;Cynics might call this [pursuing the practical benefits of engagement] Machiavellian: serving self-interest under cover of a benevolent fa\u00e7ade. I prefer to frame it as doing well by doing good.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Yet, I have found that inertia and vested interests almost demand highlighting the practical benefits of engagement. Even on a personal note, it is the difficulties the nonprofit arts industry faces as a result of the lack of engagement that first prompted my thinking about the whole topic. But this is an important element for me to remember in following through on engagement training. There will, eventually, <em>be<\/em> practical benefits, but the focus cannot be on them. Effective engagement requires belief in its centrality to the true mission of arts organizations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Engage!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Doug<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Photo: <span class=\"ccIcn ccIcnSmall\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Attribution\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif\" alt=\"Attribution\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/span> <a title=\"Attribution License\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\">Some rights reserved<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/editor\/\" target=\"_blank\">Editor B<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Which reasons are more important in becoming more effectively engaged with the community\u2013the &#8220;moral&#8221; ones or the practical ones?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3668,"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":"Rationales\u2013Moral and practical reasons for community engagement:  http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-X1","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":[5,10],"tags":[12,13,31,22],"class_list":{"0":"post-3659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-principles","8":"category-the-practice-of-engagement","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-community-engagement","11":"tag-mainstreaming","12":"tag-public-good","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Why.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-X1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2307,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/01\/mainstreaming-on-my-mind\/","url_meta":{"origin":3659,"position":0},"title":"Mainstreaming on My Mind","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My basic beliefs about the arts and community engagement are fairly well-known to anyone who reads this blog or who has read my book. 1) Community engagement is vital to a healthy future for the arts; 2) substantive community engagement is relatively rare in the established arts world; and 3)\u2026","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\/2012\/12\/OnMyMind.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":3659,"position":1},"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 &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":"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":2873,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/05\/lessons-from-the-road\/","url_meta":{"origin":3659,"position":2},"title":"Lessons from the Road","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"May 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Since mid-January I have been on a whirlwind tour of the U.S. (and Toronto). I have kept thinking I am going to stop and reflect on all I've learned. So far, though, there's not been time. But I thought I'd at least take a few moments to thank all of\u2026","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":"north america - Google Maps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/NorthAmerica-300x152.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4272,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/09\/artcentric-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":3659,"position":3},"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 &quot;Principles&quot;","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":6034,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2020\/09\/community-engagement-network\/","url_meta":{"origin":3659,"position":4},"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 &quot;Community Engagement Network&quot;","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":2328,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/01\/an-engagement-continuum\/","url_meta":{"origin":3659,"position":5},"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 &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\/2012\/12\/TownHallMeeting-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659","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=3659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3819,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659\/revisions\/3819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}