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In my last post I reflected on the 2014 Americans for the Arts Conference in Nashville. I concluded by mentioning an important session on diversity and promised a follow-up. There is much discussion (lip service and otherwise) of and occasional work toward diversity and inclusion in the arts industry. One difficulty is that much of the support infrastructure in the arts is connected via metaphorical superglue to the white monied establishment. Much of the time, this connection and its effects are unconscious, making progress or even dialogue difficult.<\/p>\n
In Nashville, the last session I attended was titled “How Do You Diversify Arts Consumers While Maintaining Stability,” facilitated by Carmen Morgan of LA’s LDIR<\/a> (Leadership Development in Intergroup Relations). I mentioned in my previous post that it was a session that allowed for some real expression of feeling from minority group members about the experience of working in majority-dominated environments and, to my mind, some real listening as well. Granted this was a self-selected group early on a Sunday morning and that there was an assumption of some basics (for example, deep awareness of white privilege as well as the difference between prejudice and structural\/institutional racism and other -isms). Nevertheless, it seemed to me, as an over-educated white guy, to be a productive session. I’ve heard minority group members be open about their experiences before, but never at an arts conference. It’s probably not inappropriate to mention that there would be those who might believe the session content strayed from its title, but addressing that title can’t take place without understanding the experience of minority group members inside our organizations.<\/p>\n I am continually struck by the fact that good practice in diversity\/inclusion is the same as good practice in community engagement; I guess that should be no surprise. Ms. Morgan pointed out that diversity\/inclusion work should be systemic and not episodic. Organizations do not get to check their diversity effort box and go on to the next thing. Ditto, community engagement. I was struck by her statement “Communities want to be understood.”<\/strong> That’s a good concept to bear in mind and one that demands effort (being<\/em> there, listening) to accomplish. Again, ditto community engagement. When she admonished us to “use privilege for good,”<\/strong> I was reminded of the feeling I had as a professor when I earned tenure. I had a responsibility to my institution and to my colleagues to use my tenured status to support the long-term good of the institution and, particularly, those around me who did not have tenure. Arts organizations as bastions of privilege have a similar responsibility to “do good” in their communities. Certainly presenting art is a good, but whose art, when, where, why? And what is the impact of that presentation on those to whom it does not speak? Etc., etc.<\/p>\n Considering the session title, there is much discussion of audience diversity<\/strong> in the arts industry. We want it, but what are we willing to do to achieve it? What are we willing to change? <\/strong>The big revelation for me in this session was a new way of looking at the issue of diversity in the arts. I’ve had some of this thought before, but it crystallized that morning:<\/p>\n “Diverse audiences” as a goal is self-serving, it’s self-focused\/artcentric. It’s about making the organization look better or feel better about itself. The goal should be serving\/making life better for diverse communities.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n We should be seeking to use our arts institutions as vehicles to improve the lives of members of those diverse communities we hope to have in our audiences. This is in fact the only<\/em> effective way to diversify our audiences, and it is, not coincidentally, the only effective basis for community engagement.<\/p>\n Thanks, Ms. Morgan, for a powerfully instructive conference session.<\/p>\n Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n Photo: “Diverse audiences” as a goal is self-serving. It\u2019s about making the organization look better or feel better about itself. The goal should be serving\/making life better for diverse communities.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3682,"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":"The Self-Centered Pursuit of Diversity: http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-Xt","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":[53,12,13,42,47,22],"class_list":{"0":"post-3687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-principles","8":"tag-artcentricity","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-community-engagement","11":"tag-diversity","12":"tag-equity","13":"tag-public-good","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Nashville.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-Xt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3679,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/07\/afta-thoughts-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":3687,"position":0},"title":"AftA Thoughts (2014)","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Americans for the Arts held its annual conference in Nashville last month. As always, it was a chance to catch up with long-time colleagues, make new friends, and delve into the issues facing what I call the \"arts establishment.\" I had the pleasure of helping facilitate a gathering of researchers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nashville","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Nashville.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4213,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/07\/afta-thoughts-2015-equity-watershed\/","url_meta":{"origin":3687,"position":1},"title":"AftA Thoughts 2015: Equity Watershed?","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Americans for the Arts 2015 conference in Chicago appeared serious about addressing diversity and equity.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Equity","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Equity-e1435255742641.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3715,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/07\/civil-rights-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":3687,"position":2},"title":"Civil Rights Museum","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The arts can provide opportunities for healing or reconciliation, but developing the relationships that will allow them to be developed requires humility, respect, and serious efforts to understand.","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\/2014\/07\/CivilRightsMuseumImages.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3075,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/09\/diversity-definitions\/","url_meta":{"origin":3687,"position":3},"title":"Diversity Definitions","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Arts and Science Council in Charlotte has been involved in some serious work to promote diversity, access, and inclusion. I attended a session at last June's Americans for the Arts conference in Pittsburgh in which Robert Bush, now Interim Director of the Council, described their efforts. In the twenty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"http:\/\/www.artsandscience.org\/templates\/ascdesign20\/images\/asc-logo.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsandscience.org\/templates\/ascdesign20\/images\/asc-logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4229,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/08\/afta-thoughts-2015-staff-diversity\/","url_meta":{"origin":3687,"position":4},"title":"AftA Thoughts 2015: Staff Diversity","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"What if arts organizations were seen as robust contributors to better lives for African-Americans, Hispanics, recent immigrants, the poor, the disenfranchised? Enhance diversity by being valuable.","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\/06\/DiverseStaff-e1435326777756.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5729,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/10\/doomed-to-fail\/","url_meta":{"origin":3687,"position":5},"title":"Doomed to Fail","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Diversity, equity, and inclusion are vital to the future of the arts. 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<\/a><\/span> Some rights reserved<\/a> by mikerhicks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"