![\"Hand\"](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Hand.jpg\")
Much of my pragmatic (as opposed to moral) argument for deep focus on community engagement is of the \u201cinvisible hand\u201d variety. (Thank you Adam Smith.) Economic, cultural, and social forces will inevitably, but without direct action, change the landscape to such an extent that business as usual in the arts will eventually become unsustainable.<\/p>\n
The area where such pressures move from the invisible\/indirect to the visible\/direct is in public policy. It behooves arts organizations to fully embrace their communities because the electorate is changing\u2013rapidly and drastically. The future of governmental support, especially public funding, is not rosy for those institutions that do not have strong relationships with their community. While this has been a fairly easy trend to see coming, the future is now.<\/p>\n
In June, Barry Hessenius reported in Barry\u2019s Blog<\/em> about controversy over public funding in San Francisco. (A Potential Deep Divide in the Arts Sector<\/a>.) A group concerned with cultural equity lobbied vigorously for more funds for organizations not focused on arts of the European aristocratic tradition. Their points included what will inevitably be rallying cries in similar debates across the country:<\/p>\n Another way to think of it is that the criteria whereby public funding decisions (and, yes, private ones too) are often made amounts to a kind of Grandfather Clause for culture. In other words, there is virtually no way for new organizations or ones serving the cultural expression of what have hitherto been minority groups to break into the game.<\/p>\n This is not the first salvo in what will inevitably be a spreading controversy, but it is early and direct about the core issues. It is easy to see why San Francisco is at the forefront. There is a significant amount of money involved, it is one of our most diverse cities, and it is, let\u2019s be honest, in California. Social movements often begin and spread from there. This is definitely a harbinger of things to come.<\/p>\n In his conclusion Mr. Hessenius observed that the status quo will not hold.<\/p>\n [I]n the near future the established cultural sector will no longer be able to claim a disproportionate allocation to itself\u2013irrespective of whatever theory it puts forth to justify its claims<\/span>. <\/em>[Emphasis added]. . . Demand for equity by the multicultural\u00a0communities will inevitably grow and put pressure on all funders\u2013and a more\u00a0equitable distribution of funds will likely mean less funding for the current recipients. . . . [The] . . . former majority cultural community . . . will find its preferred status over.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Unlike the gradual shifts that are resulting from the work of the invisible hands of economic and social changes, the transformation in public policy resulting from demographic shifts in the voting populace will gather momentum over the next generation (or two at most) and become an avalanche. For self-preservation if for no other reason, it is imperative that arts organizations make a serious commitment to:<\/p>\n Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n Photo: Unlike the gradual shifts from economic and social changes, the transformation in public policy resulting from demographic shifts in the voting populace will soon become an avalanche.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3738,"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 Visible Hand-Tectonic Shifts in Public Arts Funding Policies: http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-Yg","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":[4,5],"tags":[12,13,42,47,16],"class_list":{"0":"post-3736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-overview","8":"category-principles","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-community-engagement","11":"tag-diversity","12":"tag-equity","13":"tag-public-policy","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Hand.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-Yg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5002,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/08\/storm-brewing\/","url_meta":{"origin":3736,"position":0},"title":"Storm Brewing","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Another shot in the public policy wars about funding inequity in the arts.","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\/2017\/07\/StormBrewing-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4374,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/01\/public-policy-and-community-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":3736,"position":1},"title":"Public Policy and Community Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Fundraising, marketing, community engagement, and advocacy are all about relationship building.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"BallotBox2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/BallotBox2-e1448900072562.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5396,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/09\/targets-and-timeframes\/","url_meta":{"origin":3736,"position":2},"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":6436,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/09\/terminology\/","url_meta":{"origin":3736,"position":3},"title":"Terminology","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A critical element in effective community engagement is understanding exactly what it is . . . and what it is not.","rel":"","context":"In "10th Anniversary"","block_context":{"text":"10th Anniversary","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/10th-anniversary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4499,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/04\/relationships-and-public-policy\/","url_meta":{"origin":3736,"position":4},"title":"Relationships and Public Policy","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Karen Gahl-Mills This post is part of a series in conjunction with TRG Arts on developing relationships with both new communities and existing stakeholders through artistic programming, marketing and fundraising, community engagement, and public policy. (Cross-post can be found at Analysis from TRG Arts.) I had an interesting conversation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Customer-Client-Collaborator Series"","block_context":{"text":"Customer-Client-Collaborator Series","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/customer-client-collaborator-series\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"GahlMillsHeadshot","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/GahlMillsHeadshot-e1459779165968.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4945,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/06\/engagement-terminology\/","url_meta":{"origin":3736,"position":5},"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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736","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=3736"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3842,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions\/3842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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<\/a><\/span> Some rights reserved<\/a> by jpekstrand<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"