{"id":3849,"date":"2014-09-24T05:33:05","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T09:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=3849"},"modified":"2014-09-24T05:33:05","modified_gmt":"2014-09-24T09:33:05","slug":"learning-to-be-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/09\/learning-to-be-local\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Be Local"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3827\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/YouAreHerePlate-e1409949020727.jpg\" alt=\"YouAreHerePlate\" width=\"301\" height=\"200\" \/>As discussed in my last post, an essential element of community engagement is being \u201cof\u201d the community. In order to do that, it is necessary to understand the true character, the essence of that community. There is, of course, no monolithic essence in any geographical community, but there may be commonalities that bind many of the communities in a region. Spending the time to learn these things is important and is, at least to some extent, separate from discovering the needs and aspirations of individual communities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sara Lutman\u2019s meditation upon being \u201cMinnesotan\u201d (presented in <a title=\"Being Local\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/09\/being-local\/\" target=\"_blank\">Being Local<\/a>) suggested what could be elements of core identity in the upper Midwest. Core identity naturally skews toward that of majority populations. Therefore only those things that are as universal as possible should be considered. A region\u2019s geography, climate, history, cultural expression, and, yes, athletic teams offer such opportunities. With respect to history and cultural heritage, however, it must be remembered that different subgroups may have profoundly different attitudes. In the South, for instance, the slave, poor white, and slave owner experiences have created, in their descendants, <em>vastly<\/em> divergent views of the region\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The answers to the questions below are but one sampling of things that might be addressed in efforts to become more locally oriented.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em>When you think of our [city, state, region] what are the most important things that come to mind about:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px;\"><em>Geography<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Climate<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Regional History and Historic Events<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Cultural Expression and Heritage<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Creative Legacy (e.g., artists and inventors)<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Food and Drink<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Character of the people<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Athletic Teams<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Creating listening sessions in which an organization asks such questions serves to obtain the answers <em>and <\/em>demonstrate to the community that the organization is serious about deepening its commitment to community focus. The ways such knowledge can be put to use in programming decisions are as numerous as the communities of which the questions are asked and the types of organizations that might ask them. The only real limits are the imagination and will of those doing the programming.<\/p>\n<p>Engage!<\/p>\n<p>Doug<\/p>\n<p>Photo:<span class=\"ccIcn ccIcnSmall\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Attribution\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif\" alt=\"Attribution\" border=\"0\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Share Alike\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_sharealike_small.gif\" alt=\"Share Alike\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/span> <a title=\"Attribution-ShareAlike License\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\">Some rights reserved<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cibomahto\/\" target=\"_blank\">cibomahto<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learning to Be Local\u2013initial thoughts on how.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3827,"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":"Learning to Be Local\u2013initial thoughts on how:  http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-105","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":[12,13,51,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-3849","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-implementation","12":"tag-relationships","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/YouAreHerePlate-e1409949020727.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-105","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4435,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/03\/community-learning\/","url_meta":{"origin":3849,"position":0},"title":"Community Learning","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Community learning, coming to understand the identity and nature of a community, is the foundation of successful 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":"Learning","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Learning.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5191,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/01\/be-what-you-are\/","url_meta":{"origin":3849,"position":1},"title":"Be What You Are","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Arts events bring people together, literally. Use this as a means of bringing people together *and* learning about them.","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\/2018\/01\/EasyButton-300x189.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5212,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/02\/know-your-communities\/","url_meta":{"origin":3849,"position":2},"title":"Know Your Communities","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"While what\u2019s needed demands, for many organizations, a seismic shift, that is not the fault of community engagement. It\u2019s the fault of our marketing history and practices.","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\/2018\/01\/Know-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5219,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/02\/engagement-at-the-core\/","url_meta":{"origin":3849,"position":3},"title":"Engagement at the Core","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Early in engagement simply imagine how a commitment to relationship building might affect and improve results in work already being done. In other words, keep it simple.","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\/2018\/01\/EasyButton-300x189.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5203,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/02\/present-what-you-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":3849,"position":4},"title":"Present What You Do","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Present What You Do: Community engagement can be supported with little initial change to programming.","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\/2018\/01\/OfferFlowers-206x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5541,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/02\/creative-placemaking-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3849,"position":5},"title":"Creative Placemaking","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Good work with communities demands listening to and learning from the people with whom we work.","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\/2019\/02\/CraneCEN_Conversation-500x419.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849","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=3849"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3855,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3849\/revisions\/3855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}