![\"Crowd-Cropped\"](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Crowd-Cropped-e1412550057746.jpg\")
In nearing the final stages of my \u201chow to\u201d book on community engagement, a project about which I have hinted a couple of times here, I have been playing with a new concept that may be helpful in plans to reach those who are not currently involved with the arts. This post and my next two will lay out the basic ideas.<\/p>\n
There is a tendency to look at the universe of non-participants in the arts as an undifferentiated whole except for economic class or racial\/ethnic status. Not being aware of subsets of the collection of those we would like to reach gets in the way of basic marketing efforts. It is also a hindrance in planning for community engagement.<\/p>\n
In the early 1990\u2019s, Bradley Morrison and Julie Dalgleish wrote an interesting book on arts marketing called Waiting in the Wings<\/em>. Some considered it to be a worthy successor to Danny Newman\u2019s iconic book on selling season subscriptions Subscribe Now!<\/em> Morrison and Dalgleish proposed an approach for moving non-participants in the arts to participants and then to core stakeholders. A central feature of the work was an understanding of the population as a whole being divided into Yeses, Maybes, and Noes with respect to arts participation. (The book\u2019s process was designed to convert Maybes to Yeses.) Yeses were those predisposed to be arts patrons. Noes were infants, the infirmed, and the incarcerated. Lumping all others into the Maybe category was highly optimistic. (The Rand Corporation’s New Framework for Building Participation in the Arts<\/em> uses the categories Disinclined, Inclined, and Current Participants for a similar purpose. The National Endowment for the Arts 2015 publication, A Decade of Arts Engagement\u2013<\/em>NEA Research Report #58, identified a category\u2013\u201cinterested non-attendees\u201d\u2013that is parallel to the Maybes discussed here.)<\/p>\n While\u00a0Waiting in the Wings<\/em>‘<\/em> promised great migration of people from Maybe to Yes did not pan out, its acknowledgement of predispositions is an important consideration both for traditional marketing and for community engagement. However, a viable future for the arts industry lies in expanding reach into the category of Maybes and, if definitions different from those used by Morrison and Dagleigh are applied, Noes.<\/p>\n Arts Predispositions Noes<\/p>\n Yeses<\/span> This group is the one (and the only one) for whom \u201cgetting the word out\u201d might be an effective approach to marketing. (Though even with them it is seldom sufficient.) They know about the arts and have enough experience with them to respond when they hear \u201cthe word.\u201d These people make up the core audience of arts organizations. While they cannot (must not) be taken for granted, they do not make up a large enough cohort to support the nonprofit arts industry as it exists today. Certainly work can be done to increase yield among the Yeses and doing so should be an important part of any marketing strategy. However, since its members do not, by and large, represent a new<\/em> community for arts organizations, addressing them is usually not a part of a community engagement plan. This is, however, a practical rather than a theoretical consideration. They are a potentially identifiable community. At the same time, more effective communication with them (and with Maybes) is<\/em> an important element of \u201cgetting from here to there,\u201d regardless of where \u201chere\u201d is.<\/p>\n Next time: Maybes<\/strong> Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n Understanding non-participants. Arts Predispositions: Yeses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3860,"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":"Categories of Arts Non-Participants\u2013Arts Predispositions: Yeses http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-10e","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":[12,13,27,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-3858","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-marketing","12":"tag-relationships","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Crowd-Cropped-e1412550057746.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-10e","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4733,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/11\/who-benefits\/","url_meta":{"origin":3858,"position":0},"title":"Who Benefits?","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"November 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Definitions are important to me. That's probably a reflection of my former life as an academic. (Or, I suppose, it could be why I was an academic.) They've also become critical to my work as an advocate for community engagement. I have presented numerous attempts at defining things like audience\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dictionary","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Dictionary.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4126,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/05\/engage-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":3858,"position":1},"title":"Engage Now!","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"May 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Arts organizations cannot long survive without earning impassioned support from the communities they serve. Communities cannot reach their full potential without the benefits the arts can provide.","rel":"","context":"In "Engage Now"","block_context":{"text":"Engage Now","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/engage-now\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"EngageNowCoverFinal","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/EngageNowCoverFinal-e1429285807202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2818,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/05\/engagement-vocabulary\/","url_meta":{"origin":3858,"position":2},"title":"Engagement Vocabulary","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"May 1, 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 have on a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dictionary","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Dictionary-300x153.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2328,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/01\/an-engagement-continuum\/","url_meta":{"origin":3858,"position":3},"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 "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\/TownHallMeeting-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1602,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/05\/signs-of-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":3858,"position":4},"title":"Signs of Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"May 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"While I'm on a roll with posts dissecting the meaning and nature of engagement (Engagement Is, Audience Development \u201cvs.\u201d Community Engagement, Audience Engagement-Community Engagement), I've got some more issues to raise (or repeat). I have made much of the fact that substantive community engagement (as opposed to audience engagement) is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5381,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/09\/reach-and-frequency\/","url_meta":{"origin":3858,"position":5},"title":"Reach and Frequency","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Community engagement is not just a worthy effort to pursue at the margins. It is critical to the future of individual arts organizations and to our industry as a whole.","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\/2013\/04\/Dictionary.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3858","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=3858"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4004,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3858\/revisions\/4004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Yeses
\nMaybes<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nYeses likely had exposure to, education in, and experience with the arts as children. They are of an economic class with access to disposable income, and they likely are from a cultural background (in broad terms) shared with the work presented by the arts organizations in question.<\/p>\n
\n(Exciting, huh?)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
![\"Attribution\"](\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif\" "\\"Attribution\\""){kind=icon}
<\/a><\/span> Some rights reserved<\/a> by Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It.<\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"