{"id":3881,"date":"2014-10-22T00:13:59","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T04:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=3881"},"modified":"2014-10-22T00:13:59","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T04:13:59","slug":"self-made-barriers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/10\/self-made-barriers\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-Made Barriers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3882\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/BerlinWall.jpg\" alt=\"BerlinWall\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/BerlinWall.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/BerlinWall-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/>In my last post I reflected on the potential damage to relationships (or damage to the capacity to form relationships) with those outside the inner world of the arts that the word &#8220;outreach&#8221; can inflict. (<a title=\"Outreach\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/10\/outreach\/\" target=\"_blank\">Outreach<\/a>) I mentioned that there were other such words or concepts that have the effect of creating or supporting distance between our organizations and those with whom we would like to build meaningful relationships.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There are, in our field, long-standing habits of thought that form barriers. Some of them are words that, like outreach, create an arms length (at least) distance. One is in the title of my book, <em>Building Communities, Not Audiences<\/em>. &#8220;Audience&#8221; implies a separation and an unequal status between &#8220;us&#8221; and &#8220;them.&#8221; Similarly, &#8220;target&#8221; objectifies those we identify with that term. Frankly, &#8220;donor&#8221; is also an objectification. What we value is their money, not them. Marketing research, when focused on quantifying behaviors\u2013attendance and purchases\u2013and analyzing the motivation of choices, can do so as well if it is not grounded in a sense of relationship with the &#8220;objects&#8221; of the research. (As with use of the words outreach, audience, target, and donor, marketing research is valuable. The point here is not to fall down the rabbit hole of objectification. Indeed, I now see yet another blog post on this topic in the immediate future.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is not my intent to eradicate these words from our work. They are too ingrained and there are other far more important battles to fight.\u00a0 And, paying too much attention to this issue can be Lilliputian in the extreme\u2013neither meaningful nor worthwhile. The words <em>can<\/em> serve as extremely handy shorthand, if we understand and fight their implications. For just such reasons of simplicity, I talk about identifying target communities in the process of developing an engagement plan.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The really good news in this is that the potential negative impact of these words and concepts on our work is entirely self-made and self-perpetuated. We can, with a bit of discipline, continue to make good use of them all so long as we understand the pitfalls they present and work to avoid them.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Engage!<\/p>\n<p>Doug<\/p>\n<p>Berlin Wall Photo:<span class=\"ccIcn ccIcnSmall\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-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=\"Noncommercial\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_noncomm_small.gif\" alt=\"Noncommercial\" 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-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/\">Some rights reserved<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/davorg\/\">Dave Cross<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unconscious habits of thoughts can get in the way of relationship building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3882,"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":"Self-Made Barriers\u2013The Obstacles to Relationships We (Unconsciously) Maintain: http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-10B","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":[12,13,27,39,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-3881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-principles","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-community-engagement","10":"tag-marketing","11":"tag-relationships","12":"tag-terminology","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/BerlinWall.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-10B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3875,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/10\/outreach\/","url_meta":{"origin":3881,"position":0},"title":"Outreach","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Outreach\" implies we are at the center and must do \"for\" others rather than \"with.\" That's not a great way to build relationships.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"090806-N-6220J-004","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/SoupKitchen-e1404330931502.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3898,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/11\/partners\/","url_meta":{"origin":3881,"position":1},"title":"Partners","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"November 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The key to our future lies in being valuable and valued.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Habitat-MixingCement","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Habitat-MixingCement-e1412937673848.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6442,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/09\/terminology-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3881,"position":2},"title":"Differentiation","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Differentiating between seemingly related terms is important to understanding them. This post looks at outreach and education in relationship to community engagement.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;10th Anniversary&quot;","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":2724,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/03\/outreach-%e2%89%a0-community-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":3881,"position":3},"title":"Outreach \u2260 Community Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I \u00a0sometimes hear people equate outreach with community engagement. In my ongoing effort to clarify the language we use about these matters, I'd like to differentiate between these two terms. For me, the simplest distinction is that outreach is (at best) done \"for,\" community engagement is done \"with.\" \u00a0Outreach, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NotEqual","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/NotEqual.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4476,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/03\/diversity-and-genuine-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":3881,"position":4},"title":"Diversity and Genuine Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Diversity is not achieved via \"programs.\" It's the result of genuine community engagement\u2013organic, on-going, permanent relationships.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Diversity","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Diversity.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2818,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/05\/engagement-vocabulary\/","url_meta":{"origin":3881,"position":5},"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 &quot;Principles&quot;","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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3881","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=3881"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3908,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3881\/revisions\/3908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}