{"id":4189,"date":"2015-06-24T05:14:02","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T09:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=4189"},"modified":"2015-06-24T05:14:02","modified_gmt":"2015-06-24T09:14:02","slug":"of-the-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/06\/of-the-community\/","title":{"rendered":"“Of” the Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CarolinaIn May I had occasion to attend two music festivals of very different kinds. One was a country music event titled HoustonFest<\/a> held in Galax, VA. The other was Greensboro, NC’s 29th Annual Carolina Blues Festival<\/a>. I went to the former largely for family reasons. The blues festival was one I’ve been wanting to take in for a long time. The back-to-back juxtaposition of two such focused celebrations inevitably led to a number of comparisons and an observation or two.<\/p>\n

Both were well run. Both featured performers who were excellent in their genre along with others who were very good, and the performers all understood that their job was to entertain, to connect with their audience. A roaring good time was had by all at each one, and\u2013no coincidence\u2013in each case attendees were very<\/em> familiar with the forms, styles, performers, and songs they were hearing. The enthusiastic responses to the occasional invitation to sing along bore proof of that.<\/p>\n

I am more personally comfortable with the blues, yet I noted that many of the themes and subjects were strikingly similar in each. The blues grew out of a need to chronicle relationships in the black, rural deep South and evolved to feature urban relationships and sensibilities\u2013broken hearts, class conflicts, requited and unrequited love. The same themes populate both traditional and contemporary “country-western” music.<\/p>\n

The obvious takeaway is that both art forms are of<\/em> the people. They reflect experiences that often resonate with the people who support them; tell stories with which they identify. They are of vernacular, indigenous traditions and while both can exhibit moments of silliness and mindless fun, they also have many examples of deeply significant human insight. In short, they can be both reflective and visceral art forms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of the two, the straightforward blues tradition has a somewhat more limited following, although rhythm and blues and its offspring rock and roll (yes, grossly oversimplified, but OK for this purpose) are clearly commercial successes. But it is the “of the people” aspect that caught my attention.<\/p>\n

The themes of all great art have universal application. However, when the modes of expressing those themes is foreign to those we seek to reach, the path to success is substantially more difficult. The fact that we love those modes does not mean that others must or, and here I am moving into controversial territory, that others should<\/em>. Arts programming, as well as marketing, needs to be realistic about what’s possible and what should even be attempted. Let me pause at this point to preempt responses reflecting contempt on those who appreciate country music or the blues but do not respond to the arts we hold dear. There is great depth to be found in both of those musical genres, and vernacular expressions by definition speak directly to those who share the culture from which they spring.<\/p>\n

If we have to educate people within an inch of their lives to get them to the point where they can appreciate something we present, is that the best way to be spending their (and our) time? There are already artistic expressions available to them that can more readily feed their souls. I don’t mean write them off. I am rather saying we should understand the sources of the disconnect and think through ways to provide meaningful experiences to people whose backgrounds make our genres difficult for them to appreciate.<\/p>\n

——————–<\/p>\n

For what it’s worth, Engaging Matters is taking next week off. Happy 4th of July!<\/p>\n

Engage!<\/p>\n

Doug<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consider the difficulties associated with presenting work that is “foreign” to many. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4186,"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":"\"Of\" the Community: Consider the difficulties associated with presenting work that is \"foreign\" to many. http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-15z","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":[12,13,17,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-4189","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-examples-2","11":"tag-relationships","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/CarolinaBluesFest-e1433257138764.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-15z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6394,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/06\/music-as-care\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":0},"title":"Music As Care","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A new book on the arts in health provides an excellent perspective and good advice on effective community engagement.","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\/2021\/06\/MusicAsCareCover-e1623857467821.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4219,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/07\/afta-thoughts-2015-bait-and-switch\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":1},"title":"AftA Thoughts 2015: Bait and Switch","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If we tout the arts as a means of bettering people's lives, we need to be sure that the funding we secure as a result is used in ways that are demonstrably transforming communities.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"CarrotOnString","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/CarrotOnString.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1931,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/09\/citizen-musician-initiative\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":2},"title":"Citizen Musician Initiative","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"EM's List Member Citizen Musicians [This post is by EM's List Editor\/Curator, Stephanie Moore] Citizen Musician Initiative: Chicago Symphony Orchestra Who are Citizen Musicians? 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