{"id":4654,"date":"2016-09-21T02:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T06:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=4654"},"modified":"2016-09-12T16:52:05","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T20:52:05","slug":"the-art-of-relevance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/09\/the-art-of-relevance\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Relevance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ArtOfRelevance\"I purchased my copy of Nina Simon\u2019s The Art of Relevance<\/em><\/a> on the first day it was available. I am only now posting comments about it because, frankly, I know more people are paying attention in September than are in July and August.<\/p>\n

Let me begin by saying that Ms. Simon is a gifted, compelling writer. She brings great passion and eloquence to bear on the need for far greater community awareness in the work of arts and cultural organizations. She also has a deep understanding of the power of stories, which she tells well. To say that the book is a quick read is no criticism. Its message needs an army of converts to effect the changes necessary in the nonprofit arts industry.<\/p>\n

Ms. Simon is a practitioner with experience in the trenches and results to back up her points. Of course it would be foolish for me not to acknowledge that her focus on connecting arts organizations with their communities directly parallels my own. We plow in at least some of the same fields; there are many parallels between our messages.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the best thing I can do here is highlight a few of the \u201caha\u201d moments for me in the book. Ms. Simon cites Diedre Wilson and Dan Sperber\u2019s work on Relevance Theory as the underpinning for her book. According to them, there are two criteria that make things relevant:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. How likely . . . new information is to stimulate a positive cognitive effect\u2014to yield new conclusions that matter to you.<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. How much effort is required to obtain and absorb [the] information. The lower the effort, the higher the relevance.<\/em> (32)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It\u2019s the second of those that particularly got my attention. And, upon reflection, I\u2019d separate it into 2a and 2b. The logistics of obtaining the information (how easy\u2013and comfortable\u2013is it to get to a venue, is the time convenient, etc.) are one issue we sometimes address in the arts. The second, how readily understandable (as opposed to opaque) is the experience, is one that is less frequently acknowledged. This is a construct that I hope to remember and make use of going forward.<\/p>\n

    Another valuable insight is that relevance is not<\/em> the same thing as familiarity. If something is difficult to understand, we of course are less able to see its relevance. At the same time, \u201cWhen we identify something new that could bring meaning into our lives without a whole lot of effort, we take the leap. We desire relevance, and we\u2019re willing to take a risk and do some work to get it.\u201d (36) Indeed, Ms. Simon notes that sometimes familiarity is the gateway to irrelevance. Many arts organizations take it as an article of faith that offering free food is a valuable means of getting people in the doors. Considering the need for relevance, Ms. Simon\u2019s Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz eliminated food from its First Friday program. (Food, unless carefully tied to the programming, can be\u2013often is\u2013irrelevant to arts programming.)<\/p>\n

    Within months, attendance had doubled\u2014and everyone was making the trek up the stairs to exhibitions. Within a year, attendance tripled. 1,500 people were coming monthly for an evening of exhibitions, live music, art activities… and no food. . . . It turned out that the food was not relevant. It was a distraction. <\/em>(46)<\/p>\n

    Talk about a counter-intuitive (or counter-common-practice) inspiration!<\/p>\n

    Finally, for now, the bright lights and loud bells moment for me was her insight that \u201cRelevance is an exercise in empathy<\/strong>\u2013understanding what matters to your intended audience, not what matters to you.\u201d Empathy is a vital word that I have not tapped sufficiently in my work attempting to foster effective community engagement. Thanks, Nina.<\/p>\n

    Without a doubt, I highly recommend The Art of Relevance. <\/em>The caveat has to do with how its lessons can be implemented. In this book, in her blog, in my books, in my blog, the function of examples is to show that it can<\/em> be done\u2013that properly designed and implemented community-aware approaches to mission can have exhilarating effects on our institutions. However, the inertia of mental models about the nature of arts organizations gets in the way, even when the spark of inspiration has lit a fire in the minds of their leaders. In addition, we live in a \u201cbest practice\u201d world and look to examples as \u201chow to\u201d road maps. In community\/cultural organization relationships the assets-needs-interests of each are unique and the programs that grow out of them are also unique. They are almost never transferrable. At best, we can glean basic principles of program planning and design.<\/p>\n

    The \u201chow to\u201d is a struggle for most of the organizations with which I have worked. It is certainly a central topic I have attempted to address in this blog and in my second book (Engage Now! A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable<\/em><\/a>). Moving from inspiration to concrete community-aware action is an existential challenge for our industry. I welcome Ms. Simon\u2019s book and point us all toward the further work that needs to be done.<\/p>\n

    Engage!<\/p>\n

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

    Nina Simon’s The Art of Relevance: Relevance is an exercise in empathy\u2013understanding what matters to your intended audience, not what matters to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4658,"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 Art of Relevance by Nina Simon @ninaksimon","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":[10],"tags":[12,13,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-4654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-practice-of-engagement","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-community-engagement","10":"tag-programming","11":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ArtOfRelevance-e1472052591667.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1d4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3934,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/12\/excellence-is-heterogeneous\/","url_meta":{"origin":4654,"position":0},"title":"Excellence Is Heterogeneous","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Categories of excellence and of engagement goals, thanks to Nina Simon.","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\/2013\/02\/ExcellenceSign.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4164,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/06\/community\/","url_meta":{"origin":4654,"position":1},"title":"“Community”","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Thx (yet again) to @ninaksimon: An organization's demonstrable commitment to \"doing good\" in a community will translate into enthusiasm for its work among those with whom we are attempting to engage.","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\/2015\/05\/BirdsInCommunity-e1431455717381.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4305,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/12\/transformative-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":4654,"position":2},"title":"Transformative Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Transformative Engagement\u2013Community engagement (built on community learning) that influences the organization's programming and\/or ways of doing business. Only transformative engagement builds an organization's relevance.","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\/2015\/09\/Caterpillar-Butterfyl-e1443036832677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4874,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/04\/doin-it-museums\/","url_meta":{"origin":4654,"position":3},"title":"Doin’ It: Museums","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Participatory practice in the museum world, mostly sourced from Nina Simon.","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\/02\/MetropolitanMuseum.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3456,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/02\/the-relevance-test\/","url_meta":{"origin":4654,"position":4},"title":"The Relevance Test","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Substantive community engagement is based on being valuable to people in ways that are meaningful to them. 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