{"id":4773,"date":"2016-12-07T02:00:16","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T07:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=4773"},"modified":"2016-12-05T12:04:04","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T17:04:04","slug":"middle-class-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/12\/middle-class-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle Class Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4787 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/IowaStateFair.jpg\" alt=\"iowastatefair\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/IowaStateFair.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/IowaStateFair-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/>For the many of us reeling from the recent election, middle class communities are much on our minds. I&#8217;ve written about it twice already: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/11\/blindsided\/\" target=\"_blank\">Blindsided<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/11\/should-we-bother\/\" target=\"_blank\">Should We Bother?<\/a> I thought it might be good to dig a little deeper into what this might mean for community engagement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The beauty of my operating definition of community\u2013a group of people with something in common\u2013is its flexibility. I know it is woefully inadequate in sociological (or most other) realms but it works perfectly for community engagement planning. We can use it to identify groups with which we want to develop relationships and proceed to the work of doing so.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ronia Holmes recently pointed out here (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/11\/your-organization-sucks-at-community-and-let-me-tell-you-why\/\" target=\"_blank\">Your organization &#8216;sucks&#8217; at community and let me tell you why<\/a>) that our field\u2013both funders and arts organizations\u2013has inappropriately identified community engagement as work with marginalized communities. And as she also pointed out, the attempts at cultural colonization that often result are far too frequently condescending, wrong-headed, and breathtakingly ineffective. I have long held that middle class communities (and many other non-marginalized communities) are communities that should be considered for engagement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So how might we proceed? The principles are the same regardless of the community we are trying to engage. Most importantly <strong>we need to learn about the community before daring to create programming<\/strong>. There are questions to ask that can provide helpful insight. At the risk of repeating myself, here are two sets of questions I&#8217;ve presented here before.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>When you think of our [city, state, region] what are the most important things that come to mind about:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Geography<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Climate<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Regional History and Historic Events<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Cultural Expression and Heritage<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Creative Legacy (<\/em>e.g.<em>, artists and inventors)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Food and Drink<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Character of the people<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Athletic Teams<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>On a more personal or individual level, the following can be good conversation starters. They also demonstrate that you are truly attempting to get to know them.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>What about your community makes you proud?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>What is important to you about your community?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>What about your community do you wish were different?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>What do you wish others knew about your community?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>What are particular creative or cultural resources (people, organizations, or activities) that might help others better understand it? Or Who are the cultural workers\/arts makers in your community?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The answers to these questions can help us understand communities with which we might be unfamiliar and inform our work with them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What might we learn in asking these questions of rural communities or middle class suburban and urban ones? Some of the key concerns\/points of pride might include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">Home and family<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">Their children&#8217;s education<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">Their geographical community and its history<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">All of these have natural connections to things the arts can highlight and support: participatory family activities, arts and education (!), and community celebrations to name a few. There will be, of course, many items specific to a locale as well. The first step is developing a willingness to <em>be<\/em> a resource for these communities. Then we need to enter into dialogue to develop trust, just like we must do with more obviously marginalized communities. <strong>It&#8217;s a nearly unaddressed issue within the nonprofit arts industry that we are widely viewed as elitist and irrelevant to &#8220;the person on the street.&#8221;<\/strong> Overcoming that impression will take commitment and a considerable amount of conversation up front. Mutually beneficial programming can follow and will lead to greater support.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Engage!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Doug<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Photo:<span class=\"ccIcn ccIcnSmall\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/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=\"No Derivative Works\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_noderivs_small.gif\" alt=\"No Derivative Works\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/span> <a title=\"Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\">Some rights reserved<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ieph\/\" target=\"_blank\">ieph<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a nearly unaddressed issue that we are widely viewed as elitist and irrelevant. Overcoming that impression will take commitment and a considerable amount of work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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":"Middle Class Communities: Thoughts on engagement","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":[12,13,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-4773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-the-practice-of-engagement","7":"tag-arts","8":"tag-community-engagement","9":"tag-relationships","10":"entry","11":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1eZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3720,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/07\/community-engagement-%e2%89%a0-charity\/","url_meta":{"origin":4773,"position":0},"title":"Community Engagement \u2260 Charity","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of weeks ago my blogging buddy Trevor O'Donnell posted one of his parting essays, \"Community Engagement is a Lousy Way to Sell\u00a0Tickets.\" [Disclosure: we had been corresponding on the subject in the days ahead of that post.] In it he highlights the fact that community engagement does not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Overview&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"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":6371,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/04\/engagement-readiness-quiz\/","url_meta":{"origin":4773,"position":1},"title":"Engagement Readiness Quiz","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A simple quiz in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder trial verdict to determine if your organization is ready for community engagement.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Overview&quot;","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\/2021\/04\/Quiz.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2831,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/05\/engagement-vocabulary-in-action\/","url_meta":{"origin":4773,"position":2},"title":"Engagement Vocabulary in Action","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"May 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In an effort to clarify the points from my last two posts (Engagement Vocabulary and Parsing Vocabulary), I'm going to try to describe the differences among audience development, audience engagement, and community engagement by using a specific work produced by an arts organization as an example. [But first, to re-repeat,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Examples&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Examples","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/examples\/"},"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":5279,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/05\/justice-and-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":4773,"position":3},"title":"Justice and Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"May 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In attempting to engage many communities, working for justice is critical; however, advocating for engagement does not diminish the need to work for justice as well.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","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\/2018\/03\/JusticeStatue-185x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3972,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/01\/notes-from-st-louis\/","url_meta":{"origin":4773,"position":4},"title":"Notes from St. Louis","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Work in St. Louis: addressing myths\/misunderstandings about community engagement and beginning to work with organizations on engagement planning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Overview&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"StLouis","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/StLouis-e1418158101316.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2818,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/05\/engagement-vocabulary\/","url_meta":{"origin":4773,"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\/4773","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=4773"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4791,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4773\/revisions\/4791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}