![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/DJrupture.jpg\")
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Some time ago I happened to catch a segment on the PBS News Hour featuring the Harvard educated DJ Jace Clayton<\/a> (who goes by the name DJ\/rupture). He works by collecting music of all kinds from all over the world and creating fusions of many styles. He seeks out interesting and unusual music in villages, street corners, and back alleys. Any music is worthy of consideration. Dancing is, of course, an ultimate goal.<\/p>\n By itself I found this fascinating. However, one quote in particular resonated with me in the context of my work in community engagement. He approaches every locale with the framing question: “What’s special here?”<\/strong> He is of course primarily interested in the music in each place. But it is this wisdom, that every community\u2013every community<\/em>\u2013is a repository of assets of value to many outside the community that leapt out at me.<\/p>\n Too often (far, far too often), work that is thought of as engagement work views the arts organization or arts professional as the exclusive bearer of resources. Of course the prime taboo of engagement is doing things “for” rather than “with” those one is seeking to reach. This inevitably leads to failure and frustration for everyone involved. However, even if a sincere effort has been made to work “with” the community rather than do things “for” it, potential contributions of the community to the project are often missed because no one thought to consider what is special there.<\/p>\n All communities have valuable assets. Identifying and employing them will strengthen, deepen, and make more successful any engagement work.<\/strong><\/p>\n Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n Photo: All communities have valuable assets. Identifying and employing them will strengthen, deepen, and make more successful any engagement 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":"Communities as Resources: Discovering and employing community assets will strengthen any engagement work.","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":[12,13,42,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-4830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-principles","7":"tag-arts","8":"tag-community-engagement","9":"tag-diversity","10":"tag-relationships","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1fU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3522,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/03\/40-years-engaged\/","url_meta":{"origin":4830,"position":0},"title":"40 Years Engaged","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"For forty years the Kronos Quartet has succeeded by maintaining high standards of music making and engagement with the public.","rel":"","context":"In "Examples"","block_context":{"text":"Examples","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/examples\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"KronosQuartet","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/KronosQuartet-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1323,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/03\/art-forms-and-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":4830,"position":1},"title":"Art Forms and Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"WARNING: This post will most interest community engagement geeks like me. In Not (Exactly) about El Sistema, I introduced the notion that the nature of an orchestra (separate from the content of the music performed) was an important factor in its effectiveness as a tool for transforming young people's lives.\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":6094,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2020\/11\/why-engage-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4830,"position":2},"title":"Why Engage?","author":"Guest Blogger","date":"November 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The benefits\u2013to arts organizations and to communities\u2013of engagement.","rel":"","context":"In "Guest Post"","block_context":{"text":"Guest Post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/guest-post\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/PennyBrill.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5335,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/08\/an-orchestral-musicians-view-of-community-engagement-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":4830,"position":3},"title":"An Orchestral Musician\u2019s View of Community Engagement: I","author":"Guest Blogger","date":"August 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Guest post on the value for artists of community engagement work.","rel":"","context":"In "Guest Post"","block_context":{"text":"Guest Post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/guest-post\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/PennyBrill-240x300.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":4830,"position":4},"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 "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\/2021\/04\/Quiz.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4857,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/03\/contextualize-first\/","url_meta":{"origin":4830,"position":5},"title":"Contextualize First","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many works have social themes that are not only of interest but that are deeply meaningful to communities today. Shifting our perspective slightly can open the door to many possibilities for 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\/2017\/02\/OpticalIlusion.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4830","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=4830"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4834,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4830\/revisions\/4834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Attribution\"](\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif\" "\\"Attribution\\""){kind=icon}
<\/a><\/span> Some rights reserved<\/a> by djzippy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"