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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
An occasionally expressed concern about community engagement is that current stakeholders will be driven away by imagined precipitous changes to the organization and\/or its offerings. There are a couple of responses to this that should be comforting. First, community engagement should begin<\/em> with the community that is your core constituents. Getting their feedback on plans and involving them in the process of making your organization indispensable to the larger community can make of them allies and cheerleaders in all engagement processes. (Also, as I’ll discuss next time, any initial changes should be gradual anyway.)<\/p>\n However, the thing on my mind here is that in successful engagement work no change should happen quickly<\/strong>. As I pointed out some time ago in Develop Allies<\/a>:<\/p>\n Just as important will be reassurance that it is possible to begin engagement work incrementally. That is, the next show\/season will not suddenly consist of work foreign to the current staff and support base. Indeed, relationship building is time-consuming work so the results of engagement with new communities should not be immediate or pervasive. This is one place where the lengthy process of engagement is a benefit.<\/em><\/p>\n We in the arts have an understandable desire to rush to action. Ours is an event production business. We exist to do<\/em>. In community engagement work, though, this instinct is almost inevitably counter-productive. We cannot present\u2013or even suggest\u2013meaningful work until we have a reasonable understanding of the interests of the community with which we want to engage. Careening into production prematurely is usually at best off-putting and at worst offensive. Give the relationship time to reveal how best to partner with a new community.<\/p>\n Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n Photo: In successful engagement work no change should happen quickly. Careening into production prematurely is usually at best off-putting and at worst offensive. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4854,"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":"Essential Gradualism: In community engagement, slow change is not only helpful, it is critical.","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":[12,13,51,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-4852","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-implementation","11":"tag-relationships","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Tortoise.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1gg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4997,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/08\/the-boards-role-in-community-engagement-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":4852,"position":0},"title":"The Board’s Role in Community Engagement: II","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The board of directors can and should be a supportive resource for community engagement.","rel":"","context":"In "The Practice of Engagement"","block_context":{"text":"The Practice of Engagement","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/the-practice-of-engagement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/BoardOfDirs-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5411,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/10\/the-state-of-engagement-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4852,"position":1},"title":"Needs of the Field","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"What needs to happen to more fully embed nonprofit arts organizations in their communities.","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\/2018\/09\/PonderingVista.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4631,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/08\/fifth-anniversary-highlights-transformative-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":4852,"position":2},"title":"Fifth Anniversary Highlights: Transformative Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If an organization is not doing anything differently as a result of its engagement efforts, it\u2019s not focused on the community. It\u2019s focused on itself.","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\/2016\/07\/FiveCandles.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6447,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/09\/employee-engagement-as-a-strategy-for-community-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":4852,"position":3},"title":"Employee Engagement as a Strategy for Community Engagement","author":"Guest Blogger","date":"September 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Guest blogger Kathleen Riemenschneider on the relationship between employee engagement and community 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\/2021\/09\/EE-CE-figure-scaled-e1631121726103.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/EE-CE-figure-scaled-e1631121726103.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/EE-CE-figure-scaled-e1631121726103.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/EE-CE-figure-scaled-e1631121726103.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/EE-CE-figure-scaled-e1631121726103.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4305,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/12\/transformative-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":4852,"position":4},"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":3958,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/01\/engagement-principles-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4852,"position":5},"title":"Engagement Principles: Current Thoughts","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Engagement Principles: Humility, respect, reciprocity, mutual benefit, core motivations","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ThinkerWithSunburst","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/ThinkerWithSunburst.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4852","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=4852"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4856,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4852\/revisions\/4856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4852"}],"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 NH53<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"