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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Over the last eighteen months I have begun to put greater emphasis on the need for (and advantages of) simplicity and gradualism in beginning community engagement efforts. [Keep It Simple<\/a>, Essential Gradualism<\/a>] Major community engagement efforts (commissioning work, massive collaborations, large-scale productions) are cool but daunting (and sometimes off-putting to the communities we are trying to reach) to organizations new to substantive engagement and, here’s the important thing, largely counter-productive. Big work should grow out of relationships with communities and it takes a long time to build the trust and understanding required. Too much too soon can drive people away. (And yield meager benefits at best.)<\/p>\n Initial steps in engagement should be, must be, small. This applies to programming, marketing and sales, fundraising, governance, evaluation . . . all aspects of organizational function. Over the next weeks Engaging Matters will devote itself to an examination of the modest, doable steps that can be taken in each area to support early engagement efforts in ways that are relatively inexpensive, not time-consuming, and provide a foundation for larger efforts in the future.<\/p>\n To provide the CliffsNotes overview of all that will follow, the common theme is as simple, inexpensive, and excruciatingly difficult as changing habits of mind. The essential transition is to stop seeing our work as delivering a product that should be<\/em> consumed by a nameless, faceless public and to view it instead as a valuable resource for specific individuals and communities\u00a0whom we know<\/em><\/span><\/strong> (or are getting to know).\u00a0<\/strong>When the board and staff of arts organizations makes this switch and apply it to how they go about their existing tasks, the results will begin to support the work of deep engagement with communities.<\/p>\n Next time I’ll share an overview of some of the means by which we can connect with communities.<\/p>\n Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n Photo:\u00a0 Stop seeing our work as delivering a product that should be consumed by a faceless public and view it instead as a valuable resource for specific individuals and communities\u00a0whom we know.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5119,"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":"","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":[12,13,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-5118","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-gradualism","11":"tag-simplicity","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/BabySteps-e1511189491152.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1ky","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4852,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/03\/essential-gradualism\/","url_meta":{"origin":5118,"position":0},"title":"Essential Gradualism","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In successful engagement work no change should happen quickly. Careening into production prematurely is usually at best off-putting and at worst offensive.","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\/Tortoise.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6476,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/10\/slow-simple\/","url_meta":{"origin":5118,"position":1},"title":"Slow & Simple","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Engaging new communities is an existential imperative. We don\u2019t get a choice about the fact that it takes time. Fortunately, it is best to begin slowly and simply.","rel":"","context":"In "10th Anniversary"","block_context":{"text":"10th Anniversary","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/10th-anniversary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/10.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":5118,"position":2},"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":[]},{"id":3756,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/08\/making-meaningful-connections\/","url_meta":{"origin":5118,"position":3},"title":"Making Meaningful Connections","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Helicon Collaborative and Irvine Foundation's report on engaging with diverse communities.","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\/2014\/07\/Helicon-IrvineConnectionsReport-e1406298763696.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3634,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2014\/06\/develop-allies\/","url_meta":{"origin":5118,"position":4},"title":"Develop Allies","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In Engagement Working Group, I discussed an early step in the process of bolstering an organization's commitment to engagement. Once members of this core group\u2013those who already have an understanding of and firm commitment to this work\u2013have discovered each other and begun talking and planning, it is time to expand\u2026","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":"ClownHuddle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ClownHuddle-300x224.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4025,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/03\/yep-we-do-that-sequel-part-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":5118,"position":5},"title":"Yep, We Do That-Sequel (Part II)","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Questions for assessing engagement readiness-Part II","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ThumbUp","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ThumbUp-e1396538778275.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5118","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=5118"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5208,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5118\/revisions\/5208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5118"}],"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}
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<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Some rights reserved<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0<\/span>Kalyani<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"