{"id":5238,"date":"2018-03-07T02:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T07:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=5238"},"modified":"2018-03-05T12:06:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T17:06:11","slug":"systemically-privileged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/03\/systemically-privileged\/","title":{"rendered":"Systemically Privileged"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"People concerned about issues related to the arts and equity (funding is just one area) have used many terms to describe the juggernaut that is the world of symphonies, ballet companies, museums, and theaters. Most of the terminology used is either offensive or absurdly complex (and\/or unwieldy). \u201cMainstream\u201d illustrates the former. It implies this Eurocentric world to be the standard, the \u201cnormal.\u201d It places it at the center, marginalizing those organizations that, by use of the term, are outside the mainstream. Another descriptor, one of my favorites\u2013European aristocratic cultural tradition preservation societies\u2013illustrates the latter (and is also, of course, a \u201cbit\u201d confrontational).<\/p>\n

For the record, I do understand that many members of the symphony\/ballet\/museum\/ theater world do not consider themselves juggernaut-worthy. Most are painfully aware of their constant struggle for funds, recognition, etc. and cannot imagine themselves to be \u201cbig dogs.\u201d But their perspective is from the top of the food chain. It is only those arts organizations that are profoundly under-resourced in comparison<\/em> that can see this.<\/p>\n

Recently I have begun to experiment with a new label. The issue here is the historic preference given to presenters of a particular cultural tradition in the context of a rapidly diversifying society. Eurocentric arts organizations receive (and have received) the lion\u2019s share of resources (financial, human, \u201cinfrastructural\u201d). The system favors these institutions. \u201cSystemically privileged\u201d reflects that preferential treatment. It also names the issue in a fairly straightforward way. So, for the time being, I\u2019m going to give this a whirl: systemically privileged arts organizations. I invite\u2013with some trepidation knowing how fraught this topic is\u2013your thoughts. What am I missing? What invisible (to me) assumptions does this include? (I am well aware that I have many blind spots.) In other words, what are some of the ways that this is as unworkable as so many of the other labels we attempt to use? Of course, if you like it, feel free to use it yourself.<\/p>\n

The continuation of the level of privilege these institutions enjoy is socially and politically untenable given the demographic upheaval we are experiencing. (It is also, of course, morally indefensible even if historically understandable.) But until we have good ways of naming it and discussing it we will be difficult to make any significant changes.<\/p>\n

Engage!<\/p>\n

Doug<\/p>\n

Photo:\"Attribution\"\"Share<\/a><\/span> Some rights reserved<\/a> by Dr Stephen Dann<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Systemically privileged–a way to describe Eurocentrically-rooted arts organizations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3968,"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":"Systemically Privileged: A way to describe Eurocentrically-rooted arts organizations.","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":[4,5],"tags":[12,13,42,47,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-5238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-overview","8":"category-principles","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-community-engagement","11":"tag-diversity","12":"tag-equity","13":"tag-terminology","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Privilege.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1mu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4955,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/06\/communities-as-data-points\/","url_meta":{"origin":5238,"position":0},"title":"Communities as Data Points?","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Our tendency not to see the people we try to reach as people can have the effect of creating a barrier between us and \"them\" (which is another problem with our terminology).","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\/05\/Graph-300x203.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":403,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2011\/10\/quality-and-community-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5238,"position":1},"title":"Quality and Community-2","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Must \"quality\" and \"community\" be mutually exclusive? Clearly I believe not, in spite of a widespread opinion to the contrary on the part of many in the established arts world. That prejudice against community is the elephant in the room I called out in my earlier Quality and Community post.\u2026","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\/2011\/09\/ElephantInRoom.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4945,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/06\/engagement-terminology\/","url_meta":{"origin":5238,"position":2},"title":"Engagement Terminology","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We need good definitions to make our work more effective. Here is an updated set from my perspective, for what it's worth.","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\/2015\/08\/Dictionary-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6436,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/09\/terminology\/","url_meta":{"origin":5238,"position":3},"title":"Terminology","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A critical element in effective community engagement is understanding exactly what it is . . . and what it is not.","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":4939,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/06\/development-terminology\/","url_meta":{"origin":5238,"position":4},"title":"Development Terminology","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The perilous effort of attempting to define marketing and fundraising terms.","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\/2015\/08\/Dictionary-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4370,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2016\/02\/definitions-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":5238,"position":5},"title":"Definitions, Again","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"My latest take on definitions of audience development, audience engagement, and community engagement.","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dictionary","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Dictionary.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5238","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=5238"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5249,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5238\/revisions\/5249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}