{"id":5653,"date":"2019-07-24T02:00:57","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T06:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=5653"},"modified":"2019-06-28T11:05:25","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T15:05:25","slug":"the-long-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/07\/the-long-road\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long Road"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/LongRoad-500x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5656\" width=\"250\" height=\"200\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align:justify\">Several months ago Joe Patti of Butts In Seats blogging fame posted <a href=\"https:\/\/insidethearts.com\/buttsintheseats\/2019\/05\/06\/some-reasons-acquiring-new-customers-can-be-expensive\/\">a reflection on advice from Seth Godin about why businesses might not be connecting with customers<\/a>. While I&#8217;ve not met Mr. Patti, it seems that we not infrequently seem to be channeling each other on topics related to community engagement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align:justify\">He pulled out, from Mr. Godin&#8217;s article, a list of problems that sounded way too familiar to me in my work attempting to get arts organizations to understand the long road that needs to be walked to build relationships:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Because the <strong>people<\/strong> you seek to serve <strong>don\u2019t think they need you<\/strong>.<\/li><li>Because the <strong>people<\/strong> you seek to serve <strong>don\u2019t trust you<\/strong>.<\/li><li>Because the <strong>people<\/strong> you seek to serve <strong>don\u2019t talk about you, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">thus, you\u2019re not remarkable<\/span>.<\/strong><\/li><li>Because your product doesn\u2019t earn traction with your customers, <strong>they wouldn\u2019t miss you if you were gone<\/strong>\u2013the substitutes are easy.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align:justify\">That third point echoes my common observation &#8220;If you have to tell people you are important, to them you are not.&#8221; The thing to be remembered with each of these is that simply complaining does nothing to solve the problem. The arts organization is the only one with a vested interest in changing those facts. We must acknowledge the issues and\u2013humbly, see below\u2013figure out ways to address them. <strong>It&#8217;s our responsibility to build trust with communities. It is not theirs to discover (and come to appreciate) us.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align:justify\">And then there is the principal self-inflicted issue that keeps arts organizations from developing meaningful relationships with new communities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Because even though you\u2019re trying hard, <strong>you\u2019re being selfish, focusing on your needs instead of having empathy for those you seek to serve.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align:justify\">Ouch! And, of course, on point. We must build trust to develop the relationships necessary to sustain ourselves. The bedrock for that trust is our humility and our respect for those we seek to reach. If you can&#8217;t muster that respect, you are doing yourself, your organization, and the people with whom you come in contact an egregious disservice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Engage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Doug<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Photo:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/combo.staticflickr.com\/pw\/images\/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif\" alt=\"Attribution\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\">Some rights reserved<\/a>&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/pagedooley\/\">kevin dooley<\/a><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Humility and respect: the keys to successful community engagement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5656,"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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Long Road: It's our responsibility to build trust with communities. 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