{"id":6411,"date":"2021-07-21T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=6411"},"modified":"2021-07-14T08:40:15","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T12:40:15","slug":"ready-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/07\/ready-or-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready . . . or Not"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"319\" height=\"213\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/NotReady.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6412\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/NotReady.jpg 319w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/NotReady-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 319px) 100vw, 319px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/community-engagement-network\/\">Community Engagement Network<\/a>\u2019s May and June Conversations on Benchmarking Equity (See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/06\/what-was-said\/\">What Was Said<\/a>) a good deal of time was spent on the question of when an arts organization is ready to pursue DEI initiatives. The overwhelming opinion was that <strong>just because an organization would like to be seen as equitable does not mean it was ready to begin working toward equity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some indicators that an organization is not ready:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>When an organization is not engaged with the community (See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/07\/equity-and-engagement\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"6402\">Equity and Engagement<\/a>)<\/li><li>When there isn\u2019t a reporting mechanism for bias\/harassment in the organization.<\/li><li>When the organization hasn\u2019t done work to define their protected classes, <em>i.e.<\/em>, those who have been historically marginalized or have faced discrimination<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">This is not intended as an exhaustive list. These are simply samples of some of the participants&#8217; small group conversations. These and related comments came, I believe, from a concern that many organizations\u2019 approach to this type of work is self-interested. In other words, they want to look better or feel better about themselves. There was also a deep concern about the impact of doing this type of work on BIPOC stakeholders. (See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/04\/benchmarking-maybe-not\/\">Benchmarking? Maybe Not<\/a>) I\u2019ll have more to say on this in a future post.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Participants also identified some indicators that the organization might be ready to begin:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>When the organization is willing to make cultural changes to make underrepresented populations feel welcomed.<\/li><li>When the organization truly wants its audience to mirror its community<\/li><li>When the organization has its values in order as to why it is going to pursue this work.&nbsp;<\/li><li>When leadership, especially at the board level, will enthusiastically support the work<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">Again, these are not the full range of what\u2019s necessary to be prepared. All of these seem to be self-explanatory; however, I will say that the \u201cwillingness to make cultural changes\u201d needs to be carefully examined for what its potential implications are for an organization and whether there is true buy-in for what that might mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">The bottom line is that <strong>readiness is not a foregone conclusion<\/strong> and that<strong> proceeding before an organization is truly ready will be counterproductive and quite possibly make things worse<\/strong>. If your organization is not ready you\u2019ll need to put in the work to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prepare, then<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Engage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doug<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Photo:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Attribution\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/z9MhIVru2ig99FqXILZXiTQ5AKuzldqetMgJotCGuw3xDNQdO0qtscytCx6LJ9xlJdL-k29xIywwBrjzXJUKzpNmyoRlwEkZflSx05LdjPKj_sdUoR7DKMDhlWmqQNMzQ41-Tqgm\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Share Alike\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/CiO5ZQhMn9E4pz-B2bUtcWCcuEEbCQGav3NIwtjMNwQpq4EKesrDnVldOpte3hY3DnRieP2yZ-3nRseWDANMQPRx_itROB34guE2MTrL_WklKJ7kJapDztSwSICfvDpPwZLz8fN8\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\">Some rights reserved<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/wmshc_kiwitayro\/\">wmshc_kiwi<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just because an organization would like to be seen as equitable does not mean it was ready to begin working toward equity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6412,"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":"Ready . . . or Not: Just because an organization would like to be seen as equitable does not mean it was ready to begin working toward equity.","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":[12,13,47],"class_list":{"0":"post-6411","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-equity","11":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/NotReady.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1Fp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6388,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/06\/what-was-said\/","url_meta":{"origin":6411,"position":0},"title":"What Was Said","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"June 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Observations on the Community Engagement Network's Conversations on the topic Benchmarking Equity.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Community Engagement Network&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Community Engagement Network","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/community-engagement-network\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Report.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6402,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/07\/equity-and-engagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":6411,"position":1},"title":"Equity and Engagement","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Good practices in community engagement and DEI work are closely related. Let's work together on them simultaneously.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","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\/2021\/07\/Equity2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6357,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2021\/04\/the-pursuit-of-equity\/","url_meta":{"origin":6411,"position":2},"title":"The Pursuit of Equity","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"April 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Is it possible (and it may not be) to develop generic parameters from which targets can be set for working toward equity in the nonprofit arts industry?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Overview&quot;","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\/2015\/06\/Equity-e1435255742641.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5784,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/12\/dei-statements\/","url_meta":{"origin":6411,"position":3},"title":"DEI Statements","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion statements with a couple of recent examples.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","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\/06\/Equity-e1435255742641.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5026,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/10\/community-engagement-training\/","url_meta":{"origin":6411,"position":4},"title":"Community Engagement Training","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Community Engagement Training: Training in effective community engagement","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Practice of Engagement&quot;","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\/08\/I_LoveLearning-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5729,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2019\/10\/doomed-to-fail\/","url_meta":{"origin":6411,"position":5},"title":"Doomed to Fail","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Diversity, equity, and inclusion are vital to the future of the arts. The commitment to community that community engagement requires is an essential foundation upon which to build efforts in DEI.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Principles&quot;","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\/2019\/10\/Fail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6411","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=6411"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6425,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6411\/revisions\/6425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}