{"id":1436,"date":"2013-05-14T15:40:07","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T19:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/?p=1436"},"modified":"2013-05-14T15:41:08","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T19:41:08","slug":"a-framework-for-meaningful-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/2013\/05\/a-framework-for-meaningful-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"A Framework for Meaningful Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20130514_101853\"<\/a>Editor\u2019s note: As part of our blog event for The Summit at Sundance, we have invited participants in The Chief Executive Program to frame each of our problems to solve. Here, John Wetenhall poses a series of questions for thinking about the problem: Engage users\/customers\/stakeholders as true collaborators in shaping an institution’s agenda<\/a>.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

Beyond any fiscal challenges that cultural organizations may face, the core of what we do involves a meaningful, resonant and personal relationship with every human being who engages with our form of art.\u00a0 We enrich lives, strengthen communities and make the world a better place \u2013 on a person by person basis.\u00a0 This personal relationship has energy, intellect and emotion.\u00a0 It brings people together and can build bridges between cultures.\u00a0 It broadens our world.\u00a0 It carries the past to our present and helps to shape the future. \u00a0It refines our values and so brings extraordinary value to all.<\/p>\n

The challenge of audience engagement is not a problem, then, but an opportunity.<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Culture in a Changing World<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe last thing we want is to hold a growing segment of a dying market\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

We understand demographic trends and appreciate the diversity of our potential audiences.\u00a0 We also know that technology, the internet and the accelerated speed of everyday life have changed people\u2019s expectations.\u00a0 People are at once local residents and citizens of a global world.\u00a0 Yet even as individuals may feel their lives complicate while societies fragment, at our best, our cultural offerings can touch people\u2019s souls and connect us all through our core humanity.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Are our core audiences aging?\u00a0 Are baby boomers less likely to participate in cultural offerings than the WWII generation? \u00a0Are younger people coming to our venues in sufficient numbers to replace them?<\/p>\n

Do growing diverse populations bring different expectations?\u00a0 What are they?\u00a0 What must we do to meet them?<\/p>\n

Do people raised in the digital age have fundamentally different expectations than those whose education came primarily from books?\u00a0 Must we adapt for them?\u00a0 If so, how?<\/p>\n

Presenting To<\/i> Audiences<\/h3>\n

We possess extraordinary content about our art forms and exhibitions.\u00a0 What our curators, artistic directors, performers and educators know far exceeds the confines of a 100-word label or a page in the playbook.\u00a0 We possess enthralling stories that can ignite the curiosity of all kinds of people from gloriously different backgrounds.\u00a0 But how do we tell them?\u00a0 Who do we reach?<\/i><\/p>\n

Are our internal structures and professional priorities aligned with the expectations of our audiences?\u00a0 Do \u201cinsider\u201d dialogues with scholars, peers, critics or \u201cthe field\u201d distance us from the general public that comes to our facilities? \u00a0Do \u201cinsider\u201d priorities leave visitors feeling inadequate, ill-informed or dumb?\u00a0 If so, what actions must we take?<\/p>\n

By what means do we communicate what we know to our audiences?\u00a0 \u00a0Are the old ways good enough? Or does a digital age require new delivery systems for engagement?<\/p>\n

Must we change what we show or how we show it?\u00a0 Or neither?\u00a0 Or both?<\/p>\n

Engaging With <\/i>Audiences<\/h3>\n

The digital age has empowered individuals and created unprecedented expectations for active participation, including \u201cself-curation\u201d of experience.\u00a0 We understand that the privileged place of cultural institutions in the civic fabric is becoming ever-more blurred \u2013 especially in the public eye \u2013 as education and entertainment options proliferate.\u00a0 What is the role of individuals and their communities in shaping the substance of what we offer?<\/i><\/p>\n

To what extent has the role of audience members changed?\u00a0 Do people wish to expand their roles from witness to participant?\u00a0 If so, how must we change their cultural experience?<\/p>\n

How do cultural organizations listen?\u00a0 Is this really about focus groups and surveys, or is the dialogue more engaged, profound and simultaneous?\u00a0 How ready are the creators of our content willing to adapt?\u00a0 How do we establish a vibrant feedback loop?<\/p>\n

Is there a necessary sequence between what we offer and what audiences\/visitors wish to \u201ccurate\u201d themselves?\u00a0 Is \u201cself-expression\u201d enough, or must experiencing our cultural offerings transform such expression?\u00a0 How do we mediate the experience?\u00a0 Must we?<\/p>\n

Who speaks for the community?\u00a0 Politicians? Donors? Corporate leaders? Citizen groups? Board members?\u00a0 Survey Monkey?\u00a0 If we embrace community involvement as a driver of culture, do we expose our content to manipulation by special interests or the whimsies of fads and fashion? \u00a0Do we self-censor?<\/p>\n

How do we embrace both the aspirations of our communities and the integrity of the individual artist?<\/p>\n

Will engaging audiences and communities in these ways give them a greater stake in our organizations, or do we need to think beyond programmatic concerns?<\/p>\n

Strategies for Success<\/h3>\n

Decisions must be made.<\/i><\/p>\n

If we wish to transform the audience experience, do we do so<\/p>\n

Incrementally, via many small actions?<\/p>\n

OR<\/p>\n

Systemically, through game-changing organizational or field-wide transformations?<\/p>\n

Can groups of us work together to seek new ways to engage audiences?\u00a0 Can we speed up innovation by sharing a common challenge to test new approaches simultaneously?\u00a0 How do we share winning strategies going forward?<\/p>\n

What would you do?\u00a0 What works?\u00a0 Give examples and identify winning strategies for success.<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More thoughts from the field<\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

“\"Borwick1\"<\/a>Many of our mission statements are mostly or entirely focused on the art that is the medium of our work. Such artcentricity, without consideration of art\u2019s role in people\u2019s lives, gets in the way of connecting with our communities and hinders sustainability.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, some think that \u201cart as service\u201d demands a radical dismantling of the arts enterprise. Any<\/i> work that proceeds from a self-understanding of responsibility in the community, anything to the right of artcentric, is good (note Yo-Yo Ma\u2019s recent Kennedy Center lecture \u201cArt for Life\u2019s Sake\u201d).<\/p>\n

\"Borwick2\"<\/a>In this middle ground the art grows out of or is a response to an existing relationship. This does not mean that we simply \u201cgive them what they want.\u201d Giving people what they need rather than what they want can be a form of deep respect. But beware, if we are simply giving them what <\/i>WE<\/em> want to give, that is profound disrespect, and we cannot know what they need if we do not have relationships with them, if we do not know them.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Properly conceived, a mission serves as a life raft in the sea of troubles and the \u201cshiny object \u201d temptations of artcentric goals. It should be informed by the realities of the market in which the organization exists and not simply the desires of the founders, artistic director, or the board. There are a lot of \u201cgeneric\u201d arts organizations\u2013the symphony, theatre, dance company, or museum\u2013that could be in any city in the country (or world). One reason they struggle is their lack of connection to a place. A community-focused mission is one way for an arts organization to differentiate itself from the crowd and, perhaps, make it stand out artistically and<\/i> be more sustainable.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2014 Doug Borwick <\/strong>(Engaging Matters<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

How would you solve this problem? Add your ideas below!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: As part of our blog event for The Summit at Sundance, we have invited participants in The Chief Executive Program to frame each of our problems to solve. Here, John Wetenhall poses a series of questions for thinking about the problem: Engage users\/customers\/stakeholders as true collaborators in shaping an institution’s agenda. Beyond any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"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":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,166],"tags":[193,154,91,51,78,50,121,96],"coauthors":[192],"class_list":{"0":"post-1436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-events","7":"category-the-summit-at-sundance","8":"tag-co-curation","9":"tag-collaboration","10":"tag-connection","11":"tag-convergence","12":"tag-culture-2","13":"tag-experience","14":"tag-mission","15":"tag-participation","16":"entry","17":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1436"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}