{"id":725,"date":"2012-11-02T14:00:17","date_gmt":"2012-11-02T18:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/?p=725"},"modified":"2012-11-04T21:02:21","modified_gmt":"2012-11-05T02:02:21","slug":"arts-organizations-and-their-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/2012\/11\/arts-organizations-and-their-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Arts Organizations and Their Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Salzburg<\/a>Editor\u2019s Note: This is one of a series of posts from guest bloggers discussing topics from this week\u2019s\u00a0Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Leaders<\/a>.\u00a0Leaders from around the world are coming together to discuss issues that are critically important to the cultural sector \u2212\u00a0how do we create and articulate our value, what is global and what is local today and what is the role of arts organizations in society.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The changing nature of communication in the world has impacted the way people speak to each other and search for information.\u00a0 New technologies have made interacting easier and more immediate than ever before.\u00a0 As social networking becomes a necessity for people to communicate effectively, arts organizations must utilize social media platforms to increase their accessibility.\u00a0 New technologies and social media platforms can provide new ways to create participatory programming or projects.\u00a0 Arts organizations can also\u00a0crowdsource<\/a>\u00a0their audiences to engage them in an active role.\u00a0 Museums have utilized crowdsourcing to harness the power of their audiences to gain information or to include the audience in the process of exhibitions.\u00a0 For example, the Plains Art Museum\u2019s exhibition\u00a0You Like This: A Democratic Approach to the Museum Collection<\/em><\/a>, reached out to their audience to curate objects for this exhibition.\u00a0 This was a great way for the Plains Art Museum to encourage audience participation with their collection. \u00a0Other arts organizations can learn from crowdsourcing examples and encourage their community to be more participatory.<\/p>\n

Another example of a unique participatory opportunity is the Uforge Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts.\u00a0 The\u00a0Uforge Gallery<\/a>\u00a0has monthly assignments inspiring artwork from artists.\u00a0 Unlike most galleries, artwork submitted for each show is non-juried, regardless of experience, technique or material. \u00a0\u00a0For the young and inexperienced artists, this is a wonderful opportunity to connect with an emerging arts culture and have feedback by experienced artists.\u00a0 The Uforge Gallery has created a close-knit\u00a0community of artists<\/a>\u00a0who welcomes everyone.<\/p>\n

As resources diminish, arts organizations can identify as educational resources for their communities and visitors.\u00a0 Teachers can bring their students to arts organizations to expose them to topics being learned in school.\u00a0 Teachers can also reach out to these institutions to develop lesson plans leading up to a future visit.\u00a0\u00a0 Arts organizations can provide educational resources for adults by having lectures or presentations on their research or material.\u00a0 For example, science museums host lectures and presentations on scientific discoveries and theories.\u00a0 By bringing current news and information into the organization, there is a better chance of them staying current, relevant, and an integral part of the educational system.<\/p>\n

To reach their community, arts organizations need to determine whom their audience is, how they want to reach their audience, and how to make their current programming participatory.\u00a0 These are necessary parameters to grasp the scope of audience and community.\u00a0 Arts organizations can study their audience demographics and survey them to see what type of art events they attend.\u00a0 Some arts organizations have reached out to\u00a0media consultants<\/a>\u00a0to help them cultivate new audiences and maintain current ones.<\/p>\n

The arts are an essential part of the community\u2019s identity.\u00a0 They tell the community\u2019s stories and bring new experiences to the community. \u00a0Oral history can be used by arts organizations to access previously unexplored stories in the community.\u00a0 By developing these stories and integrating them in programming, the community can better relate to the arts organizations.\u00a0 Not only do they provide a voice for their community, they also deal with global news, ideas, and issues in a creative way.\u00a0 They are hubs for communities to learn and experience new ideas.<\/p>\n

As arts organizations change how they interact and connect with their communities, they will be faced with several defining moments.\u00a0 These moments will define what they become in the future and how they sustain their relationships with their communities.\u00a0 Becoming a hub for educational resource and participatory programming will encourage community growth and sustainability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: This is one of a series of posts from guest bloggers discussing topics from this week\u2019s\u00a0Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Leaders.\u00a0Leaders from around the world are coming together to discuss issues that are critically important to the cultural sector \u2212\u00a0how do we create and articulate our value, what is global and what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":544,"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":[41,38],"tags":[68,96,71],"coauthors":[105],"class_list":{"0":"post-725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-role-of-arts-in-civil-society","8":"category-young-cultural-leaders-forum","9":"tag-identity","10":"tag-participation","11":"tag-social-media","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725","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\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/fieldnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}