Why do we continue to accept bad advocacy for the nonprofit arts sector?
Americans for the Arts (AFTA) has done it again.
On their website, among various and sundry other managed facts and figures culled from hours upon hours of research, they have a special page devoted to their version of public opinion. The cover art on this article is completely invented, but it might as well have been included in this panoply of pith:
The first time I saw these, I was stunned by the stupidity of using public opinion as some sort of research vessel. It was akin to using public polling about climate change, as though opinion means anything in a science-based fact.
The first time I saw this LinkedIn post from AFTA was in early April. Angela Meleca, a brilliantly astute colleague and amazing arts consultant, sent it to me, causing me to throw up in my mouth a little bit. Her comment to the post was spot on:
“This is what our national arts advocacy is putting out? Shower songs? Tattoos? We’ve been measuring the wrong things for decades. We’ve sold the idea that ‘art is everywhere’ instead of proving why it matters. And the result? The needle isn’t moving. It’s heading to zero. Arts leaders aren’t looking for cute stats. They’re looking for a strategy. They need stronger narratives and better tools to prove that the arts aren’t ‘extras’ — they’re essential infrastructure for emotional well-being, civic repair, and community health. If our sector is going to survive — we need advocacy that meets the moment. Not messaging that minimizes it.”
I’ll take it a step further. I do not hold the belief that survival for the arts sector is enough. It’s as low a bar as you can get, right there with “relevance.” If the arts are going to thrive in America, which should be the goal, success will not emanate from expensive, non-scientific opinion polls (which signify nothing but “opinion,” which could be from some nose-picker on the street). After all, the questions could have been biased (intended or not) to provoke answers that pleased the leadership of AFTA.
I’m hopeful that the newish CEO of AFTA, Erin Harkey, understands that the company she’s leading has a history of stasis. The same reasons for supporting the arts, year after year. The same research providing the same stats that prove meaningless for arts organizations, especially those who continue to rape and pillage the charitable coffers without providing an iota of charitable activity. The same three-legged stool argument for the arts that hasn’t worked for more than half a century: butts in seats, positive economic impact, and this chestnut:
Opinion is not fact. It’s opinion. It’s right there in the word.
The abuse of substituting the word “opinion” with “fact” or “truth” or “data” — as AFTA has done — is the ultimate, final-wheeze, flatline, booooooooooooooooooop retort for research organizations that have no freakin’ idea how to effect change and provide quantifiably impactful programs from their community’s point of view. And hey, it’s not wrongheaded to think that as an approach, “opinion as fact” might work. Fox News has been doing it for years to effective, cult-producing success. Does that make it right? Or, further, does the nonprofit arts community want to emulate Fox News?
Let’s support Erin Harkey in making significant changes to the company. I can’t imagine that she will be allowed to do so because I know that others will try to drag her down to the inefficient status quo for AFTA — looking as though it is making significant change in the sector. Unfortunately, that’s the nature and history of nonprofit leadership in general and at AFTA in particular. However, I am given hope by her quote:
“I’m excited to drive transformation, strengthen collaboration, and champion innovation as we build stronger, more vibrant communities through the arts.”
She’s right. Building a stronger community through the arts is the key to success. It is not what most nonprofit arts organizations do, of course. Most choose to produce art and believe that by doing so, the community will be strengthened. That approach hasn’t worked. It doesn’t work. It never worked. Further, it can’t work.
What works? Get out of the art production business and into the community impact production business, using art as a tool and not as a product. Measuring effectiveness is not about opinions, it’s about action. And it’s not even really about action, it’s about measurable outcomes. Those outcomes have to do with tangible ways in which a community is made more whole, not reviews or paid attendance or whether people sing in the shower.
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