{"id":1063,"date":"2024-10-22T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/?p=1063"},"modified":"2024-09-20T20:40:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T20:40:00","slug":"breaking-free-of-your-longtime-role-is-hard-but-its-the-key-to-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2024\/10\/22\/breaking-free-of-your-longtime-role-is-hard-but-its-the-key-to-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking Free of Your Longtime Role Is Hard. But It\u2019s the Key to Progress."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just look at the US presidential election… and US nonprofit arts organizations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Remember when this was just a red baseball cap? (Image by studiopromomobile from Pixabay)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We have established roles for ourselves. We can\u2019t help it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn human life, social roles are ubiquitous. Historically, social and personality psychologists sought to understand the relation between social roles and psychological functioning. Contemporary social and personality psychologists, however, have focused much less attention on understanding the ways in which social roles influence psychological adjustment. Nevertheless, current research on aging and illness provides consonant evidence that social roles play a crucial function in psychological and physical health. Our research argues that social roles are important mechanisms through which basic psychological needs can be satisfied, and as such, fulfilling social roles has the capacity to enhance psychological health.\u201d<\/p>\u2014 Talley, Amelia E et al. \u201cSocial roles, basic need satisfaction, and psychological health: the central role of competence.\u201d Personality & social psychology bulletin vol. 38,2 (2012): 155-73. doi:10.1177\/0146167211432762<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Doting father, supportive mother, independent sister, ambitious teen. Abusive father, shrewish mother, tortuous sister, detached teen. That friend who listens. That friend who fixes. Mentor. Mentee. Partner. Antagonist. These are roles complete with costuming, makeup, and set design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the US presidential election, the voting for which has already begun and the tally for which may take days (perhaps weeks) after the official November 5 election day to ascertain, the roles the leading two candidates have chosen couldn\u2019t be clearer. Irascible, irrational, privilege-losing, really-old White guy (and not just White\u2026really <\/em>White) against modern, non-White, not-too-old, parental figure with a high IQ, strong morals, and embodying F. Scott Fitzgerald\u2019s description of a first-rate intelligence: \u201cthe ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.\u201d Either candidate may win (which speaks to the racist 35-40% of the core electorate \u2014 the \u201cKKK vote\u201d \u2014 plaguing the US\u2019s second-rate version of democracy for its entire 248 years), but that\u2019s not the point of this column.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Guess which candidate gets the KKK vote?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roles are what is important here. They both consider themselves heroes, almost in the Greek sense. Each has engaged a role (as have their running mates) as a good actor does, creating and living to a backstory (sometimes woven out of whole cloth). Anything that might contradict<\/em> the glory story attached to their heroic self-depictions must, by all logic, be a lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a variation on an often-whined theme that goes, \u201cWe\u2019ve always done it this way,\u201d which has a second verse that goes \u201cIf you say otherwise, not only are you wrong and stupid, but it would mean my life and career have had no significance. I\u2019m not stupid; you\u2019re stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The program cover. Already come and gone from a closed arts organization near you.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roles have inherent limitations and boundaries. That should be self-evident. After all, a role is not something that is a positive force for all things and all people. That\u2019s why companies create mission statements; successful ones chart a course and force the company to choose not <\/em>to take on activities that might be rollicking fun but have nothing to do with the character and goals of the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arts leaders have a role in the success or failure of a nonprofit venture (unless, of course, they choose not<\/em> to turn their company into a charity \u2014 an entrepreneurial choice and not a bad one). The organization itself has a role within the community. In accepting that role, it sacrifices choice for efficacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artists are not a part of that equation. They bear no responsibility toward an organization\u2019s duty to its community. As jobbers, they are hired (or not considered) by an arts organization based on that organization\u2019s needs in a single moment. Critics of community-first nonprofit arts organizations purposely conflate artists with arts organizations \u2014 to gain sway among artists, I suppose. As we\u2019ve discussed in previous columns: art, artists, and arts organizations are three wildly different things, often at odds with each other. Art is essential; artists are magical in that they create artistic value from disparate materials; arts organizations are not essential to the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arts organizations can be helpful, but they\u2019re essentially nonessential (unless they choose to engage with their community to figure out how to solve or mitigate the negative issues plaguing that community). Art and artists existed before arts organizations, and should arts organizations all close down at once, they\u2019ll be here long after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the role of your arts organization? Now ask your community\u2019s leaders what the role is of your arts organization should be. Have you convinced them that your production of art is a charitable activity, worthy of support from every corner and presented for the good of all people? Or is what you do a luxury item for the wealthy White folks in town? Do they donate as they do to blood banks, food banks, and shelters for those experiencing a housing crisis, with the expectation that their benefit will be wholly altruistic? Or do they donate to get better seats, their name on a plaque, and dinner with the conductor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking free from the role of guileless entertainment resource is of paramount importance, or so today\u2019s funders have indicated by choosing artistic support as the first \u201cluxury\u201d to be jettisoned from the catalogue of support vehicles. To these foundations and donors, has \u201csupporting the arts\u201d evolved into something indulgent rather than critical? A hobby instead of a tool? Something to be funded after everything else is funded?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
\u201cAfter you eat your broccoli and finish your homework, then you can do the art thing.\u201d (Image by Evgeny Atamanenko from 123rf)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a hard look. Regardless of the size of your organization \u2014 behemoth or pocket-sized \u2014 you have a role within your community. It might not be the role you want <\/em>to play, nor might it be the role your community needs <\/em>you to play. But, as the psychologists said above, that role offers you some security and safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It just might not offer your community anything resembling security or safety. Which is why it will continue to lose funding as a charitable organization; worse, it\u2019s why it will become dispensable (and dispensed with).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we\u2019ve said before, there is no moral high ground to forming a nonprofit arts corporation. In fact, it\u2019s much harder than forming a commercial organization. In the latter, you don\u2019t have to worry about your community; only your constituency. You don\u2019t have to care about whether your community becomes a more viable place for the underserved; you only have to care about making money for yourself and your investors. Finally, you don\u2019t have to concern yourself with metrics of impact or purpose; you just have to concern yourself with the entrepreneurial tasks of financial investment, profit, and managing scarcity. Just your basic Business Management 101 stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would your organization\u2019s role change if it weren\u2019t responsible for the betterment of your community and just put on a show (the chief task of a commercial arts organization)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would it change if, instead of just putting on a show, it worked with its community to identify and collaborate to solve or mitigate negative issues (the chief task for a nonprofit arts organization)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Might a truly charitable set of goals cause your nonprofit board and donor base to get whiplash from what they perceive as radical role-shifting? Will \u201cwe\u2019ve always done it this way\u201d be their defense for stasis? Will they reject positive change for your community as somehow irrelevant to your company\u2019s production of art?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, clamoring for positive change might contradict the glory story attached to their heroic self-depictions and must, by all logic, be a lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAfter you eat your broccoli and finish your homework, then you can do the art thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1068,"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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,20,22,100,40,32,23,19,18,17,99],"tags":[85,10,120],"class_list":{"0":"post-1063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-culture","8":"category-board-of-directors","9":"category-board-of-trustees","10":"category-book-recommendation","11":"category-change","12":"category-charity","13":"category-executive-director","14":"category-leadership","15":"category-nonprofit","16":"category-nonprofit-arts-organizations","17":"category-scene-change","18":"tag-community","19":"tag-impact","20":"tag-roles","21":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Eat-your-broccoli.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1683,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2025\/12\/30\/scene-change-3-just-named-to-kirkus-reviews-25-best-indies-of-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":1063,"position":0},"title":"“SCENE CHANGE 3” Just Named to Kirkus Reviews’ “25 Best Indies of 2025!”","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"December 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're serious about succeeding as a nonprofit arts organization, you're going to want to pick up the trilogy at your favorite bookstore.","rel":"","context":"In "Arts and Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts and Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/category\/arts-and-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Scene-change-3-with-sky.jpg?fit=1200%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Scene-change-3-with-sky.jpg?fit=1200%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Scene-change-3-with-sky.jpg?fit=1200%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Scene-change-3-with-sky.jpg?fit=1200%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Scene-change-3-with-sky.jpg?fit=1200%2C640&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1517,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2025\/10\/07\/a-punchy-outspoken-argument-for-how-nonprofit-arts-organizations-should-be-run\/","url_meta":{"origin":1063,"position":1},"title":"“A PUNCHY, OUTSPOKEN ARGUMENT FOR HOW NONPROFIT ARTS ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD BE RUN.”","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"October 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\"An example-driven new map to success in the realm of nonprofit theater.\" \u2014 Kirkus Reviews.","rel":"","context":"In "Arts and Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts and Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/category\/arts-and-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scene Change, Scene Change 2, and Scene Change 3 - 3 books to improve your arts organization","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3-book-titles.jpg?fit=1200%2C606&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3-book-titles.jpg?fit=1200%2C606&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3-book-titles.jpg?fit=1200%2C606&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3-book-titles.jpg?fit=1200%2C606&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3-book-titles.jpg?fit=1200%2C606&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1048,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2024\/09\/17\/nonprofit-arts-organizations-whats-a-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":1063,"position":2},"title":"Nonprofit Arts Organizations: What\u2019s a \u201cCommunity?\u201d","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"September 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Say it, out loud. 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Again.","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"February 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, you're a nonprofit. Big deal. 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