{"id":1377,"date":"2025-05-20T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/?p=1377"},"modified":"2025-04-21T17:39:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T17:39:00","slug":"no-just-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2025\/05\/20\/no-just-no\/","title":{"rendered":"No. Just No."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why do we continue to accept bad advocacy for the nonprofit arts sector?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Not real. But it might as well have been.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Americans for the Arts (AFTA)<\/a> has done it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\"\"<\/a>
Read these carefully. These were given as just three reasons to support the arts, whatever that means to AFTA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


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

The first time I saw this LinkedIn post from AFTA<\/a> was in early April. Angela Meleca<\/a>, 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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThis is what our national arts advocacy is putting out? Shower songs? Tattoos? We\u2019ve been measuring the wrong things for decades. We\u2019ve sold the idea that \u2018art is everywhere\u2019 instead of proving why it matters. And the result? The needle isn\u2019t moving. It\u2019s heading to zero. Arts leaders aren\u2019t looking for cute stats. They\u2019re looking for a strategy. They need stronger narratives and better tools to prove that the arts aren\u2019t \u2018extras\u2019 \u2014 they\u2019re essential infrastructure for emotional well-being, civic repair, and community health. If our sector is going to survive \u2014 we need advocacy that meets the moment. Not messaging that minimizes it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll take it a step further. I do not hold the belief that survival for the arts sector is enough. It\u2019s as low a bar as you can get, right there with \u201crelevance.\u201d 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 \u201copinion,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Q:\u201cMadam, do you believe that tattoos are a form of art?\u201d A:”Um, sure, maybe, I guess so. Wanna see my tramp stamp?”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


I\u2019m hopeful that the newish CEO of AFTA, Erin Harkey,<\/a> understands that the company she\u2019s 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\u2019t worked for more than half a century: butts in seats, positive economic impact, and this chestnut:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Isn\u2019t it nice that 70% of American adults agree on something for which they have no actual data or proof because too many arts organizations only talk about what they teach rather than what students actually learn?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Opinion is not fact. It\u2019s opinion. It\u2019s right there in the word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The abuse of substituting the word \u201copinion\u201d with \u201cfact\u201d or \u201ctruth\u201d or \u201cdata\u201d \u2014 as AFTA has done \u2014 is the ultimate, final-wheeze, flatline, booooooooooooooooooop retort for research organizations that have no freakin\u2019 idea how to effect change and provide quantifiably impactful programs from their community\u2019s point of view. And hey, it\u2019s not wrongheaded to think that as an approach, \u201copinion as fact\u201d 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s support Erin Harkey in making significant changes to the company. I can\u2019t 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 \u2014 looking as though<\/em><\/strong> it is making significant change in the sector. Unfortunately, that\u2019s the nature and history of nonprofit leadership in general and at AFTA in particular. However, I am given hope by her quote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n


\u201cI\u2019m excited to drive transformation, strengthen collaboration, and champion innovation as we build stronger, more vibrant communities through the arts.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n


She\u2019s 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\u2019t worked. It doesn\u2019t work. It never worked. Further, it can\u2019t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s about action. And it\u2019s not even really about action, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Opinion is not fact. It\u2019s opinion. It\u2019s right there in the word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1378,"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":[21,100,40,32,19,18,17,99],"tags":[145,85,10,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-1377","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-culture","8":"category-book-recommendation","9":"category-change","10":"category-charity","11":"category-leadership","12":"category-nonprofit","13":"category-nonprofit-arts-organizations","14":"category-scene-change","15":"tag-advocacy","16":"tag-community","17":"tag-impact","18":"tag-nonprofit-management","19":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Whistling-Dixie-is-an-art-form.jpg?fit=2000%2C1125&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1352,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2025\/07\/25\/advocacy-for-the-nonprofit-arts-sector-is-currently-meaningless\/","url_meta":{"origin":1377,"position":0},"title":"SUMMER RERUN: Advocacy for the Nonprofit Arts Sector is Currently Meaningless","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"July 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Lost amid a string of inside-baseball phrases and ideologies, officials have little idea as to why they would possibly fund institutions that serve themselves first. 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