02/24/2017
Community Engagement
Arts presenters and artists have an opportunity for a new transformative role in their communities. In addition to our usual presenting activities, developing a community engagement approach can deeply immerse our organizations into many more aspects of community life.
Click on the images below to learn more from
presenters and artists just like you.
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/
=====================================
Benefits of Community Engagement
“True community partnerships require a new kind of dialogue, beginning with the assets both partners bring to the birth of new relevance, not just the assets that an arts organization offers to hopefully grateful recipients.” - Eric Booth
Some arts organizations crave new opportunities to deepen their relevance to their community.
As presenters, we know the arts make a difference to people’s lives. We know that exploring one’s own creativity can unleash a wide range of emotions and build empathy, promote a collaborative spirit and deepen our connection to the world around us. And we know that the arts can be used to tell difficult stories, to explore controversial themes and simply to contribute to the well being and happiness of those in attendance. For today’s presenter, getting involved in community engagement helps enrich our communities and helps to bring the arts out from behind our closed doors into the mainstream of our community’s life.
Many presenters are seeing a decrease in audience participation or an aging audience. Some suggest participation in the arts by attending performances is not as central to the recreational interests of people as it once was. Finding new ways to connect our community to the artistic experience and to deepen our organization’s connection to the community at large can further enhance our role as custodians of artist/community interaction.
“We need to get everyone in our organization engaged in the process”
Practitioners of community engagement are quick to note that this process requires a wholesale change in our way of thinking. It is not about our organization reaching out, it is about opening our minds and figurative doors to see how art can serve our communities. It is about recognizing that engagement with arts practices has a bigger role than the ticketed, admission based experiences we are so focussed on creating.
A community engagement approach shifts the emphasis from ‘teaching’ the public about art to ‘learning from’ the public. Arts organizations used to base their outreach programs on the belief that art could make life better for everyone, now they need to move to an engagement approach based on the belief of shared learning – that if they can learn well together, they can make life better for a wider community and their organization as well.
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/benefits-community-engagement
=======================================
Step by Step
All projects begin as an idea, a need or an opportunity that is assessed, analyzed and ultimately developed into a project. During this process, we begin answering the critical questions.
Often, the initial process will begin with the partnership you create within your community and you will seek an artist to bring into the circle. Sometimes, an artist will have a vision and you will match the community partner to the artist vision. But whatever the process that leads to the project, what is your ongoing role? What is the role of the artist?
Rome wasn’t built in a day and incorporating community engagement into your organization’s DNA likely won’t happen in a month or even a year. As you embrace community engagement as part of your organization’s mission, it may be several years until you are ready to begin your first community engagement activity.
On the other hand, you may just meet your perfect partner on the very first meeting you have with a non-arts community organization and find yourself “off to the races”!
Embracing community engagement is a long-term, multi-year organizational strategy, not a short-term program but opportunity can be around any corner when you listen and learn.
Because of the variety of scope of community engagement projects, it is difficult to suggest a single timetable for any organization.
In an all-volunteer organization, the engagement team might only meet once a month, so it may take considerable time to complete the community profile and build potential partner relationships. In other organizations, meetings might be more often and, with individuals actively engaged in different tasks, things could move quickly.
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/step-step
====================================
Community Engagement Finances
Once you make the organizational commitment to community engagement, staff and volunteers will be investing “sweat equity” to build relationships in the community, but eventually, you will need to create a budget and invest in artists and other expenses to undertake your activity.
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/community-engagement-finances
==========================================================
Funding Community Engagement
How can you find or create the funding to undertake community engagement activities? Once you make the organizational commitment, staff and volunteers will be investing “sweat equity” to build relationships in the community, but eventually, you will need to invest in artists and other expenses to undertake your activity. As you gain experience – after a project or two – you can use the documentation of the previous projects to introduce new potential funders to your organization and this activity, but in the short term, you may need to make a modest investment from your operating budget.
Make a commitment of 10%
When working on developing your annual programming budget, consider investing 10% of your budget to a new budget line called Community Engagement. It is highly likely that this budget can make the modest adjustments required to deal with a ”10% cut” but that modest amount can get you started.
Add $1.00 per ticket (or $2.00)
Increase your ticket prices for your events by $1.00 or $2.00 and dedicate those resources to community engagement. Be sure to print this information wherever you list your ticket prices. E.G. “Your ticket price includes G.S.T of 12% and a $2.00 surcharge to support community engagement initiatives that bring the arts into the lives of underserved people in our community.”
Replace a show
What about thinking of your community engagement activity as the equivalent of what you spend on a presented event during the year? If you regularly do seven events but do six instead, the financial expense of that seventh show could be a pool of money that could be put to work in community engagement.
Seek new funding sources
In many communities, health and social service agencies have some dedicated resources for utilizing the arts to illuminate issues among their constituencies. Your partner organization may have some ideas of where funding could be secured for this partnership. And there are several initiatives for funding underway.
Foundations and Government agencies that are currently committed to funding community engagement:
Engage other organizations in the community for in-kind
If you need a regular space to meet, a local church might be willing to loan a meeting room for the ongoing work in the community. Or a local business or business association might have a meeting room they would be willing to let you use for this valuable community work. Once you have built your budget, see if there are expenses that other friends of your organization might be willing to donate.
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/node/808
======================================================
Building a Budget for Community Engagement
Budgets can vary wildly for community engagement, depending upon the length of the project and the number of moving parts involved. And, just like you expect to pay fees for the artists you present, you should expect to pay fees to the teaching artists and community animateurs who will facilitate your community engagement activity.
Samples of expenses that you might expect to include in your project:
Artist Fees and travel
Physical space rental
Copying and other office supplies
materials, props, hires or other resources
additional staff time costs
additional training costs
evaluation, photography and film documention
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/node/806
=============================================================
The Artist and Community Engagement
The role of the artist involved in community engagement is to use their art as a means of community-based artistic practice that is authentic and responsive to the community around them.
Community engagement creates an opportunity for the arts and artists to be seen by their communities as necessary and relevant in new ways; as citizens and artists that can build the bridges between disparate groups and help communities articulate their own history, culture, and needs. It’s not simply about ‘I’m an artist and I want to express myself.’ It’s about what it all adds up to. It’s an acknowledgement that the art is taking place in a larger context.
The sharing of stories about ourselves, our differences, and our similarities is perhaps the most important challenge and opportunity of the next 10 years. Artists have a vital role to play in helping to shape these narratives.
Working with Artists - is an integral part of your community engagement project. Click on the folders below to find ideas, inspiration and processes relating to working with artists on your project.
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/the-artist
======================================================
Engaging Artists
Locally-based artists and visiting artists can both be partners in community engagement.
Types of Artists - When to comes to community engagement and making matches with community organizations/issues and the artists who will engage with them, these definitions may be helpful.
Artists in Your Community - Here are some tips on how you can find and engage local artists.
Hiring Local Artists - As you begin a relationship with an artist who will work with your organization on community engagement you are facilitating, you may wish to clarify for yourself the standards you will use for hiring and conduct an interview with the artist
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/engaging-artists
=========================================================
Artist / Presenter Partnership
The partnership empowers artists and presenters through collaboration and strengthens relationships.
Stay open to the fact that change will occur and that, at times, you may be challenged to do things differently. Acknowledge what is important to each partner and try to meet those goals that overlap. Ease communication and understanding by deciding and agreeing on common language. Be prepared for your roles and relationships to change throughout the project.
Most importantly, acknowledge successes and share the credit.
Artist-presenter partnerships provide two key benefits:
The partnership empowers artists and presenters through collaboration sharing practices and experiences that enrich their creative and presenting repertoires and supports each in dealing with ongoing challenges in this new way of working with community.
The partnership strengthens relationships that respect multiple perspectives and knowledge and leverages the strengths, skills, expertise and reputation of the other.
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/artist-presenter-partnership
=========================================================
Guidelines for Presenter-Artist Partnership
The following characteristics define a successful presenter-artist partnership:
Shared goals that ultimately result in enhanced experience for participants – and effective, sustainable partnership makes documented progress toward fulfilling its goals.
Mutual benefit - the partnership should articulate and acknowledge what is important to each member, and should at minimum try to meet those individual goals that overlap.
A respect of each other’s organizational cultures - the presenter and artist both bring expertise to the partnership and have much to learn from one another.
Shared sense of ownership in the project - the partnership will last if each partner feels the project belongs to them.
Shared project leadership - over the life of a partnership, the leadership baton may be passed between the presenter and the artist; but ultimately, collective leadership is the goal.
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/node/873
==========================================================
MUST READS !!!
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/resource/begin-motivation
http://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/
http://animatingdemocracy.org/sites/default/files/BCleveland%20Trend%20Paper.pdf
http://deepeningcommunity.ca/blogs/community-animator/village-delburne
========================================
We MUST do this !!!
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/idea-box
http://www.artsengagecanada.ca/idea-box
artsengage.ca provides resources to allow presenters to take on a transformative role in their communities as catalysts of creative community development.
