Convenings

Past Learning Exchange Reports:
Minneapolis, March 8–10, 2002

Andrea Assaf
2002
Open Space Session: Beyond preaching to the converted: How do we get others to engage? / Partnering with Large Institutions
There is a tremendous amount of work to do with whomever chooses to be in the circle at the moment, even if a lot alike.

What makes people want to be in the circle?  Having more people like themselves.

There is no one activity that will get people to engage.  Sometimes it’s art, sometimes political action, sometimes it’s social.

Go to people’s houses first. 

Importance of knowing what questions to ask, to be on the same page with different segments of the community.

One-on-one relationships; it always leads back to that.  These are rich moments to work through, because there’s a relationship at stake.

Where funding resides in a partnership (i.e. with the entity that has been traditionally disempowered) can say how serious the power structure is about giving up power.

Reframe: (when dealing with the powers that be) How do we get to their tables without becoming them?  Look at strategy and don’t forget the goal.

Bill Cleveland, Center for Arts & Culture:  The question is not who I am but what I have to say.  They don’t expect you to have anything that speaks to them; the challenge is to blow them away with the good and relevant work you’re doing.  Talk about the common ground and a miracle can happen.

Does the support for or involvement of large institutions dilute the potential of arts-based civic dialogue work for the communities? 

Large institutions (even mid-sized) have to be conservative to survive. What happens when large organizations commit to projects because it’s sexy but are scared of social change?  When mainstreamers don’t want change or are afraid they will be made to look bad by the art.

Issues arise when the leadership of the institution may be impacted personally.  Example: a board member who may not want his/her name aligned with social change.

Artists and institutional partners (or communities and arts institutions) don’t necessarily have the same goals or values.  Even stating values up front is theoretical; when it becomes real, things change.

Large institutions tend to value the end product and don’t as easily recognize process as valid and valuable.

Large institutions want to be perceived as inclusive, but are they and are they really about social change?

The institution as a whole doesn’t necessarily speak as one voice.  Make connections with people within the institution.  On the other hand, individuals don’t always have power or authority. 

Work can be compromised by censorship for fear of disfavor of the funder or host.

Everyone getting heard is a way to take some of the social change energy out of the work.

Large institutions are an endangered species because of the long-term effects of lack of participation.

Jan Cohen-Cruz, NYU Center for Art and Public Policy (report-back) :  Large organizations tend to create consumers and small organizations tend to create producers.  There are different goals and processes; larger institutions usually keep things neat and organized.  Nothing replaces one-on-one relationships—you make connections with people, not institutions.  If you have a personal relationship, you feel compelled to follow-through with what you said you’d do.  Also, the person may not have institutional power, or they may leave the institution.  Different points of view on larger institutions’ audience development.  Some people felt this is an organizational value, and some felt it’s a pragmatic approach.  Lingering questions:  Paradigm shifts?  Shifting resources?  Presumption that the “underserved” want to be at the table.

Armando Gutierrez: It is important to check in with everyone.  It is a mistake not to.