Engage Now!: A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable

Arts organizations cannot long survive without earning impassioned support from the communities they serve.
Communities cannot reach their full potential without the benefits the arts can provide.

For some, the arts as indispensable is a preposterous idea, yet nearly every stakeholder in the industry believes the arts’ value to be unquestionable. That gap accounts for most of the challenges arts organizations face. As long as the arts are seen as an amenity (at best), they will struggle in a world that only has time for that which is necessary. “Mere” relevance will not suffice. To compete in the marketplace of public value the required standard is indispensability. Engage Now! is a “how to” manual for the arts organization seeking to become invaluable. [For the companion book, see Building Communities, Not Audiences: The Future of the Arts in the United States]

Engage Now! is a “how to” manual for the arts organization seeking to become invaluable. It

• Presents basic principles and practices of effective community engagement,
• Provides guidance for achieving systemic focus on engagement, and
• Outlines a process for becoming a universally recognized community asset.

This book is intended for anyone with a vested interest in the arts. Since the arts are essential for healthy individuals and healthy communities, it is for everyone. However, far too few people are aware of their “vested interest.” That makes Engage Now! important for us all.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I: The Mission of Arts Organizations

• Chapter One: Systemic Challenges and Internal Issues
• Chapter Two: What Is the Arts Business?
• Chapter Three: The Way Forward: New Understanding of Mission

Part II: A Community Engagement Primer

• Chapter Four: Engagement Essentials

The Practice of Engagement

• Chapter Five: The Engagement Process: Principles and Practice
• Chapter Six: Engaged Arts: Organizations
• Chapter Seven: Engaged Arts: Artists (Entrepreneurship)
• Chapter Eight: The Engagement Process: An Operational Blueprint

Conclusion

A playbook for arts organizations to become as indispensable as the corner store
Jamie Bennett, Executive Director, ArtPlace America

An eloquent and persuasive voice in a global conversation about the power of the arts to transform our society
Simon Brault, author, No Culture, No Future Director and CEO, Canada Council for the Arts

Great advice about engaging more of the population, growing your organization and increasing opportunity for successful operations and artistic expression
Janet Brown, President & CEO Grantmakers in the Arts

A distinctively valuable guide for how to integrate arts management and community development
Jonathan Katz, former CEO, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Borwick probes arts organizations to evaluate their relationship with their community and provides action steps to building a stronger, more sustainable connection with the people [we] serve
Robert Lynch, President & CEO, Americans for the Arts

A guiding light for nonprofit arts organizations seeking to be relevant, responsive, and indispensable to the communities we exist to benefit
Josephine Ramirez, Arts Program Director, James Irvine Foundation

Borwick leaves no question unasked, proving why he is the authority on community engagement work
Alan Salzenstein, President, Association of Arts Administration Educators and Professor of Performing Arts Management/Arts Leadership, DePaul University

Doug Borwick is an artist. He holds the Ph.D. in Music Composition from the Eastman School of Music and is an award-winning member of ASCAP. He gained experience as an arts administrator and producer working with the Arts Council of Rochester (NY) and through founding and leading the NC Composers Alliance in the mid-1980’s. Dr. Borwick is an educator, having served for nearly thirty years as Director of the Arts Management and Not-for-Profit Management Programs at Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC. (He was named Salem Distinguished Professor in 1997.) He served as President of the Board of the Association of Arts Administration Educators, an international organization of higher education programs in the field from 2010-2012. And Dr. Borwick is a leading advocate for community engagement in the arts. He is author of Engaging Matters, a blog for ArtsJournal and author/editor of Building Communities, Not Audiences: The Future of the Arts in the U.S. One of the country's leading advocates for the arts and community engagement, Dr. Borwick has served as keynote speaker and workshop presenter at conferences across the U.S. and Canada as well as in Beijing and Singapore. Notably, he has been featured speaker for statewide arts gatherings in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin as well as for the Canadian Arts Summit in Banff, Alberta. "Doug is the spokesperson for the importance and value of community engagement, and provides tools and thinking to improve your organization's operations in this area." Barry Hessenius (Former Director of the California Arts Council and Former President of the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies)