Reaching out to hearts
By Dr Laila Abdel Aal
Alghalban
Chairperson of the
Department of English
Professor of
linguistics
Faculty of Arts
Kafrelsheikh University
Last Ramadan, I
was invited to a cultural event honoring a key intellectual icon in my home
city. Few people, most of them had received an invitation like me, were
dotted around in the big, elegant theatre at the center of a newly-constructed
building, downtown. Paradoxically, the streets were overflowing with people,
most of them shoppers . Since then, a host of questions have kept buzzing in my
head. I wonder who do cultural and art centers address? How can they reach
out to the audience segments who never make it to such events? And how can
they become more in tune with the challenges we face as a community?
Maintaining
diversity is the key
This week, I came
across many news stories on the growing need for arts and cultural centers and
institutions, official and unofficial, to build more bridges to further
population segments. "I think it is important to present shows that they
can identify with and that they can see themselves represented onstage."
BBC quoted the new director of Arts
Center in Bangor, Wales, as saying . "So the important thing is diversity,
talking about diversity and communicating diversity in the right way." I
thought to myself " Maybe things are not okay there, either". Problems seem to be far beyond financial
shortages, the ghost we always blame.
Rather, they have to do with working in a brutally challenging environment.
It becomes so difficult to stick to the old tricks and policies which no longer
fit in a world brimmed with diversity, where everyone is eager to be in the picture and have a say to
be heard and respected.
Furnishing minds and hearts
Culture is in everything in us and around us. It is
the way we view the world and act accordingly. Imagine life without a sense of
belonging to a community, a set of ideas and values to embrace with fellows, or
a common history and future to share with loved ones. The very main tasks of
local and national arts and cultural organizations are: to nurture all aspects
of culture which shape our identities, foster and educate arts, furnish minds
and hearts, raise awareness, promote tolerance and peace, offer a safe haven to
endangered crafts and craftsmen and constitute
a key part of everyone's interest and hobbies.
The vacuum left
The vacuum left by the
institutions in the cultural arena is usually filled by extremism, ignorance,
violence as well as "eccentric", non-mainstream ideologies. This
definitely summons a global fight in all possible ways, including offering good
education fighting poverty, inequality and unemployment, as well as creating
hope and opportunities.
Failing the test of
time
Unfortunately, the
current, rustic approach most cultural and art centers adopt, which has
been inherited from past generations, fails the test of time and reflects the
deep abyss between the public at large and such organizations, which commonly target a thin layer of the society, namely
the elite, and give priority to elitist arts.
How can cultural and
arts institutions rise to the challenge?
Rising to the challenge may mean that cultural institutions have to deeply revise their
operations and vision
so as to address the needs of a society that is culturally more
diverse than ever and bring about the necessary changes in
the existing system.
Engaging Diverse Audiences: Try this!
To this end, let us have a look at a summary of a
report entitled An introduction to Engaging Diverse
Audiences,
in which professionals in local and national arts and cultural organizations
are urged to try the following procedures to reach out to a wide range of
citizens. One is "establishing a foundation" by formulating a clear,
inclusive vision, a mission and an action plan. All staff should participate in
formulating them, giving priority to equity of
representation to all segments of society. Officials must provide true leadership and creative solutions to the
problems ahead. The second step is "assessing your current audience."
Data about the audience, their interests as well as their social , educational and occupational
backgrounds must be available directly and indirectly. This is meant to know
how the audience see cultural organizations' activities and programmes and
whether they are really resonating with their lives. It is super important to
know where you are before proceeding any further. The third procedure,
according to the report, is "defining audience segments", with a view of
targeting some marginalized ones such as people with disabilities and
low-income families. "Determining programming and events" is the
fourth procedure. It aims to test the waters and identify the most appealing
work to audience. Furthermore, cultural and arts organizations must seek out
and embrace ways to connect to audience and share them their local and national
events. A YouTube channel, for instance,
posting videos about the rehearsals of upcoming events makes the fans connect
with artists and organizations alike on
a deeper and more profound level. The
fifth procedure is " developing a marketing and communications plan".
It is about how to sell the programmes and make the necessary publicity
utilizing all forms of advertising: flyers, posters, banners, social media,
etc. The final procedure is
"evaluating progress". Cultural and arts organizations need to make
sure that they managed to hit the target. If the number of audience increases,
this is an indication that a progress is being made. If not, amendments to the
plan become mandatory. One is to hold focus group sessions, inviting some
community members to hear from them
about what went wrong and their suggestions to save the day.
No culture is flawless
Finally, it is so urgent to redefine what is meant by
cultural components and re-set cultural agenda to embrace all activities of a given community. Opera,
drama, concerts, exhibitions, and other
forms of fine arts should be
supplemented by all arts appealing to all population at large. Equally
important is a deep and serious study of our culture's drawbacks as no culture is flawless. This would be the topic of further articles,
God willing.
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