Reaching
out to hearts
By
Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban
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 whom 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
Recently,
I have come 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 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.
