Culture Connects All, a benchmark report by Partners for Livable communities funded by MetLife Foundation, offers new audience-building opportunities for arts and cultural organizations to engage two of America’s fastest growing populations: immigrant and older adult populations.
The 2010 census confirms what many have observed over the past decade—the population is growing older, and in many areas more diverse. And this change is happening across the face of the nation. Two rapidly expanding population groups present a timely opportunity for communities and their arts and cultural institutions to rethink and retool their outreach.
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New Audiences:
Arts and cultural organizations traditionally have two main roles: the production of arts or cultural activities, and the presentation of them to an audience. Both of these roles fundamentally involve people, as producers or as spectators; it is people who give cultural organizations their means and purpose. Given this importance, when demographics change, cultural organizations must pay attention; and demographics are indeed changing. Two of the fastest growing population groups present a timely opportunity for engagement but are at risk for being ignored by many cultural organizations that could benefit from their participation.
Which are these two rapidly expanding populations? They are the rising tide of immigrants and older adults. Whether looking at the ever-increasing waves of immigration or the incoming wave of adults over the age of 65, it is clear that America’s demographic makeup is increasingly diverse and proportionally older than in the past. Arts and cultural organizations must recognize the populations that may need them the most, along with the host of opportunities to increase their reach and resources in the community.
To understand whether, and how, many arts and cultural organizations are already adapting to these changes, Partners for Livable Communities researched and interviewed cultural organizations in six cities (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York City, Phoenix and Tampa); Partners began this project building on years of experience working with cultural organizations on social and economic development.
This report briefly describes the state of the arts and culture sector, followed by in-depth examinations of the two populations: immigrants (those who are foreign-born) and older adults (those aged 65 and over). Within these discussions, the report describes some of the most salient aspects of these groups for cultural organizations and how they can, and already do, engage with the cultural sector.
The findings are clear: organizations must look inside their programming and operations, and outside their ‘four walls,’ to create meaningful partnerships, participate in and listen to the community, and generally embody the spirit of being a ‘good neighbor.’ The key to addressing these findings is to understand the value of mutually beneficial relationships. These organizations have built a new and broader base of patrons, but they have not accomplished this through marketing alone. Instead, they have made a fundamental commitment to supporting their communities, often in fresh and novel ways.
The second part to this report distills best practices from discussions with leaders of over 20 arts and cultural organizations in the six cities, and presents their valuable insights into building both audiences and community. These organizations were chosen because they all found methods for creating arts and cultural experiences that satisfy the interests and any specialized needs of their immigrant and older adult audiences.
A Look Into Culture Connects All:
Immigrants and older adults face a number of challenges. For immigrants, these may include education, jobs, health, and isolation. Older adults also often face challenges around finances, health, mobility, and isolation. Arts and cultural organizations not only have the ability to make small changes to help mitigate barriers to cultural participation, but also have the ability to actually address some of these central issues, with lasting impact, through programming and partnerships. Both these populations labor under misperceptions and stereotyping, categorized by specialized needs; but both populations also bring knowledge, experience, and social ties as new assets for cultural organizations.
While cultural organizations face increasing external pressure from funders, stakeholders, and others to demonstrate their social and economic impact, some have made it clear that ‘community development’ is not their mandate. Instead, they focus on marketing and donor relations, while proclaiming their community involvement through low effort outreach programs focused on ‘bringing arts to the community.’ While all of these elements are and will always remain important activities, there is a much larger opportunity to create reciprocal relationships with the surrounding neighborhood.
Arts and cultural organizations have resources that can help those such as immigrants and older adults to become connected and valuable members of a community. By engaging with these populations in meaningful ways, cultural organizations can increase their attendance, revenues, and donor relations while simultaneously providing valuable services and expanding the reach of their arts mission. Unfortunately, too many organizations believe that ‘excellence’ and ‘equity’ are fundamentally at odds. They are not. As the many examples in this report show, community building activities do not need to get in the way of aesthetic values; indeed, understanding the community with a willingness to delve into controversial issues helps to feed the quality and impact of the arts.
Building mutually beneficial relationships means that arts and cultural organizations get involved in the community around them. They make attempts to understand major issues in the community such as health, development pressures, or discrimination. They work with the community both inside their four walls and outside, by participating in community dialogues, events, and visions. And they do it both because it is beneficial to them and because it is the right thing to do.
On the other side, immigrants and older adults have unique assets to offer. Many immigrants have extensive social networks and deep ties to cultural heritage, and many older adults have years of experience and flexible time to contribute to cultural activities. Both groups bring the added value of strong family and youth connections. If cultural organizations can tap into these networks and this experience, they will find audiences to sustain them far into the future.