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Understanding the practice of Community Engagement

What is Community Engagement?

   What is Arts Based Community Engagement? Graphic

ArtsEngageCanada is dedicated to helping performing arts presenters and artists to understand and create community engagement projects.

Community engagement projects cannot replace ticketed shows and other outreach activities, but they are a first, essential step towards a new, increasingly collaborative relationship between the presenter and their community.

The term community engagement is often used to cover a wide range of outreach, engagement, and audience development activities. ArtsEngageCanada believes that in the most meaningful community engagement projects, presenters build authentic relationships in their community first. With their position as a community hub, presenters become a catalyst that enables the community, with a professional artist, to use an arts process to address a social issue or bring community members together.

 

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Benefits of Community Engagement

Getting involved in community engagement helps enrich our communities and bring the arts into the mainstream of our community’s life
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Community Engagement Scale

Community Engagement is a continuum. This chart is intended to help presenters to understand and track how their venue works with community.
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Is it Audience Development or Community Engagement?

As you develop your community engagement practices, it is important to keep in mind the key differences between audience development & community engagement
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The Power of Partnerships

Partnerships are the fuel for community engagement for arts organizations

Why?

The Ontario Shebang

Why?

Case Study: The Ontario Shebang

Why?

Will Weigler - community based theatre

Do You Have a Story to Share?

We want to hear from you.

Submit your story about a successful community engagement project to the growing resource we are creating together.

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