Furnishing minds and hearts

By Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban

Last Ramadan, I was invited to a cultural event honouring 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 centre 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 centres 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

A couple of years ago, 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.

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 organisations 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.

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 organisations are urged to try the following procedures to reach out to a wide range of citisens. 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 marginalised ones such as people with disabilities and low-income families.

Cultural and arts organisations 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.

By Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban Professor of linguistics Faculty of Arts 

Kafr el-sheikh University

Email: [email protected]