Start From Where You Are: Advocacy Findings

When faced with uncertainty, fear, or loss, my natural inclination is to want to “do something.” Apart from taking action within the larger current events frame, being an arts education advocate how I do something. I often hear others ask, “I’m ready to advocate, but where do I start?” A somewhat glib response is-- everything, everywhere, all at once. A more sober response would be to start from where you are. We are a diverse field of artists, educators, parents, students, community leaders, nonprofits, and philanthropists. We experience the arts in and through education – the drive to create coupled with the desire to learn. Because of the dual nature of the field, one of our superpowers is the ability work across silos and sectors.

Studying Advocacy

Advocacy for arts education has not been studied as a field per se. We can point to successful (or unsuccessful) advocacy campaigns as case studies; yet we know little about the larger question of what works and why. It was in the spirit of inquiry that I collaborated with Creative Generation to create a suite of resources to examine the issue, Case-making and Systems Change in Arts and Cultural Education. Published in 2022, the resource center includes an overview of literature, annotated bibliography, and eight articles that address distinct facets of advocacy effort, based on research, lived, and observed experience.

In preparation for writing the articles, I reviewed over 60 studies and publications. What I thought might be a dry academic endeavor became a process of discovery. The article featured here, Understanding a Summary of Documented Knowledge, serves as a review of current literature on advocacy, case-making, and systems change. The result is a synthesis from arts & culture, education, philanthropy, and social movements and bodies of knowledge in the arts, health, housing, public policy, social justice, and the environment. The overview establishes the need to intertwine the science of advocacy — building blocks for understanding what effective advocacy looks like — and the art of advocacy with calls for improvisation, adaptability, and generative thinking, all characteristics of art making.  

Themes

The analysis reveals six overarching themes that are foundational to effective advocacy. The goal is to better understand how practitioners– such as educators, artists, community leaders and more– can make the case for and advocate through arts and cultural education to drive systemic change and address the complex challenges faced by communities.

The described thematic concepts are guideposts for the reader, synthesized from a wide range of sources. Each is developed more comprehensively in the articles.

• See the larger system and work within a local context

• Balance organizational structure with flexibility

• Link communications strategies to goals

• Build adaptive processes that encourage engagement

• Understand the dynamics of systems change

• Acknowledge progress at all levels  

The graphic representation of the themes is a lens aperture, enabling zoom in close-ups for work at the local level as well as wider perspectives. There is no set place to begin-- intentionally. Start from where you are.

Much has changed since the 2022 publication date of the resource guide. What remains true is the need to keep at it, to keep learning about what works and why, and to aspire to mobilizing a multitude of effective advocates.

Click HERE for a full copy of the article.

Click HERE for the companion annotated bibliography.

Photo by Yan San Yip on Unsplash