Community Engagement
In a vibrant arts and culture sector, moving beyond simply attracting audiences to fostering genuine community connection is the marker of a truly impactful organisation that will add lasting value to the communities it serves. But what does authentic community engagement actually look like? It’s more than a box-ticking exercise or a short-term outreach project; it's a deep, long term and strategic commitment to building reciprocal relationships.
This guide will provide a clear framework for developing and implementing a community engagement strategy that delivers real value. We’ll explore how to lay the strategic groundwork, embrace core principles of connection, and take practical first steps. This is about building resilience, relevance and a lasting legacy for your cultural organisation in the UK and beyond.
Laying the Groundwork: Strategy Before Action
Jumping into activities without a clear plan is a common pitfall. The most successful engagement is underpinned by a robust strategy that aligns with your organisation's core mission, embedding a new way of thinking into your organisational culture.
Know Your ‘Why’ and Who You're Serving
The best place to start is asking a couple of fundamental questions. Why is community engagement important for us? What do we hope to achieve? The answers will inform your entire approach. This requires deep insight into both your organisation's goals and the communities you wish to engage, going beyond standard demographics. Who are they? What are their values, challenges, and aspirations? What do they want from their local cultural institutions?
Stakeholder Mapping: Beyond the Usual Suspects
Effective stakeholder engagement means looking beyond your existing audience and funders. Authentic connection involves identifying and understanding the entire ecosystem your organisation operates within.
Consider mapping stakeholders such as:
Local residents and non-users
Community leaders and grassroots organisations
Local businesses and councils
Schools, colleges and universities
Health and wellbeing services
Other arts and culture organisations in your area
This process reveals potential partners and ensures your strategy is inclusive from the outset.
Core Principles for Authentic Connection
With your strategy in place, you can focus on how you engage. The following principles are important and will allow you to shift from a transactional to a relational approach. A question we often deal with, "How can we create a meaningful approach to community engagement?" We believe there are three pillars to achieving this: co-creation, communication and commitment.
From Consultation to Co-creation
Consultation asks for opinions; co-creation invites collaboration and conversation that can be built on. Co-creation is at the heart of authentic engagement. Instead of developing a programme for a community, develop it with them. This approach is fundamental to successful placemaking, where residents have a genuine say in shaping the identity and function of their public spaces and really seeing their input come to life. For a gallery, this could mean co-curating an exhibition with a local community group. For a theatre, it might be developing a new play based on local stories, with residents involved in the creative process. Arts Council England have some great, free resources available on their Communities and Engagement page, that are well worth a read before getting started (even if you’re not Arts Council England funded).
Master Your Communication
Effective communication is a two-way street. It's not just about broadcasting your events through traditional marketing channels, though that is important for transparency and access to information. It's also about creating broader, accessible platforms for dialogue, taking your messaging to your communities rather than expecting them to come to you. Are you present where your community gathers, both online and offline? Are your messages clear, inclusive, and jargon-free, available in different formats? A consistent, open communication strategy builds trust and makes people feel heard and valued.
Show Long-Term Commitment
One-off projects can feel performative. Building real trust requires demonstrating that you are in it for the long haul. This long-term view is not only vital for community connection but is also increasingly important for fundraising, as funders want to see sustainable impact.
It requires strong leadership to champion this vision, ensuring that engagement is a core organisational priority, not a peripheral activity. As ArtsHub has observed, forward-thinking performing arts organisations are no longer treating community engagement as an optional add-on, they’re formalising it as core cultural practice and treating it as business-critical work rather than a budget line to cut
Practical Steps for Getting Started
Feeling inspired but unsure where to begin? Here is a list of simple, actionable steps to improve your community engagement skills and get your strategy moving.
Start Small with a Pilot Project: You don’t need to transform everything overnight. Identify one community group or a specific local area and launch a small-scale pilot project. This allows you to test your approach, learn, and build confidence.
Listen Actively and Systematically: Go beyond anecdotal feedback. Use simple tools like surveys, informal coffee mornings or structured focus groups to gather insight. The goal is to listen more than you talk.
Empower Community Champions: Identify and nurture relationships with individuals who are trusted voices within the community. These champions can act as a vital bridge, advocating for the project and providing honest feedback.
Establish Clear Feedback Loops: Let people know how their input has been used. If you run a consultation and make changes based on it, communicate that clearly. Closing the loop shows people their voice matters and encourages future participation.
Measure and Evaluate Your Impact: Evaluation shouldn't be an afterthought. Define what success looks like from the start. This might include qualitative measures (like quotes and stories of change) and quantitative data (like attendance from new postcodes or repeat engagement). This demonstrates value and informs future strategy.
Building a More Connected Future
Authentic community engagement is a transformative journey, not a final destination. It demands patience, empathy, and a strategic vision with organsational buy-in. By moving from outreach to true partnership, arts and culture organisations can become indispensable civic anchors, deeply woven into the fabric of the places they call home, cementing them as modern, resilient and even transformational if done well and with authenticity.