19F - SA ARTS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

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Community Conversation Guide & Tips Introduction Community Conversations engage a community in thoughtful dialogue about various topics using a toolkit and a facilitator from your local community. Our planning process is a shared endeavor with the community that encourages participation of all citizens. Community Conversations provide arenas in which people come together for thoughtful discussion and dialogue about arts and culture in your community —past, present, and future. The Facilitator The facilitator of a Community Conversation will be the person in charge of asking thoughtful questions and moderating the conversation among all participants. The facilitator is responsible for documenting the thoughts, ideas, and themes of the conversation. Facilitator Tips: • Emphasize confidentiality to the group – all data is reported only in the aggregate (no data is attributed to an individual) • Always respect each person's opinion • Invite and encourage different, multiple perspectives and ideas • Encourage group to build meaning together • Reference group comments and ideas to continue the conversation • Group involvement 85 %, Facilitator involvement 15% Gathering an Audience We can help brainstorm lists of meetings and audiences that may work for your conversation. We encourage you to think about any meetings you attend, associations you belong to, and /or colleagues and friends who should be part of this conversation. Consider local places of worship, community centers, neighborhood associations, book clubs, cultural institutions, senior centers, and service organizations (youth, disabled, etc). Ask them if they have a meeting or event where a community conversation can be placed on the agenda. Group Size and Duration Try to gather a group of at least 5 but no more than 25 people. Although, any size group that has thoughtful dialogue about this process is valuable. Conversations are usually about 30 - 60 minutes in duration. 3 19F -9