Communities are back!

COMMUNITIES ARE BACK 

Ever thought about the relation between individualism and community in contemporary society? Are people’s needs individual or social in nature? Both arguments have been heard and often it seems to be context bound how people see the difference between them. At least, technological development, urbanization and raising individualism sound like a route map to modern society! Various aesthetic ideals have also used individualism as a starting point for an aesthetic experience in which canonized beauty and the intellectual qualities of each participant play an important role (e.g. Bordieu 1984, Danto 1964). This setting has also formed the basis for experience design in many art organizations already for decades.

While emphasizing individualism, strong communities have been seen as relics of the past–as part of rural societies and pre-industrial way of life. Is this a reality nowadays, when covid-19 has mugged modern societies globally? At least, we have witnessed how social distancing affects us and makes us yearn communities and interaction with others more than many of us would have ever believed. 

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It is not just the covid-19 that has changed our thinking and the way we see our communities. In recent years, the main focus on service and marketing research has gradually shifted toward consumer behavior and social interactions, and the following managerial questions have emerged: “How to create emotional connections with the customers?” and “how to maintain relationships over time?” (Batra et al., 2012).

These are essential questions for many working in marketing, branding or management! Since my background is in the cultural field, I argue that creating emotional connections and maintaining relationships over time should also be key factors in contemporary arts management and arts marketing. By strengthening communities, shared identities and shared images, art organizations are able to maintain and reinforce the relationship between them and the audience. 

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In response, my personal opinion to a question I set at the very beginning (Are people’s needs individual or social in nature?): 

In essence, we are all social, although modern society supports and drives us towards individualism in many ways. In a way, modern human beings can be seen as individuals looking for similarities and communities around themselves. 

The importance of communities for a human being is clearly defined by Muniz and O’Guinn (2001), to whom the most important element of community is ”consciousness of kind” where members feel themselves connected toward one another. From an arts marketing perspective, the “consciousness of kind” can be seen as a way to engage and get audience connected to the image of an organization. It is a way to create shared consciousness, shared identities, rituals and traditions, and sense of moral responsibilities between community members (including the whole organization and its audience). This logic is evident in both large and small communities. 

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The same reasons that have been seen behind the rise of individualism also underlie the new forms of communality. The influence of others is more accessible than ever (Rindell 2021). Different online platforms make new forms of collective attendance possible and strengthens participation and shared identities. 

However, it is not just new online platforms and technological developments that make us see communality differently. Already Dewey (1934) saw art experience as social. Dewey’s pragmatist thoughts have been a strong backdrop in Western art education for decades. Somehow, the same philosophy has not reached the experience design in cultural field, where Bourdieu’s class distinction and Danto’s Art world have been even more prominent than Dewey’s emphasis on the social side of an art experience. 

Things are slowly changing. As already said, in current marketing research, the focus is shifting towards communities and customer context. In this sense, meanings arise as shared experiences rather than tacit experiences of each individual. 

And what makes art attendance so special? 

I would say that it is collective participation–shared experiences and shared identities. 

Why is this important for an art organization to understand? 

When audiences are close to the values and images of art organization, it connects them and their sympathy with the organizational culture and identity. Therefore, the best what art organizations can do for their audiences and themselves is to strengthen ongoing participatory culture and social and co-creational activities in the arts. 

COMMUNITIES ARE BACK! 

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Bibliography: 

Bourdieu, (1984). Distinction. 

Danto (1964): Art World. 

Dewey (1934). Art as Experience. 

Muniz and O’Guinn (2001). Brand Community. 

Batra et al., (2012). Brand Love. 

Anne Rindell (2021). Lecture notes on Contemporary Branding. Hanken.

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Pekka Saarikorpi is a Doctoral student at Hanken School of Economics and an ex-art school principal and cultural manager. Saarikorpi’s MA thesis (2020; Social Sciences) explored audience participation and audience experience in Finnish art organizations. Saarikorpi’s further research focuses on temporal framework of an art experience.