Key Terms

Animating Democracy embraces the broad realm of arts and humanities-based civic engagement while continuing to value arts and humanities-based civic dialogue as one form of civic participation. In using these terms, we recognize a range of activities that may fall under such labels and the various interpretations that professionals from the arts, dialogue, and community building fields may assign them. We are respectful of what others bring to definitions based on their own experience. Animating Democracy’s own experience continues to inform these definitions and contribute nuance to their meaning. With these caveats, we nonetheless have found it useful to offer our working definitions of key terms.

Prefacing our definitions of dialogue, civic dialogue, civic engagement, and arts/humanities-based civic dialogue and engagement:

It is true, of course, that the arts stimulate spontaneous conversation all the time. Individuals who experience art together are likely to talk about what they have seen and the ideas and issues suggested by the work. Such incidental dialogue contributes in an important way to broader public discourse about contemporary civic issues.

Animating Democracy acknowledges the value of such spontaneous and incidental conversation that a creative experience or event may catalyze. Animating Democracy is primarily focused, however, on opportunities in which artists and cultural organizations are purposeful and deliberate in planning civic dialogue activity in relation to the art experience, with the intent to enhance participants' connection to the issue as well as the art. Such planned dialogue may be facilitated in conjunction with the final artistic presentation or an integral part of the development of the work—or both.

Dialogue
Animating Democracy’s understanding of dialogue derives from the Study Circles Resource Center: Two or more parties with differing viewpoints working toward common understanding in an open-ended, face-to-face format. Dialogue is inclusive of multiple and possibly conflicting perspectives rather than promoting a single point of view. According to Daniel Yankelovich, author of The Magic of Dialogue, three qualities of dialogue distinguish it from debate or discussion. These are:

  • Dialogue allows assumptions to be brought out into the open and encourages participants to suspend judgment in order to foster understanding and break down obstacles.
  • Dialogue seeks to create equality among participants. Certain conditions can be created to even the playing field for participants with various levels of information about the issue, experience in public forums, real or perceived positions of power or authority and help build the trust and climate of safety for deep dialogue.
  • Dialogue aims for a greater understanding of others' viewpoints through empathy. In dialogue, multiple perspectives are invited to the table and encouraged to be voiced.

Civic dialogue
Animating Democracy has defined civic dialogue to specifically refer to dialogue about civic issues, policies, or decisions of consequence to people’s lives, communities, and society. Meaningful civic dialogue is intentional and purposeful. Dialogue organizers have a sense of what difference they hope to make through civic dialogue and participants are informed about why the dialogue is taking place and what may result. The focus of civic dialogue is not about the process of dialogue itself. Nor is its intent solely therapeutic or to nurture personal growth. Rather, civic dialogue addresses a matter of civic importance to the dialogue participants.

Civic engagement
Civic engagement encompasses the many ways that people may get involved in their communities to consider and address civic issues. These include but are not limited to: joining committees or boards, volunteering, community organizing, participating in community planning or improvement efforts, and attending and participating in civic forums.

Arts- or humanities-based civic dialogue/engagement
In arts- or humanities-based civic dialogue/engagement, the artistic process and/or art /humanities presentation provides a key focus, catalyst, forum or form for public dialogue/engagement on the issue. Opportunities for dialogue/engagement are embedded in or connected to the arts experience. In addition, the arts may provide a direct forum to engage in community planning, organizing, activism, and therefore is a form of arts-based civic engagement. Arts-based civic dialogue/engagement may draw upon any of the arts or humanities disciplines and the spectrum of community-based, experimental, mainstream, or popular approaches to making or presenting art. Individual artists or companies, community-based arts or cultural organizations, or large institutions, may undertake arts-based civic dialogue/engagement utilizing a wide range of artistic practice and dialogic and engagement methods.