So my question is what is better for an outreach activity? An hour long lecture/demonstration for 300 kids with limited exposure to the arts in an auditorium where 20 students get a chance to participate for 5-10 minutes or a master class with 20 students with some exposure to the arts get a solid hour at least to actively learn something new.
It is the old quality or quantity debate.
Most people will probably say that both have their place in a well-designed outreach program. The problem for me is that with No Child Left Behind the opportunities for outreach are tilting toward the latter option and that worries me.
Maybe the granting agencies’ preference for big numbers served has become attached to my guilt sense and I have unrealistic expectations. Heck, the blame hardly can be directed at them. Their preference is only a reflection of the larger societal idea that the greater the number of people who like something, the more worthy it is. Reading about how students are bereft of any arts exposure at all also contributes to the sense that one provide the opportunity to as many as one can.
I know for certain that the smaller groups have a higher sense of satisfaction from the experience they receive. (I have decided, from our surveying, that right around 5th grade everything a student sees is dumb and one learns nothing from any experience.) Many of them are artist-teachers who will pass along the insights and knowledge they acquired.
I certainly walk away from both outreach activities feeling that I have made a wonderful contribution to people’s life experience. As time passes though I look back at the smaller events with less satisfaction than the larger ones. To be honest, it will probably be like this forever, or at least until I get old and crotchety and don’t give a hoot any more.
Or maybe funding philosophy will shift on a large scale and focus more on the quality experience for smaller groups thereby reinforcing an ideal with money.
Of course, then they will be criticized for not serving all those poor souls bereft of the experience….
My Chicago based company tends to focus on reaching smaller groups, but we attempt to reach as many small groups as possible. Outreach is a core principal of our ensemble. This approach is still developing, as we are only in our third year as a company, but you can have a look at our site http://www.thunderandlightning.org and learn more about our work.
-D.B.