Checking into the neighborhood

I recently read an article about Eva Bornstein, the executive director of the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts located in the Bronx burrough of New York City.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/nyregion/27lehman.html?_r=1&ref=davidgonzalez

It describes how Ms Bornstein took the opportunity to go out into the actual streets of the neighborhood surrounding the arts center to get to know what the residents were actually like. She found a neighborhood of made up mostly hispanic people; a culture she admittedly knew very little about. So she began her cutural education with a trip to Puerto Rico. Ultimately, her familiarization with her neighborhood has led her to make programming decisions that have made the Lehman Center a success.

I found this to be an interesting article because it shows how getting to know your environment can really influence the way you go about presenting your art to the community; how your choices can more directly benefit your community. By focusing on the community, we can better support them and they, in turn, will better support us.