But What About Quality?

Image courtesy Museum Quality Dance. Photo by Carrie Meyer.

Scene: a regional workshop on arts engagement. A funder is speaking with conviction about the fact that her foundation is focusing their arts grantmaking strategy on engagement. Engaging new people. Engaging more diverse people. Engaging people actively in the arts. Any questions?

One, from a museum director. The question that comes up every time, the question so big it deserves the impropriety of all caps: BUT WHAT ABOUT QUALITY?

No one wants to do crappy work. Everyone wants quality, in one way or another.

The word "quality" is often code for aesthetic quality, as judged by a specific set of cultural expectations and preferences.

But just as its definition suggests, quality is itself a quality. Quality Shakespearian theater is different from quality contemporary dance. Quality is mutable and multitudinous. It is not code for one idea. It can unlock several.

Here, in no particular order, are ten different kinds of quality in arts experiences:

1. AESTHETIC: is it beautiful?
2. TECHNICAL: is it masterful?
3. INNOVATIVE: is it cutting edge?
4. INTERPRETATIVE: can people understand it?
5. EDUCATIONAL: can people learn from it?
6. RELEVANT: can people relate to it? 
7. PARTICIPATORY: can people get involved or contribute to it?
8. ACADEMIC: does it produce new research or knowledge?
9. BRIDGING: does it spark unexpected connections?
10. IGNITING: does it inspire people to action?

No arts experience hits them all. Heck, no museum exhibition hits them all. Consider:

• A dry exhibition, diving into an arcane topic. High academic quality, low igniting quality.
• A community-based exhibition, full of life but rife with amateur design and poor editing. High participatory quality, low technical quality.
• An edgy contemporary art show that alienates and confuses many visitors. High innovative quality, low relevant quality.

The next time someone asks you, "But what about quality?," ask them: "What do you mean by that?"
Invite the conversation about forms of quality, and the different outcomes of different forms. Define what quality means for your goals, for your project, for your institution. And then proceed with the confidence that you are going to do the best damn job you can to achieve the kind of quality you seek.