Best Ways to Promote Community Engagement for Your Cultural Attraction

Increasing community engagement is essential for cultural attractions and nonprofits. A highly engaged local community lays a critical foundation for your museum. The local community is able to quickly, easily, and repeatedly access your cultural attraction. Even more importantly, your local community can connect in a unique and powerful way. How do you develop this close relationship? It takes effort and nonprofit strategy from your organization. By actively engaging your community, you can build this solid local foundation of visitors, supporters, and donors. This is not to say that your regional, national, or international visitors are any less important. Engaging the local community is often a great first and essential step that can be achieved more readily and impactfully through active participation in your community. Let’s take a look at some real strategies for your cultural organization to undertake in order to connect with your local community. 

Community Events

We understand that “community events” is a broad topic, but that is also the point. There are so many opportunities in every community for your organization to get face time with locals. If there is a community event, you should inquire about having a table there. If it’s free, you ought to be there. If there is a cost associated with tabling, consider whether you will be reaching the right audience with the opportunity and whether this is worth the cost. Furthermore, your leadership can be the face of the organization, showing up to large community events in order to represent the organization and show your willingness to engage. 

Offer Lunch-Hour Panels 

Call them Lunch and Learns or simply a panel discussion during the lunch hour. This event can look something along the lines of guests bringing lunch to a community space to hear a speaker or panel discussion. Regardless, this is a great opportunity for your organization to become a central place where community engagement happens. Adapt this idea to make it work best. The goal is to create a casual and accessible time for the community to connect and learn at your institution. 

Feature Other Community Organizations 

This concept is about reciprocating. Allow other organizations attempting to actively engage the community to share their information in your space. Offer space to community groups. This “space” is as simple as having a place for them to leave information at the front desk or as significant as actively sharing it. These organizations can be museums, theaters, art shows, nonprofits, cultural organizations, and more. 

Partner with Local Businesses

By partnering with a business, your organization can become part of a relationship that drives more traffic. Going to a museum is one thing. Going to a restaurant is just grabbing dinner. Pair a museum up with a restaurant close by and now visitors have a night out. Make the partnership attractive by offering a deal for going to both places (coupon, discount, etc.). Now visitors can make an afternoon or day out of coming to your space. Additionally, this partnership may bring frequent visitors to the restaurant to visit the museum for the first time and vice versa. It is a win-win. 

Support Visitors’ Experience in the Community 

Compiling information for visitors can improve the experience not just at your museum but across their whole day. This style of visitor services is sure to impress. Provide a brochure with a list of restaurants, parks, theaters, etc. in the area so patrons of the attraction can easily know what’s around. The easier it is to find Information, the happier guests will be after their visit. In many cases, lists like these are already available from visitor centers or easily created with the help of the internet. 

Don’t Rely on Others to Find You

All of these ideas are about being proactive, so be proactive. Drop info/rack cards all over town. Have a list of what locations they are at and check-in to make sure they have enough. Don’t make it difficult for visitors to find out who you are, what you do, and where you are located. Make sure to leave your information everywhere you can. 

Scavenger Hunt

Not all cultural institutions are naturally made for children. Many museums are not the most engaging spaces for children with placards too high up or complex to read and hours of exhibits to walk through. Make the experience more engaging for kids by developing a basic scavenger hunt with clues leading to places around the attraction. Communicate with other cultural attractions to do the same and create a checklist for children to use as they finish each institution’s scavenger hunt. Engaging the youth of your community will show adults that you care (a big deal for parents), and it lays a foundation for those young people to return throughout their life as committed visitors. 

Share Your Team

While your own nonprofit cultural attraction is important to you, step up and help a needy cause in your community. Find a nonprofit that needs volunteer help, and take a morning, afternoon, or even whole day to organize your volunteers to go help. This shows your willingness to share, collaborate, and support the needs of your community. Supporting your community is essential in all of these ideas because your organization wants to feel support from the community as well. Expecting to get support without giving it is a lot to ask for. Get out in the community to share your story and offer help where needed. Make sure your volunteers are wearing your organization’s shirt!

All of these strategies for local engagement have one thing in common. They are personal. These require your organization and leadership to engage with the community personally by showing up and supporting those around you. Creating these relationships through proactive community engagement will lay a strong foundation for your organization’s support from the community. The purpose of high levels of active community involvement is to create the relationship actively rather than create a space and hope the community comes to you and connects with you. For many cultural attractions, your organization is telling the history of the people and community surrounding you. Your willingness to participate in the community is often all it takes to begin growing your following and increasing the number of community members that want to be a part of your storytelling process.

Looking for direction for your nonprofit strategy? At NMBL Strategies, we possess a vast amount of experience in the nonprofit museum and cultural attraction space. With over 30 years in the c-suite and working on museums in over 20 countries, we provide essential insights and strategies for our clients.