It is a daunting task for community arts to remain vital in the digital age. Digital offers audiences an almost infinite supply of artistic offerings in a huge variety of forums - easily obtained from the comfort of home at the viewer's convenience. Understanding why people come to live arts events in the current digital age is important.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) conducted a Participation in the Arts study to illuminate how and why Americans participate in arts activities. Surveyed respondents indicated that socializing, learning new things, experiencing high quality art, and supporting the community were the top four reasons for attending. Equally important is what prevented people from attending live events: time, the cost, access to the venue, and lack of companions to attend with, were mentioned as the top four reasons (but not digital migration). And indeed, the survey demonstrated that live arts participation is down. To compensate, community arts agencies must embrace new strategies to meet the needs and wishes of their potential audiences while holding onto their current participants.

The NEA offered four major ideas to reach missing audiences, including increasing community engagement. I believe this is the most important strategy for the arts to focus on. Engagement programs can be embraced into an agency's mission and address critical local issues, meets the needs of underserved audiences, operate with stated good neighbor policies, or even focus on creating economic vitality for the locality in which they operate.

Well done community engagement provides relevance for the organization which helps to create and refresh relationships with multiple stakeholders and resources. While the artistic offerings that result might be different than what has been presented before, the risk is worth the reward of emerging as a revitalized and relevant organization that is firmly embedded in the community. The role of community arts in society is as important now as it has ever been, even more so in the digital age, and those working in the arts have the tools and ingenuity to ensure that community arts remain vibrant and vital, while serving the needs of 21st Century audiences.