Part 2: Embrace Imperfect Partnerships (That’s The Only Kind There Is!)

This is Part 2 of a 3-part Series: How to Create Arts & Health Partnerships. Read Part 1 here!

If you clicked on this blog, you probably have ideas about how the arts can support health in your community...but you don’t know how to make them a reality.

You want to create partnerships across sectors: connecting arts with healthcare, arts with community centers, arts with public health... but you don’t know HOW.

So this series offers 3 big how-to’s. They’re 3 superpowers for building “arts and health” partnerships, and we’re on #2. Let’s get to it:

Embrace Imperfect Partnerships (That’s the only kind there is!)

Think about your arts-health partnerships as a Venn diagram (pictured). The circle of What-You-Do and the circle of What-Your-Partner-Does overlap where your work addresses their needs. Sometimes that overlap is HUGE!...but sometimes it’s a little slice. Either way, it’s plenty to work with!

Here’s where people hold themselves back: they think the amount of overlap isn’t enough. I’m serious, y’all. This mistake is common as heck, and it will keep you from growing your work.

You need Superpower #2: Embrace Imperfect Partnerships.

How ‘bout real-world examples?

1) Imagine you’re a community arts program, and you want to partner with a local health clinic. After applying Superpower #1 (“Find out what they value”), you learn they care about increasing patients’ physical activity: something your program can help with. But your arts program is so much more than just activity and fitness! Maybe you should wait for a partner that values all you offer...right?

2) Imagine you’re a youth arts program and you want to partner with your local school district. You find out they’re focused on improving grades, and you know you can help. Your participants do tend to see better grades over time. But—you offer so much more than grades! You don’t want to partner with someone who reduces you to academic achievement.

These are 2 real situations with real clients of mine. Both were looking for perfect partners, because they believed 3 partnership myths that were holding them back.

These myths are SO. COMMON! ...and we have to bust them so you don’t miss your own great opportunities. Read on!

Myth #1: I need a perfect partner, because that’s the Only Way To achieve success!

If you’ve bought this myth, you’re not alone. Many of my clients and students think it’s unwise or even dangerous to partner with someone who’s interested in only part of their work (ie, the Venn diagram only has a bit of overlap). They think a successful arts-health partnership requires finding a partner that values everything they offer.

But here’s the truth: That partner does not exist. No partner will align with everything you are or do.

Partnerships are imperfect. That’s the only kind of partnerships that exist.

Imperfect alignment is the only alignment.

This is especially true if you’re working across sectors, because your partner’s goals and priorities will necessarily be different from yours.

If you’re combining arts with health, you have to get comfy with the fact that a bit of common ground is often all there is. And it’s enough.

(Now is it theoretically possible to find a partner that aligns so much with you that you’re basically the same entity going by different names? Sure. But if you wait for that unicorn partner🦄, you’ll miss so many opportunities.)

Note: This doesn’t mean you should become willing to partner with anyone who has anything remotely in common with you, even if you find their work questionable. Don’t do that, y’all. Superpower #2 is simply about knowing you can build something great, even when the fit isn’t perfect.

Myth #2: I need a perfect partner, because my partner has to love everything about me!

It’s common to want a new partner to thoroughly “get you” and your work. You want them to see and value you for all that you do.

And I feel you! It’s disappointing when you know you’re putting out a lot of value, and your partner acknowledges only a fraction of it.

But here’s the thing. It’s not your partner’s job to validate your work, or to affirm for you and the world that you (or your program/ideas) are valuable. Their inability to value everything about you is not a problem. It only becomes a problem if you need their validation in order to be confident in who you are and what you do. Don’t rely on business partners for that, my friends. (That calls for deeper work, and partners can’t do it for you.)

Waiting for a perfect, validating partner will limit your reach and impact, and you’ll be disappointed over and over again.

You don’t need a partner that recognizes and values the full, sweeping landscape of your work. You just need a partner that recognizes and values the common ground you share. Because even when that ground is small, what you build on it can expand health and well-being for many people.

Myth #3: I need a perfect partner, because my partner’s interests will determine what I can do!

Remember the youth arts client that I mentioned? They were worried that partnering with the school district would “reduce them” to mere academic achievement.

But check it out: The district didn’t want to change anything about the youth arts program! They knew that the program as it was got the results they cared about. So their focus on grades wasn’t going to change the art program’s ability to offer all its benefits to youth.

In short, nothing about that partnership would reduce the art program’s concept or results. These 2 partners’ imperfect alignment wasn’t a threat...but the myth that it was almost cost a great opportunity.

One more example:

I can’t tell you how many clients have said something like, “Our funder only cares about XYZ, and so our reports focus on XYZ. But we do so much more!” These clients have bought the myth that their partner’s interests determine what they’re allowed to do. As a result, they feel stifled.

But my friends, there is no. reason. you can’t make a thousand reports about anything and everything you want, for any audiences you want to reach. What you do for a single partner has no intrinsic bearing on the rest of your work.

You don’t need a perfect partner to give you permission to take up space—to grow and reach out.

Don’t mistake your partner’s limitations for your own. Don’t needlessly reduce yourself.  

Note: Obviously, if a partner does try to change what you do, or if they try to stop any outreach that’s not for or about them, they’re probably not a good fit. Walk confidently away.

Breaking it down.

So, quick review.

The idea that you need a perfect partner is usually based on 3 myths:

1. Only perfect partnerships achieve success

2. You need your partner to validate you

3. An imperfect partner will limit who you are or what you do

We busted these myths today.

To do great work in arts and health, we have to embrace imperfect partnerships. That’s the only kind there is! And here’s the thing: It’s a lot.

When we tap into the variety in how humans perceive a given idea or initiative, there’s so much we can build together.

Next Steps!

Part 1 came with a workbook, and Part 2 has your back, too! For all of you thinking about arts and health work, this free Part 2 workbook will help you embrace imperfect partnerships. Snag it and get to brainstorming!

(If you haven’t completed the first workbook, snap it up; it’ll help.)

Ok y’all. Parts 1 & 2 down. If you’re wondering, “How do I communicate in order to connect with partners and grow my work?” That’s coming in Part 3.

See you then!

PS. If you need help with a partnership (figuring out what they value, finding common ground) ...or if you want to bring a communications or arts+health talk to your org or community, book a 1:1 call or check out the workshops page here.