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Exploring Beyond Organizational Silos: Facilitating Connections among Shared Concerns
-By the way, in addition to the Chitosepia Hall and the Nagasaki City Kita Community Center you mentioned earlier, you also became the designated manager of the Nagasaki City Civic Activity Center Lantana starting in the fiscal year 2023. What potential do you see in managing multiple facilities across different areas like this?
Ideguchi: To begin with, these three facilities are under different administrative jurisdictions. The Community Center is under the jurisdiction of the Lifelong Learning Planning Division of the city’s Board of Education, the Hall is under the jurisdiction of the Cultural Promotion Division, and the Civic Activity Center is under the jurisdiction of the Civic Collaboration Promotion Office of the Civic Life Department. The fields of lifelong learning, cultural promotion, and civic activities are all different. However, this is the logic of the management and administrative side, and for the citizens who actually use the facilities, the division should have nothing to do with the fact that they are the same public facilities.
For example, the activities of civic groups at civic activity centers may be culture-related or lifelong learning. Also, when we think of civic activities, we tend to think of direct social contribution activities, but even cultural groups are contributing to society in the sense that they will improve the cultural environment of the community in the future.
Ideguchi: In this way, the activities originally conducted at these three facilities overlapped, and if they do overlap, it would be better if the know-how accumulated at one facility could be utilized at another. We thought that we could be a part of that network when we started managing the three facilities. It is often said that looking at things from various angles is “multifaceted,” but I think there is also strength in being “monocular,” looking at various organizations from the same perspective.
-That’s interesting. Prior to our conversation, Ideguchi shared with us a research report on the role of intermediaries between communities and cultural arts conducted by the General Incorporated Association Chiiki Souzou (“Roles of Changing Communities and Crossing Cultures,” 2022). In it, it was noted that traditionally, fields such as “culture and the arts,” “education,” and “welfare” existed independently, with a “bridge” between them. However, nowadays, these various domains are contiguous, and cross-border activities are being carried out.
Ideguchi: That’s right. Inseparability” and “border-crossing” of multiple domains are keywords when considering approaches to social issues in recent years. For example, when we consider “education,” it is not just a matter of the Board of Education, but also childcare support and welfare for the handicapped. Then it is better to collaborate across domains and organizations. Everyone knows this, and it is being called for here and there. However, even if you approach the government with this idea, it is still difficult because of the stove-piped structure of the government.
However, it doesn’t have to be that big of a story; it is enough if there are people in the town who share the same awareness of the issues and can talk about them. In fact, I think there is an increasing number of young people who are involved in art, but want to do more than just art; they also want to support child-rearing. You also have young people who are willing to help out with DJing at your performances, don’t you?
Kishino: Yes, that’s right. There are kids who just want to DJ. If they also want to help with set-up and tear-down, the number of DJs who want to help is reduced to about one-third of the total number of DJs, and the number is even smaller when it comes to management, including preparations in advance. However, even so, if we can find two or three people over the course of a year who are willing to help out on a regular basis, we can make it work. From my own life experience, those who do will do it, and those who don’t will not, for whatever reason. I don’t force people who don’t do it to do it.
After all, these community activities tend to be volunteer activities. In the end, they don’t last. At first, we started with donations, but that didn’t last either. So I thought about how to make it continue, and approached not the government but organizations such as tourist associations and ward shopping district associations. I approached these groups and found out that they could set up a kitchen car in the park, but they did not have the content to attract people to the park. They said they would give us a budget if we would prepare content, and we allocated the budget to the DJs to make it work.
Ideguchi: When you do an activity, you are talking about people who have content but no budget or place, and people who have budget and place but no content. I thought it would be great if we could naturally do something like that at the community center to fill in each other’s deficiencies. I try to be a local link between soba noodle shops and flower shops and the community center’s business.
Kishino: We don’t have a system for that matching at the moment, so it’s just a matter of doing it in practice and trying it out. I’m not talking about the beginning, but for the first two years or so, we were doing it guerrilla style. That is to say, we did it for free. But I thought this would not be culturally mature, so I started getting official permission to do it. Then the tourist association saw what we were doing, and they became aware of the fact that the park attracts people when these people come, and they were able to set up a budget for the event.
Ideguchi: You are so right that there is no matching system. For example, at the Citizen’s Activity Center, there are files introducing the activities of various groups. But the idea that it would be interesting to combine one with another, or that it would solve a problem, is only in the minds of the consultants and staff who are looking at the spines of the files.
So, no matter how advanced the tagging and search systems become, it is ultimately only manpower that brings people together. Some people are troublesome, but the only way is to actually meet many people face to face, accumulate catalogs in one’s head, and bump into them.
Kishino: That’s right. That’s why I said there is no system, but in fact, people can be the system. Like a meddling uncle, if you want to do it, there are people who have it, and they mediate. That is what we are practicing. The best way to do that is to “create a site. Actually meeting people in the field is more helpful than any filing or list.
