Improv Community: Lessons for Building Community from Improv Comedy
/Some of the most imaginative, engaging, impactful and memorable theater and music performances break all the rules and cost next to nothing. No fancy sets or expensive costumes. No endless rehearsals. No stuffy concert halls. Think street performances, balcony sing-a-longs, and of course — improv comedy.
Communities spend hundreds of thousands trying to create great ideas and energy and engagement, and still end up with plans that no one reads. If you want some of the spark and fire of improv shows —for free! — then try a different approach: improv community.
Improv Community
We’ve worked on planning and community building projects with dozens and dozens of towns and cities, neighborhoods and groups, all across North America. Over the years, we’ve seen radically different outcomes — but not for the usual reasons.
We’ve worked with cities that spend thousands on fancy consultants and plans, and never implement anything. And we’ve worked with towns (like tiny Bethel, Vermont) accomplishing big, hairy, audacious things (like starting a university) with no money or staff or resources to speak of.
Why do some places get moving when others get stuck?
It clearly isn’t money, or planning, or staff. It’s not size, and it’s not a liberal-conservative thing. We took a hard look at how and why scrappy communities came up with those big, hairy ideas and made them happen. And what we saw looked an awful lot like improv comedy.
They’re IMPROV COMMUNITIES.
The most innovative and active places are trying lots of crazy things, spending almost no money, involving everyone they can, and having boatloads of fun in the process. They aren’t afraid of looking silly or failing. In many cases, they have nothing to lose. And without even knowing it, they embrace many of the rules of improv comedy. We call this improv community.
Improv community is an approach to community building and planning that’s all about creativity, collaboration, inclusion, experimentation, and bootstrapping.
Here’s what we’ve learned about improv community, and key ingredients for getting started.
So what’s improv community?
Improv community is a mindset. Improv community can happen in a bar or in a boardroom. The stage and the players don’t matter. It’s about letting go of established protocols and norms, whatever the context. It’s about getting out of the “no” box and forgetting all the reasons why something shouldn’t happen. It’s about embracing crazy ideas that might never work, and trying some of them anyway — quickly, cheaply, and easily. And it’s about working with whoever shows up.
Improv community is a practice. Improv comedy may be unrehearsed, but it is most definitely practiced. Likewise, learning to be be an improv community is more like developing a yoga practice than following a checklist. It takes practice, dedication and commitment to learn how to be creative, to break bad habits, to welcome new ideas and build the trust needed to improvise together. Luckily, practice is quick, cheap and easy. Starting can be as simple as working a few improv comedy exercises or principles into existing meetings, or trying some projects that may not succeed.
Improv community is a state of being. Improv community works best when it’s not happening in isolation and when the whole community is willing to trade the promise of polish for the possibility of greatness. If one local board is improvisational and the rest of the local government shuts ideas down, they may not get very far. If neighbors can’t tolerate imperfection, it’ll shut down fast. Improv community is most effective when the philosophy and approach spread throughout the community. That’s easy too — it doesn’t take a formal resolution or any implementation funds. But it does mean changing old mindsets and processes. It means changing the rules and who’s allowed to play.
7 Ingredients for Improv Community
Ready to start? Here are seven ingredients for starting to practice improv in your community. Still sound scary? So is improv comedy, for many first timers. But it gets easier. Go ahead and step onstage — the worst that can happen is you’ll end up clucking like a chicken.
Invitations
Maybe you can pull off a solo improv show, but it’s a lot more fun (and meaningful) with others. Improv community is about drawing people in and making them welcome (to meetings, to projects, to decision-making, to action). That takes actual invitations. And it means accepting the invitations you’re offered.
Listening
You can’t survive an improv scene if you’re not listening. Remember, you have no idea what’s coming next. That’s also true in improv community. If you’re really going to collaborate, then stop thinking about your response or your own plans. Start listening — really, truly listening — and respond to what you hear, not what’s in your head.
Ensembles
Most communities have a lot of committees. And some boards. Occasionally a team. But very few have ensembles — a truly diverse group with members who each contribute something unique and different. If you want to try improv community, focus less on staffing a committee and more on building a a complete ensemble with members who want to play.
Crazy Ideas
If you do a good job building an ensemble and make sure members feel safe, the crazy ideas will come. Be ready to listen. Capture everything. Encourage people to suggest and offer things that will never, ever work. For every dozen terrible ideas, you may get the spark of something brilliant.
Yes, and…
The first rule of improv comedy is “yes, and…” When those crazy ideas start to come, your job is to say “yes” (validate the idea and the person offering it). But don’t stop there. Add on (“and…”). Start riffing off it, make it better, see where it goes. Saying yes doesn’t mean you have to do the crazy thing. It means you see and hear it, and you’re willing to engage. And when many people start to work those crazy ideas together, they often turn into something real.
Mistakes
Sometimes you should do the crazy thing, even if it won’t work. That’s how people will know you’re open to crazy ideas. It doesn’t really matter whether it works. It matters how much you learn and how much you’re willing to try. So plan ahead for that. Put on your mad scientist lab coat (imaginary, of course). Make a hypothesis, capture data, and analyze your results. But whatever you do, try some crazy things.
A Box
Or several. Start by figuring out what your boxes are. Rules and policies? History and tradition? Local culture? Money? Territoriality? Think of all the reasons people say no or limit creative ideas in your group or community. Don’t plan a massive jail break or revolt all at once. Pick something small and try it. Once people see that the world didn’t end, they’ll start to let the walls fall down.
Ready to try improv community?
What are you waiting for? Get started putting these practices into place and tell us how it goes.
Need some help? Community Workshop offers inspiring keynote talks, webinars, trainings and workshops on Improv Community and much more. Get in touch about bringing us to your next event.