Program Notes

Many thanks to the talented (and extremely busy) individuals who participated in Program Notes, a blog created to precede and then continue the dialogue generated by the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, CO.

For those of you coming to this blog after June 2008, a brief explanation: Program Notes was set up in two parts, the first being weekly contributions from established performing arts bloggers, and the second, frequent, daily reports from attendees of the convention. The convention organizers felt this juxtaposition of the "big picture" and the "day-to-day" accurately conveyed the range of issues dealt with in Denver.

For information on future national performing arts conventions, please contact info@performingartsconvention.org. 

Thanks to all who continue to participate in this blog; our 10 performing arts bloggers, attendee bloggers, and those who have participated via their thoughtful and insightful comments. We're very excited about the conversations that have been and continue to be generated by the thousands who have visited!

Comments are flying around the blogosphere about NPAC's (lack of) digital presence.  Surprise - we agree!  Of course there was more we could have done digitally -  there was more we could have done in every aspect of the  convention, given more time, money, resources, man-power and experience - but now we can hope that arts organizations will use the digital work we did do here as a launch pad for their own conferences, meetings and events going forward.

So, let's hear it. Share your ideas here for better convention web strategies in the future. Sky's the limit. Let's pretend NPAC is the one arts organization in the world with unlimited  resources for the sake of discussion.

Here are a few to get you started:
Doug Fox on Great Dance
Andrew Taylor on The Artful Manager
Butts in the Seats
Theatre North Carolina
Drew McManus on Adaptistration

posted by Amanda Ameer.

Andrew Taylor explores the performing arts' capacity for collective action here.

• We're unaware of the resources around us
  I heard often during convention conversations that ''there ought to be an organization or resource that...'', describing an entity or resource that had actually been around for decades (arts education on-line repository: ArtsEdge, national advocate for the arts in the public sphere: Americans for the Arts, detailed information on community demographics and trends: American FactFinder from the U.S. Census). It's clear performing arts professionals don't currently have the time or incentive to explore these larger resources, or to understand and inform their value or potential.

posted by Amanda Ameer.

Has this ever happened at an AmericaSpeaks assembly before?

posted by Michelle Mierz.

The following strategies were presented and voted on during the final Town Hall meeting of the National Performing Arts Convention. Many strategies were put forward, and we hope they all find champions and serve the field. Those with the majority of votes will emerge in the national strategies and agendas of the host service organizations, and will be encouraged as local and organizational priorities throughout the country. If you have specific examples, ideas, or ''best practices'' that relate to these top strategies, please post them in the comments section of this entry.

The Challenge/Opportunity
The increasing diversity of our communities creates an opportunity to engage a variety of ages, races, identities, and cultures in our audiences and organizations.

What should we do about DIVERSITY on a NATIONAL level?

Charge national service organizations to create dialogue at convenings, create training programs, promote diverse art and artists, and partner with grassroots organizations who are already connected to diverse communities - 43%

Diversify boards, management, and staff in all national arts organizations - 26%

Create a media campaign with artists from diverse communities including celebrities to provide exposure to diverse art - 15%

Raise national funds to support internships, reduced price events, and under-represented artists - 9%

Create national forums, listserves, and websites to support sharing of successful diversity efforts - 7%



What should we do about DIVERSITY on a LOCAL level?

Open an honest dialogue across community groups and sectors to share priorities and identify barriers to participation - 31%

Partner within the arts, as well as with community organizations, to build relationships - 23%

Expand beyond traditional venues to establish new points of access - 17%

Create programming to address the experiences of the diverse elements of the community - 11%

Engage community leaders from outside the arts to serve in arts leadership positions - 7%

Use diverse voices, experiences, and traditions to market arts programming - 7%

Organize a recurring local performing arts convention - 4%


What should we do about DIVERSITY on an ORGANIZATIONAL/INDIVIDUAL level?

Discover arts in your community offered by cultures other than your own and establish peer relationships - 37%

Set long term goal and plan to have staff, board, programming, and audiences reflect the demographics of your community - 32%

Program more diverse artists and content - 15%

Create an internship / entry-level staff program that attracts and recruits diverse staff - 6%

Convene diverse ad hoc steering committees (including youth) for specific projects - 6%

Produce at least one large-scale, publicly accessible event per year - 5%

THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE DISCUSSION. What do you think? Do you see strategies that are missing from these lists? What has and has not worked for your organization in the past? Do we need more specific action plans to really change things? Click here to share you ideas and experiences from NPAC and beyond.

The following strategies were presented and voted on during the final Town Hall meeting of the National Performing Arts Convention. Many strategies were put forward, and we hope they all find champions and serve the field. Those with the majority of votes will emerge in the national strategies and agendas of the host service organizations, and will be encouraged as local and organizational priorities throughout the country. If you have specific examples, ideas, or ''best practices'' that relate to these top strategies, please post them in the comments section of this entry.

The Challenge/Opportunity
The potential of arts education and lifelong learning in the arts is under realized.

What should we do about arts EDUCATION on a NATIONAL level?

Devise an advocacy campaign to promote the inclusion of performing arts in core curricula - 36%

• Enlist artists as full partners in all aspects of arts education through training and creating an AmeriCorps/WPA-type program - 22%
• Lobby for education reform, including rescinding No Child Left Behind - 20%
• Form partnerships with national education infrastructure (e.g. National Education Association, PTA, teachers unions) - 13%
• Invite new constituencies to experience the performing arts and create opportunities for lifelong learning by providing more points of entry - 5%
• Research successful models / best practices and disseminate via the web - 2%
• Establish diverse cross-sector committee to create an enriched arts curriculum - 2%

What should we do about arts EDUCATION on a LOCAL level?

Mobilize and collaborate with K-12 and higher education institutions to strengthen arts education and arts participation as core curriculum - 23%

• Strengthen relationship with school boards and policy makers through lobbying, electing "arts friendly officials", involvement in local politics - 17%
• Innovate financial models to fund the arts: link to tax base, develop dedicated sales tax, connect to corporate funds - 15%
• Integrate arts teaching in educators' professional development and integrate teaching programs in artist organizations - 16%
• Bring art into non-traditional spaces (e.g. parks, workplaces, social programs)to  create new educational opportunities -- "enter into the communities we serve" - 14%
• Develop joint arts education programs across disciplines and within the community for fuller distribution and comprehensive programming - 8%
• Establish and share assessments that create empirical data to demonstrate correlation between arts and educational impact - 7%

What should we do about arts EDUCATION on an ORGANIZATIONAL/INDIVIDUAL level?

Lead lifelong education programs that actively involve people in multigenerational groups. "Make the arts part of a lifelong wellness plan." - 23%

• Directly engage teachers to integrate the arts into their teaching and create professional development programs to address their needs - 19%
• Commit your entire organization to arts education in mission, budget,     programs, and collaborations - 13%
• Create new partnerships to share responsibility for planning and delivering local arts education - 11%
  
• Leverage new technology to create art, engage more people (especially young people), and support learning. - 10%
• Run candidates for school boards and local government - 9%
• Use comprehensive education models to engage the whole family in your mission and programs. - 8%
• Join, be active, and take leadership roles in civic organizations - 7%

THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE DISCUSSION. What do you think? Do you see strategies that are missing from these lists? What has and has not worked for your organization in the past? Do we need more specific action plans to really change things? Click here to share you ideas and experiences from NPAC and beyond.

The following strategies were presented and voted on during the final Town Hall meeting of the National Performing Arts Convention. Many strategies were put forward, and we hope they all find champions and serve the field. Those with the majority of votes will emerge in the national strategies and agendas of the host service organizations, and will be encouraged as local and organizational priorities throughout the country. If you have specific examples, ideas, or ''best practices'' that relate to these top strategies, please post them in the comments section of this entry.

The Challenge/Opportunity:
Our communities do not sufficiently perceive the value, benefits and relevance of the arts, which makes advocacy and building public support for the arts a challenge at every level.

What should we do about arts advocacy and communicating our value at the NATIONAL level?

Organize a national media campaign with celebrity spokespersons, catchy slogans  (e.g. "Got Milk"), unified message, and compelling stories - 27%

• Create a Department of Culture/Cabinet-level position which is responsible for implementing a national arts policy - 23%
• Lobby elected political officials for pro-arts policy and funding; demand arts policy platform from candidates - 14%
• Create a coordinated national performing arts policy campaign involving artists and organizations - 12%
• Collect, analyze and disseminate data demonstrating the value of the arts (e.g. economic, intrinsic, developmental/educational values) - 12%
• Establish a National Arts Day/Festival with free performances, open houses, and art-making opportunities - 8%
• Explore interactive new media initiatives to increase access and relevance (e.g. create a "Google Arts"-type resource, blogs,YouTube) - 5%

What should we do about arts advocacy and communicating our value at the LOCAL level?

Create an arts coalition to get involved in local decision-making, take leadership positions, and strengthen relationships with elected officials - 21%

Forge partnerships with other sectors to identify how the arts can serve community needs - 21%

• Foster cross-disciplinary conversations to share data and best practices, develop common goals, and create joint activities/ performances - 14%
• Mobilize audiences to be advocates for the arts - 13%
• Utilize existing advocacy and data to influence local funding, policy and public support for the arts - 9%
• Create collaborative local marketing campaigns in mass media and public venues - 8%
• Develop and promote recognizable champions for the arts - 7%
• Create new cross disciplinary events and festivals to promote the local arts community - 6%

What should we do about arts advocacy and communicating our value at the ORGANIZATIONAL/INDIVIDUAL level?

Build relationships with non-arts groups, including governments, corporations, community development organizations, etc. - 26%

• Create opportunities for active participation in the arts for all ages (including interactive websites, open rehearsals, etc.) - 24%
• Expand relationships across the community to find and develop new leaders (e.g. through Board development) and local champions for the arts - 12%
• Participate in the local political process by lobbying city council, school board, etc. - 10%
• Create multi-media marketing strategies (including YouTube, Facebook) to communicate and demonstrate value and relevance - 9%
• Connect the stories and experiences of local community members to new and existing artwork - 9%
• Create arts supporters out of our audiences - 7%
• Build relationships with local media to widen their coverage and exposure of the arts - 4%

THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE DISCUSSION. What do you think? Do you see strategies that are missing from these lists? What has and has not worked for your organization in the past? Do we need more specific action plans to really change things? Click here to share you ideas and experiences from NPAC and beyond.

Well, perhaps a metaphorical one. Actually is was a pretty sterile, windowless convention center "ballroom", but throw some arts folks in there and you've got a pas de duex to Cotton-Eye Joe, the wave, and shout-outs like "I'd like to phone a friend."

Here are the slides that were projected when the 1300+ attendees were asked to submit demographic information:

From the NPAC website:

Saturday: 21st Century Town Meeting®: Building A Performing Arts Community
10:00am-12:30pm

All convention participants will be seated in the Korbel Ballroom at assigned discussion tables. We will work with each of the top opportunities/challenges, one at a time. First, we will consider the major action ideas that emerged from caucus three. Then using wireless keypads, each person will vote on the top priority actions to be taken--at both a national level and a local level. By the end of the meeting we will have established clear priorities for action toward a stronger future for the performing arts in America. Leaders from the national performing arts community will respond to this collectively-developed action agenda--noting steps to ensure that this agenda is enacted.

The NPAC steering committee selected AmericaSpeaks to lead this meeting approach because of the impressive results that AmericaSpeaks has achieved in engaging large groups of people--as many 4,500 people in a single room--in focused and productive conversations that lead to action. AmericaSpeaks developed the 21st century town meeting® as a response to the growing disconnection between citizens and leaders across the U.S., so that people can have a genuine voice in the most important decisions that affect their lives. AmericaSpeaks has employed this approach in addressing a wide range of issues including the rebuilding of the World trade center site, the recovery of New Orleans, and health care reform in California. We believe that our performing arts community can benefit from this approach--especially in this nascent stage of our development as a community, where the need to create accountability, trust and action is so essential.

Slides were projected on two large screens, and participants knew the results of their voting within minutes (slides posted in the following entries). I had the good fortune of sitting next to the very-cool Elizabeth Streb (her business card says "Elizabeth Streb - Action Architect"; I'm thinking about changing mine), and together we figured out the seemingly uncomplicated keypads (you had to vote as soon as voting opened OR at the very end - not while everyone else was doing it). I was greatly amused by the number of TECHNOLOGY signs that flew up after the first (ten) round(s) of using the keypads; New Technologies in the Arts indeed.

posted by Amanda Ameer.

More folks reporting from Denver - please add a link in the comments field if I missed you!

Opera Vivente
Gathering Note
NewMusicBox
Notes from the Kelp
Createquity
Mind the Gap

posted by Amanda Ameer.

This week was filled with revelations, realizations, and restorations.  NPAC was an amazing, exhausting experience.  Here are my wrap up comments.

Friday's General Session:

Friday's General Session was a masterpiece of powerfully moving ideas and accomplishments.  Once again, I will focus my comments on ideas rather than individuals.

A gem from a speaker:

"Let's move the Arts from the fringe of education to the core of education."

Gems from Señor Arbeu:

"The orchestra is the only community that gets together to agree with each other."

"Art can create a Nation."

"Rhythm is the international pulse of the Soul."

"Material poverty can be overcome by spiritual richness."

"In Venezuela there are more children in music than in sports."

"Culture directed at the poor cannot be a poor culture."

"He who helps the poor will never be poor."

Saturday's Closing Session:

I was thrilled at the closing session when "Louie, Louie", by The Kingsmen, came on in the room; it was the first song that "engaged the audience" from the first note, and lifted the mood of all.  I consider this audience effect a good reminder for us to "Reevaluate what is Art!"

The shared vision resulting from our week of effort will be published for us all to embrace.  Basically, we will Advocate for, Educate in, and Encourage Diversity in The Arts.  

At the end of the closing session, we were asked to make an expression of commitment toward our mutually conceived community vision for the Arts.  

My words at the closing session were heartfelt, and a direct response to a 22 year old dancer at our table who, with great sadness and disillusionment, said to us all, "I can't believe that survival of Artists didn't make the top three priorities."  

The agony in her eyes and her words motivated me to "move the finger" in our midst.  May we advocate, educate and diversify to enrich our Great Nation with Great Artists who can feed their families, care for their health, and Live for their Art.

I stood, and expressed myself with words similar to this:

"I am a musician, entertainer, educator, historian, and entrepreneur in the new Zydeco and Cajun Grammy category (yet another accomplishment said to be impossible).

I will commit to the best of my ability, without causing material harm to myself, to actively contribute by making every disciplined decision with the success of our shared vision in mind.  I'd like to get started on this process immediately.

Toward that end, my personal mission states, "Just as the fingertip can conceal from the eye the World's greatest mountain, so, too, can the rigors of daily living conceal Life's greatest treasures.  My job is to move the finger."

I'd like to move the finger right now.

There is a massive contradiction between our first strategic priority, to advocate for and communicate the value of the Arts, and the noticeable absence  of "Survival of the Artist" in our top three priorities.  May we all work together toward our shared vision, but keep the Makers of Art, the artists themselves, in our minds.  Art must not be incompatible with practical survival.  Let us hope that we Advocate, Educate and Diversify to create a population of new artists who can feed their families, buy health insurance, and Live from their Art."

I especially want to thank Sandra Gibson, President of APAP, for her care and guidance for everyone in our Artistic world.   Thank you, Sandra, for giving me the marvelous opportunity to participate in NPAC.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express myself on behalf of the young artists who will follow in our footsteps.  Thank you for bringing me into your Arts family.  Thank you for being my friend.

I have already taken action toward our Vision.  I have made contact with several movers and shakers in Education, Community, and Government, to share our Vision, and offer to help in any way I can.  I have also turned an upcoming concert that I am producing in Chicago toward all three goals of our Vision, diversifying by inclusion of multiple cultural charities as recipients of our donations of proceeds.  I am also going to feature an up-and-coming Artist to share the stage with us as an educational experience.  And I will integrate Arts Advocacy into all our PSAs and Outreach associated with this concert.  It is easy for me to embrace these strategic goals because they have always been our standard practices.  What is new is that we are now a part of NPAC Community mission.

Thank you all for creating a vision we can work toward.  Together.

posted by MOJO.

I've been Google-alerted about a blog focused on the "discussion of issues facing US SME importers and exporters" mentioning NPAC. Our US SME importer/exporter friends tell us that cultural exchange is alive but threatened, and it all sounds infinitely annoying:

International tours for US troupes travelling with tools-of-the trade i.e. instruments, pros, sets, costumes or equipment, are threatened by the pending 10+2 US security initiative. This will require harmonized tariff numbers on carnets for these tool-of-the trade and thus create unnecessary barriers to cultural exchange unless carnets are allowed the requested waiver. Said waiver was requested by the League of American Orchestras and the United States Council for International Business and is still in play.

posted by Amanda Ameer.

The convention is now over, finally got a good nights sleep... and I'm now dealing with the humidity of New York City rather then the unbelievable dryness of Denver.  I just wanted to try and get one more post up before I'm back in the office tomorrow.

By Friday I was able to sneak away to a few more events although I'm sorry to say that there wasn't a single session which I saw from beginning to end.  I suppose the place to start is with Friday's general session, "Radical Ideas from Beyond the Border".... since that was the first event I was able to get to that day:

Germaine Acogny:  Inspiring
José Antonio Abreu: Inspiring
Marin Alsop: Inspiring
The quiet and respectful protest: quiet and respectful

I don't want to get in the middle of the debate about the absence of Ms. Dutta but I do wish that our friends at NPAC had dealt with this situation better.  It is interesting that a quick Google search for "Madhusree Dutta and NPAC" still brings up links to websites of two organizations (actually three) which STILL say she will be attending.  Come on.

I was also able to catch about 15-minutes of "Taking Note" which presented/previewed(?) some of the initial results of the Columbia University survey of composers across the country.  Again, there seemed to be few surprises but it may be better to confirm what we suspect rather than have to re-think what the life of a composer is like these days.  I hope to track down a copy of the presentation so I can see the results first hand and in context.  Apparently 75% of composers network online... I think the only surprise here is that it's not higher.

Then I was off to Nixon in China and Altitude Adjustment (the 35&under party at Orange Cat Studios)...  Both were great and I'm happy to have attended, but for all you kids out there, it's probably better to eat at least once during the day if you are going to attend a three-hour opera and a late-night party... especially if you are also going to drink more at the hotel after.   A little food and a lot of water will help in an evening like that.

This is already a longer post then I intended so I'll be wrapping this up....
Technical problems aside, I was very VERY impressed with the final AmericaSpeaks Town Hall meeting which closed the conference on Saturday morning.  Close to 1500 convention delegates were able to make their voices heard (with instantaneous results) on topics which our industry as a whole has now committed to following through on.  Be looking for the nation wide media frenzy in the not-to-distant future!  Then it was off to the airport in a super-shuttle full of exhausted but vocal delegates, it was kind of like one final caucus meeting before heading home.  This small sampling seemed in agreement that this National Performing Arts Convention was infinitely better then the first attempt in Pittsburgh in 2004 - they also wished that there had been one more day but without changing the content.  They seemed to think NPAC in Denver was great but too much information in too short a time.  We'll see what happens in 2012.

posted by James Holt.

I'm NPAC-biased, so I'll let others report on today's caucus in detail. I enjoyed it immensely, and will post the results on this blog as soon as I can get my hands on them.

Throughout the convention (most especially at the caucuses), I found myself thinking about something my mother always says: who owns this problem? She would say it in the problem-solving context of everyday life - if you don't own the problem, it's not your job to solve it or stress out about it - but I think it's especially applicable to the convention on two distinct levels:

First, who owns the problem of, say, community building? Is it the artist managers' responsibility to put together interesting cross-genre collaboration projects or is it the artists'? Why isn't it the presenters'? The funders'? The publicists'? Similarly, whose job is it to spark inter-organization collaboration? Who picks up the phone, the local choral society or the local art museum? One thing we discussed at my caucus table today was the problem of educating the educators in the arts; not the music/fine art/drama teachers, but the math/science/history/english teachers. If arts programs are going to be cut, we must incorporate the arts into every academic program we can. So who calls whom? Does someone from the Metropolitan Opera call the New York City Department of Education and offer to teach future teachers about opera? Does the DOE call the Met? Who owns this problem. My mom would say that technically the students own the problem, which is the tragedy of it all.

Second, who owns the problem of what to do with all this AmericaSpeaks caucus information. Will NPAC simply disseminate the results and let organizations and conference attendees do with it what they will?  Then they effectively do not own the problem anymore. My humble, completely biased opinion is that NPAC should seek out a corporate sponsorship to create an interactive, informational website for the performing arts. American Express' PerForum, or something suitably cute. The site would have resources for performing arts organizations and artists  -  step-by-step instructions on how to create a Facebook page, for example - in addition to a digital bulletin board. For example, someone posts "We're producing Hamlet in Berkeley and worry that our usual audiences won't enjoy its contemporary nature. Suggestions on how to reach out to a new audience without losing our existing one?" Then, other marketing directors (or marketing interns, or actors, or whomever) can post responses based on their experiences. The threads can be archived into Theatre, Marketing, Shakespeare, Hamlet categories, so a library of ideas can be created. The site could also connect people with some of the terrific informational/professional networking sites that are already out there - The Winger, Sequenza21, Great Dance and Violinist.com to name a few - perhaps exposing current readers of these sites to those in different genres, and possibly leading folks to realize similar challenges and successes across art forms?

Organizations could join and create profiles: Name, location, venue size (if applicable), number of employees, operating budget, usual audience, recent projects etc.. This way, a database of organizations could be created, and e mails could be sent out when needs/interests line up; match.com for performing arts collaboration.

So much to do.

posted by Amanda Ameer. 

Today [Friday] was a very different day at NPAC, for me anyway. Yesterday was crammed from 8:00 am until 11:00 pm with discussions, speeches, sessions, and stimulating conversations. Today there seemed to be fewer things going on, and I found myself more inclined to buy books in the exhibit hall -- a LOT of books. After three days at this conference, I have come to the conclusion, as a teacher, that I must work harder to introduce my students to the many ideas and studies about the arts that are being published. Whether the Wallace Foundation, or the NEA, or WolfBrown, or any number of other sources of ideas that contextualize, explain, and reveal the larger issues that permeate our artistic landscape, there are too many opportunities for artists to take control of their artistic lives. Why does the academy focus almost exclusively on "skill development" and leave to chance the development of a worldview, an aesthetic philosophy, a socio-political understanding of the place of the arts, and a sense of the economic life of our nation? By doing so, we disempower artists who find themselves at the mercy of those with a broader perspective. As a result, the art suffers as well as the artist, both of which fail to acquire depth and profundity. It must be changed.

A disturbing controversy arose at today's keynote following the truly inspiring conversations with Jose Antonio Abreu and Germaine Acogny. Both of these brilliant artists illustrate the point that I was trying to make above: they have a strong sense of their art form, its place within the world, and its effects on society and the artist.  They were thoughtful and passionate, and as a result they transformed those who worked with them. After they were finished, and after we had given them an enthusiastic standing ovation, we were offered a performance by the Colorado Children's Chorale Tour Choir, a group of young singers who sang with energy and innocence. As the strains of their rendition of "America, the Beautiful" faded away, an NPAC participant approached the podium as a large number of audience members stood up holding signs that read "Where is Madhusree Dutta?" The woman at the microphone explained that Dutta was supposed to be the third panelist, but she had politely declined to attend when she was told she must edit out two pieces of her introductory film, pieces that condemned George Bush and the Iraq War. The word "censorship" was uttered, and the image of the NEA 4 raised, and a plea for solidarity among artists made. The source of the request for the de-politicizing editing  was left rather vague -- was it American Express, the NPAC organizers, the US government? Whoever it was, and whatever the reason, what is disturbing is the idea that politics cannot be discussed in this setting, and criticism cannot be expressed, and all in the name of what? Of avoiding controversy in order to forge a fragile sense of unity and togetherness among the attendees? It was clear that the person who made the announcement was being careful not to be "incendiary," as if we were all children who were not to be worked up lest we become overwrought and unruly. But what is puzzling is that the political content was unexpected -- how could you look at Dutta's work and not expect political content?

The very basis of this conference is political: Taking Action Together. And so to exclude the political expression of someone who stood as a symbol of taking action together seems lacking in self-reflection, if not hypocritical. If this is where we have come to in this final year of the Bush Administration, where self-censorship is the order of the day, then as artists we should abandon our idea of "taking action together," because we have not thought deeply, have not developed courage, and have not understood our role in society.

Perhaps if I change my approach to teaching and introduce my students to the broad thinking that is this conference at its best, then iat future conferences they will be able to listen without fear to the political, religious, or philosophical expression of those who have strong feelings and commitments without fretting about the effects of controversy. Perhaps then we will have become a mature group of artists who have fully embraced our own power.

Posted by Scott Walters.

Day 3, and it's the day of Abreu. For the League delegates, getting two
bites of the Maestro is a real privilege. and what is clear from the mood
at both gatherings is the sense of possibility El Sistema offers. You can
feel orchestras swooning at the prospect of a fully-funded youth orchestra
programme, delivering on social objectives as well as musical.

Not surprisingly, Britain too has been swept by El Sistema fever. The
performance by the Simon Bolivar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela at
last year's BBC Proms (which just happens to be this month's featured
concert on British Airways' in-flight entertainment) caused a sufficient
stir for even the politicians to take notice. Commitments have been made
to experiment with El Sistema style pilot projects in both England and
Scotland. But what is lacking is long term commitment and money. There is
a fantastic project being piloted on the Raploch estate in Scotland. But
just one year's funding has been committed. El Sistema has taken over 30
years to be integrated into every fabric of Venezuelan society. What do
the politicians and arts mandarins think can be achieved in just one year?

The other development of the day was spending time with my counterpart at
Orchestras Canada, Katherine Carleton, sharing experiences and chewing
over the problems we share. The League is a phenomenal organisation - well
funded, well resourced and capable of delivering on a range of services
for its extensive membership. In contrast, Orchestras Canada, with 48
members, and the Association of British Orchestras, with 65, have limited
capacity in terms of finance and staff. We are proud of what we achieve,
punch above our weight, but look enviously at the infrastructure you have
been able to develop here.

From a small nation to a big one, it's ta ta for now. Nixon in China
beckons - and if the review in this morning's Financial Times is anything
to go by, we are in for a treat.

posted by Mark Pemberton.

Sports and the Arts: what are the collaboration possibilities?

Twice this week I've heard sports/arts collaborations mentioned. The first was in the caucus yesterday. A woman from (the board of?) the Altoona Symphony Orchestra told me she had a meeting with Altoona's AA team, the Altoona Curve next week. Then today at the general session, José Antonio Abreu said he was working on a project between El Sistema and Venezuela's sports teams.

posted by Amanda Ameer.

I feel like I've been a bad blogger, having been in Denver for two  
days and only now sitting down to make a quick entry, but that is the  
nature of the beast with these conferences: too much to do, too many  
people to meet with, and not enough time!

While I've been to a couple of sessions so far, most of my time has  
been spent meeting with colleagues from other cities.  The opportunity  
to meet with so many people regarding a wide variety of projects all  
within a few days is, for me, the best reason to attend the Opera  
America conference.  This is not to say that the actual sessions are  
not valuable, but there is only so much that one can take in, so it  
becomes a matter of priorities.

This morning, I attended an excellent session about Board  
Development.  As I run a small company that is, at this stage in our  
development, more of a service organization than a performing company,  
I face some unique challenges in developing my board because we don't  
have a great deal of public programming through which prospective  
donors, board members etc. can get to know us.  A lot of what we do is  
'behind closed doors' - something I realize we need to change, to the  
extent that it is possible without altering our core programs.  The  
session I attended, however, did give me some new ways to think about  
Board Development beyond the typical "go to your current Board or high  
level donors and get them to open their rolodexes."  One of the most  
practical suggestions actually came from a fellow attendee, which was  
to approach the HR officer of major corporations  and not to ask them  
to be on the board, but rather to introduce the company and our  
mission and programs to them, and to let them know that we are  
actively seeking to new Board Members with x specific  
characteristics.  The idea is to encourage them to let any senior  
executives who might have an affinity for our mission know about our  
organization and the potential to play a vital role by serving on the  
board. This sort of strategy is actually very actionable for us, as I  
already have an HR executive on my Board who is well connected to  
other HR executives in the community, and in fact, I have been trying  
to figure out the best way to 'use' her connections.  I left that  
session feeling that I now have a viable plan of attack to discuss  
with this Board member that will not only help ALT, but will get her  
engaged in the company in a way that really uses her skills and  
relationships.

This afternoon, I attended a session that provided a survey report on  
the Metropolitan Opera's HD movie transmissions.  As there has been so  
much speculation in our field about the potential impact - both  
negative and positive - of these transmissions, I was very curious to  
hear the results.  While the data reported was only a summary (and I  
look forward to receiving the full report when it is available to us  
through Opera America), I was not particularly surprised by the  
results.  The transmissions are not attracting new audiences to opera  
(I believe the figure was less than 2% had never been to an opera  
before), and the ethnic diversity of those attending HD transmissions  
was even LESS than those of audiences in the opera house (a figure I  
suspect may have been skewed by where the sample was taken from, as  
those giving the report could not give any information about the  
demographic statistics of the areas from which the sample group  
came).  The survey was also administered prior to the actual  
transmissions, so qualitative questions about potential effects of  
having experienced the transmission on future attendance could not be  
asked.  All in all, it was interesting to get this information, but I  
hope that in future research, a more extensive set of questions is  
asked to the sample group so that we can learn more actionable  
information as it relates to building participation at live  
performances.

Signing off for now... off to see Nixon in China, directed by my  
colleague Jim Robinson... I'm very excited to finally see this  
production!

posted by Lawrence Edelson.

"Radical Ideas from Beyond the Border"

Marin Aslop
Artists who have aligned art and social benefit
for them, art and activism are the same thing
video on Germaine Acogny - new technology!
working on a duet about love - research what love is, all the possible manifestations of love
transitions from African dance to African contemporary dance
training school for all African dancers
"Mama Germaine"
lots of discussion of "planting seeds" in Africa.
the company/school is 61 years old or she is 61 years old?
standing ovation for Germaine Acogny.

Marin, Germaine, interpretor are on the stage
I think Germaine and I are wearing the same red flats. I think she looks better in them.
the phrase "stylistic styles" was part of the question (really?)
to get into her school, you have to have a really solid grounding in traditional dances so you can be yourself while interacting with people from other places.
"the key expression for me is tradition/innovation"
exchange their traditional techniques so they have a database of work
learning from other cultures while being yourself
traditional African dancing comes from the ground - it's a grounding thing - keep that grounding feeling so they know who they are and can learn from others
I'm very interested in rituals - lay and religious - tradition in Senegal - incense in the fire that releases a wonderful odor that releases into your clothes and everything.
learned the "before dinner drink" ritual from her German husband.
Marin - "we'll be experiencing that tradition later."
when a subject affects me deeply, i want to do something with my art - i want to cry out with my instrument which is my body - i think of my body as my pen
my work evolves over time - the environment changes
"What did you learn from your grandmother?" -Marin
[the woman in front of me is knitting.]
her name means "the mother has returned" (Germaine's, not the knitter's)
"what are your goals for your students as artists and citizens"
my husband and i established this school primarily for African dancers - "sacred forest" where students learned out to be human beings, so this is a modern sacred forest, a school for life and learning
i look at dance as education and communication - we don't just teach dance
making a living from art - pull-out theme from the convention
help artists gain self-confidence and make a difference in the world
"how do these collaborations"..."reflect your view on globalization" (yikes, I hope she had these questions before)
response - i like working with other cultures - "I think of the body as a multi-cultural thing."
you have to be well rooted in your own culture to work with someone from another culture
[i like this interpreter. she's lovely and articulate. what kind of memory must it take to be a translator.]
[who's video-taping this and why can't i have the footage for the NPAC site or the blog?]
i look for differences and similarities - no matter what i did, i remained who i am
i think each of us needs to keep our specific approach - i'm not in favor for globalization for the arts. you end up with a mismatch with no spice to it.
Marin - "what do you hope your legacy will be"
i would like to leave a sense of pride for being African
translator is explaining the two different words for poverty - in Africa, we have the first kind, in Europe, they have the other = "if you're poor in Europe, you're miserable"
i sometimes have feelings of inner violence - the idea is to get rid of those inner feelings of violence, and then it would be a group thing, not depending on a political movement to do it
the role of art is to change people.
no standing at the end, where I think standing was much-deserved.  

José Antonio Abreu
video
the person who plays in an orchestra - understands playing as a team - where everyone is responsible for others - working together to create beauty.
language of the invisible transmitted through music
music as an agent of social development
solidarity,mutual compassion
proud to witness the transformation of social history in our country
turn the masses into a nation
this is not an artistic development plan with the intention of producing a few concerts
we are beginning a new era where art is an enterprise for the majority by the majority
one must paddle always to the future, that way, the future is already past
rhythm is the internal pulse of the soul
transmitted without words to other human beings
to generate a message and to generate values
what do people feel?
a revelation.
only penetrated by intuition
[this has got to be the most articulate man on the planet.]
art is the only world where we can bring revelation into being.
a country where every town has a choir and orchestra.

[...and down goes the computer to stand up.]


Marin - the Venezuelan musical miracle - how did the idea start, and how have you kept with the same idea for so many years
thanks to the League - that's night - salute Mark Churchill, dean of the New England Conservatory.
answer the question first as a Venezuelan and then as a musician.
i was always worried that artistic education in Venezuela during the 19th and 20th century was not part of the mainstream education of the county
music education was not taken into account because there was not sufficient funds to acquire instruments
the few people that could acquire instruments belonged to an elite
music education itself was a product of the elite
my first objective was to make music education recognized as a main aim of education
the second aim was to direct this musical education to the centers of the population with the fewest resources
in synthesis to bring a strong system of education for social inclusion
central ideal = social inclusion - after 33 years, we still have a lot to do
265,000 youths are part of the system, but we'd like to take this number to one million.
the miracle is the result of our music teachers - most are from humble origin - apostles of music education
music education can produce dignification of a person. is dignification a word. i like it if it is.
material poverty can be overcome by spiritual richness.
once the child is spiritually rich, he's prepared to overcome material poverty.
the system breaks through the system of poverty
more children doing music now in Venezuela than doing sports - and the crowd goes wild!!! all the artsy people who weren't picked for dodgeball.
next year there's going to be an alliance between sports and arts in Venezuela - also incorporate other arts - dance, theater - into the project.
create a network of the arts in the project
[marin's only asked one question and he's still going!]
second question - "Do we need to clone you to achieve this in America? What can we do to move forward?"
The US has enormous potential to develop a program like this
The US has excellent music schools, teachers, availability of instruments - has everything to produce a real musical explosion.
intersect the orchestras' individual initiatives
interconnection in the united states, and then interconnection with the rest of the continent
[why didn't some exhibitor give out NPAC Blistex tubes? my lips are falling off my face.]
diversity is not an obstacle to obtain integration - we must find the mechanism to achieve it.
insistance on musical excellence - a social program that led to musical excellence
everybody speaks Spanish except for me.
"Culture directed toward the poor cannot be poor culture"
Marin - how has this happen - a product of El Sistema is about to become the music director of the LA Philharmonic
brief history of Dudamel - i'm sure this is in his bio
from the LA Phil position, he hopes to do social work
Venezuelan/NEC encounter recently
Denver Youth Orchestra to Venezuela?
talking about the director of the choral program in Denver
Marin - you've embodied the idea of maximizing opportunities. "sempre sempre"

Marin - no excuse not to make this a success.we are obligated to do this.

Oh boy. Children's choir in purple shirts and white pants singing about Colorado and Chevies. That's my cue. 

posted by Amanda Ameer.

It's Friday afternoon.  There is a NPAC session going
on which I am sadly late for.

Last night was great fun.  TCG held it's reception.
Good food.  Good people.  Free beer!

That night Curious Theater hosted a rockin' party.
Open mike, burritos, and...FREE BEER!!  (I love this
conference).

This morning I went to Marty Pottenger's session on
theater as civic dialogue.  Marty is a leader in this
sector and the session was perfect.  Great people and
ideas and lessons we'll take home with us.

More anon.

by Mark Valdez.

Have I suddenly become my mom, in that the slightest sentimental moment makes me misty? I'm now back in my hotel room after today's League of American Orchestras luncheon. (I really wish "The League" would give us all capes.) Anyway, it was a lovely tribute to Henry Fogel. He sounds like a true gem.

Meanwhile, I want to sleep and sleep HARD. Being 3 places at once for fear of missing something has worn me out. And the dry air has me sounding like a pack-a-day-for-30-years smoker.

This morning I went to the Music Critics Association panel "Not So Much Fun with Critics." There was a rare sighting of the breed known as Jim Oestrich, and I appreciated the opportunity to hear his perspective. Mainly the panel addressed the role of the critic: Cheerleader? Aggregator? Taste-maker/breaker? Reporter? Investigator? Teacher? Between Susan Elliott, Bryan Miller, The Oestrich, Mary Lou Falcone,  Jessica Lustig, and Fred Bronstein, the opinions differed. Nothing was solved, just examined.

posted by Sarah Baird.

To revisit my earlier post in regards to the 56 options for a 3 hour slot of time:
 
> I walked out of my first choice session after 20 minutes (along with 15 or so other attendees) because their session description promised out of the box and new earned revenue ideas, then I was presented with 'success' stories of merchandising, summer camps, renting rehearsal space, and selling DVD's. I've only been in the field for 5 years, but I've seen all that before and I didn't fly to Denver to revisit old ideas. I felt really bad for the volume of people walking out on the consulting firm, but c'est la vie.
 
> As I was planning my escape from old school revenue, and looking through the other options in the catalogue, I saw a truly interesting option: How to make your arts org environmentally friendly. I realized that running a dance company in Prius covered Los Angeles, and already doing a lot in my personal life to reduce my carbon footprint, it made logical sense to take those values into my company. And my audience members and audience would really jump on board! Directors from Shotgun and Berkeley Rep in California shared their success stories of solar panels, paperless audition processes, and many other fresh ideas that I can implement tomorrow, even in my small organization. Things I can do tomorrow? That's exactly what I'm looking for from this convention.
 
For more ideas visit: http://berkeleyrep.org/about/greenroom.asp or http://wolftrap.org/Learn_About_Wolf_Trap/Go_Green_with_Wolf_Trap.aspx

posted by Michelle Mierz.

Thursday was a busy day, a day of revelations and recognition.  Every contact was productive and meaningful.  Insight was nurtured; revelations educated us all, and caused many to recognize the strengths and weaknesses in our policies and practices.

The morning caucus was, once again, a lot like playing "Telephone".  What ultimately comes out at the end of the process will be a product of the process.  Whether it will be a direct reflection of what went into the process is something that remains to be seen.

Our conversations reminded me of the old adage, "when you consider changing someone else, remember how difficult it is to change yourself." Expand that to "when you consider something to do, just remember how difficult it is to decide on something."  Now scale that to "how do you get eight people to do something together?"  And, now, "how do you get a community to do something together?" Pretty tough.

The highlight of my week was Jim Collins address at the General Session entitled, "From Good to Great and the Social Sector".  Dr. Collins' knowledge is developed from studies of the contrasts between and among "good" organizations and "great" organizations, and identifies what differentiates the good from the great organizations.  The results are voluminous, and suggest powerful, insightful, feasible, justified, and successful concepts to embrace as we develop our NPAC Vision.

Here are some of the main gems I took from Dr. Collins' address:
-America cannot be a great nation without great performance art;
-Greatness is not a function of circumstance; it is a function of disciplined choices, decisions and actions;
-A culture of discipline in thought and action takes a long time to build;
-The fall from greatness is often a result of the undisciplined pursuit of more, too much, too fast;
-What you do should focus on that which is in your control to fix;
-Disciplined people, thoughts, and actions, are a product of a great leader, getting great people into the process and wrong people out of the process, who can adapt to whatever hits you (it's not the plan, it is the people);
-Great leaders are humble, with overwhelming ambition for a cause, work, art, but not "self", to succeed in the mission;
-The arts are a legislative community with diffuse power management, and we must create the conditions for right decisions to be made by legislation among power managers;
-Greatness requires RIGHT decisions, NOT CONSENSUS decisions, that are executed properly;
-Money is not the definition of success in the Arts; we must define success and its measurement;
-Minimize what is out of our control, and take action;
-Strategically fire bullets of funds until you hit the target, then fire cannonballs;
-Understand and hold to your values and reason-for-being regardless of times;
-Understand the differences between practices (traditions) and values (core values);
-Focus and Discipline will prevail over forces and circumstances;
-WE are on an adventure together.

I was moved.  I found new practices to embrace, and I found reinforcement for very difficult decisions I have made in the past.  I hope to move from good to great, and hope we will all move to greatness together.

Based upon my NPAC experiences thus far, my observation is that our our community will be brought together by circumstances around us, the environment we will attempt to survive in, and that hopefully we will retain our identities and goals as we adapt.  

My analogy was that of "Gumbo"...

My trick when making gumbo is to use the best of ingredients (sausage, chicken, green pepper, onion, celery, individual spices, etc.).  The gumbo is cooked for a while, all ingredients simmering together in a boiling environment; but flavors are not yet combined despite their marvelous individual flavors.  Then, I stop cooking for a few hours, changing the environment, delivering a sudden cooling off period.  Then I suddenly heat it up again.  Amazingly, after the cooling off and sudden reheat, the flavors have all combined into an amazing, unified, incredibly satisfying "GUMBO" that engages and delights the audience.  

We, the performing arts community, are a gumbo.  We've simmered for decades, flavors unmelded, and now we are suddenly forced to cool, to change, to adapt.  Now we must come together, blend, and become a GUMBO of the arts.  We will nourish our communities with delight, enrich our world, together.

Definitely, not everyone is feeling the same pressure from environmental changes.  Our measurement systems are so different in many facets of our community.  Some of us are in survival mode, while others never have to worry.  We are not on level playing fields, but, perhaps we can all focus on a loftier goal, "National Performing Arts", and buy-in to a broad, deep, communal goal to nurture all the arts at all levels, from aspiration to inspiration, from education to maturity, from fringe to mainstream, to National Greatness.

posted by MOJO.

I was able to sneak away from my registration area just long enough to catch about the middle 30-minutes of the break-out session called "Adventurous Programing" which was moderated by Ed Harsh of Meet the Composer  and included Jennifer Higdon as one of the four panelists.  The most encouraging thing that was talked about was new and interesting ways to commission new works.  Over the years organizations such as Bang on a Can  and Wind Ensembles from across the country (if you allow me to lump all of them together) have created interesting and powerful models for commissioning.  Bang of a Can is now known for what it calls the "Peoples Commissioning Fund" in which anyone can donate any amount and will go directly to funding the creation of three new works for their "All-Stars" ensemble.  Wind Ensembles (largely found in Universities) have for many years found the power of coming together as a consortium (perhaps a dozen or more) who will pool their funds for a new piece which each group will in turn perform at least once.
 
During the breakout session on Adventurous Programing it was encouraging to hear that these two commissioning models (and others) are becoming more and more common among orchestral, choral and opera organizations.  Jennifer talked at length about her experiences as resident-composer in organizations of all sizes in all parts of the country and how asking a community to come together and invest in something new for THEM can bring more to a premier then simply: composer writes new piece, orchestra rehearses/performs new piece, composer comes on stage and bows, composer goes home. 
 
I hope that these ideas continue to spread through the orchestral world as the successes continue to be noted as well in dance, opera, theater, and on and on.
 
Today - more time at my registration table but also the general session with José Antonio Abreu  and tonight Nixon in China.
 
posted by James Holt.