The National Performing Arts Convention

This convention was very different. While the different service organizations did have some sessions reserved for their own membership, the bulk of the content was jointly conceived and produced, and was all woven together by a series of caucuses organized by America Speaks, a remarkable organization that produces town meetings fostering communication and discussion in rooms filled with hundreds of people--and, in the finale, a room filled with about 1,200 people. 

The core producers of this event were Chorus America, Dance USA, the League of American Orchestras, Opera America, and Theater Communications Group. But 25 other service organizations were involved at various levels, representing just about every conceivable discipline in the performing arts. The overriding theme of this gathering--to which just under 4,000 people came--was to explore what the performing arts community might be able to do acting together to re-position the arts more centrally in the society that is America.

There were many stimulating discussions and sessions, and I'm certain that the highlights will be publicized elsewhere; they merit a fuller exposition than is possible or desirable in this space. What I want to comment on here is simply how gratifying it was to see administrators, trustees, volunteers, and patrons from a huge variety of art forms and a huge range of organizational sizes--not to mention the 700 artists who attended this convention--come together and talk to each other, in many cases for the first time.

The America Speaks process, which forces people of diverse backgrounds and experiences together around small tables--each facilitated to assure that everyone does speak (and listen)--asked us all to explore what we thought were the challenges/opportunities facing the performing arts in America, and what might be strategies for making progress on those issues on the national and local levels, and across organizations as well as within individual organizations.

These conversations were not meant to be a complete process, but rather the beginning of approaches that the arts community might take in elevating the position of the arts in our society. Some of the recommendations that came out of NPAC can be briefly summarized as relating to Value, Advocacy, Education, and Diversity. Topics debated and voted on under the Value and Advocacy headings ranged from creating a seat for culture in the cabinet to forging partnerships with other sectors to identify how the arts can serve community needs. Under Education, issues involved education reform and rescinding the No Child Left Behind act, innovative financial models to fund the arts (link to the tax base, dedicated sales tax etc.), and directly engaging teachers to integrate the arts into their teaching and professional-development programs. Finally, under Diversity it was acknowledged that there is still much to be done, and that national service organizations and others should be charged with stimulating dialogue at their meetings, creating internships and entry-level staff positions, and setting long-term goals to have staff, board, programming, and audiences reflect the demographics of the community. The goal is to have heads of service organizations take up these points--and many others that came up in the rich tapestry of discussions throughout the four days of NPAC--and to fashion a suggested plan of action.

Obviously, I am no better able than anyone else to predict the outcome of these efforts. But what I can observe, and what seems worth observing here, is the remarkable result of the planning of this convention. NPAC 2008 was the first time that a very diverse group of leaders from the full range of the performing arts worked together to this degree of depth and complexity--and the result is something that all can be proud of. The co-chairs of the convention, Marc Scorca of Opera America and Ann Meier Baker of Chorus America, had to herd cats for a period of almost three years (I know this--I was one of those cats), and they did a truly astonishing job, welding us all into a whole that was far more satisfying, stimulating, edifying, and uplifting than I, for one, could have imagined. It gives one much hope for the future of the arts in America.