{"id":1184,"date":"2008-06-24T10:07:56","date_gmt":"2008-06-24T17:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2008\/06\/americans_as_it_turns_out_are\/"},"modified":"2008-06-24T10:07:56","modified_gmt":"2008-06-24T17:07:56","slug":"americans_as_it_turns_out_are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/americans_as_it_turns_out_are.php","title":{"rendered":"Americans, as it turns out, are for the arts"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m just back from another<\/i> conference, this time hosted by Americans for the Arts<\/a>. Some 1400 representatives arts organizations, foundations and community funds, arts service organizations, and local, state, regional, and national arts agencies gathered in Philadelphia for the 2008 annual conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As ever, the conference confirmed that the true<\/i> value of such convenings is forged between<\/i> and beyond<\/i> the formal schedule — in unexpected meetings over coffee or in the bustling hallway, in side chatter in the back of the room while a panel presents badly projected and poorly designed PowerPoint slides at the front (red text on a dark background…good choice), and in the speed-networking possible when you can introduce, face to face, two close associates that don’t know each other but should (“Oh, you’re working on that<\/i> topic, you really need to talk to Barbara in Cleveland, there she is, let me introduce you.”).<\/p>\n

It continues to make me wonder what a conference would look like if it were optimized toward these absolute values.<\/p>\n

But there was strong content in Philly, as well.<\/p>\n