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Secure Your Future...NOW! 2009 Dance/USA Annual Conference
The 2009 Dance/USA Annual Conference is "choreographed" to help you keep your balance in the new economy! The Opening Plenary Session, Finding the Future: Creative Sustainability in Uncertain Times (Thursday, June 4), places you face-to-face with an economist and three seasoned dance administrators who have "danced in your shoes" and found solutions you can use… NOW!
“The good news is that philanthropy will not disappear,” says Plenary Panelist RACHEL MOORE, executive director of American Ballet Theatre, speaking of your existing relationships with funders. “The bad news is the number of donors we have will probably decrease. This is the time to keep your friends very close.”
This sneak peek at Moore's perspectives on sustainability is from her article “Dancing in a Brave New World” in the Spring 2009 issue of the Dance/USA Journal. In it, she urges us to look forward to new models and solutions, even after some level of recovery, “our new, stabilized economy will have a landscape that has been both dramatically and permanently changed.” Moore examines what this paradigm shift will mean for the field, and how you can prepare to meet both the challenges and the opportunities that are on the horizon. Preview her insights on the changing trends in giving and ticket purchasing at this link.
Moore’s fellow Plenary Panelists include some of the most progressive and fertile minds in the arts, including: contemporary choreographer Margaret Jenkins, TITAS Executive Director Charles Santos, and economist Joe Cortright, a Brookings Institution fellow and president of the firm Impresa (Portland, OR). Led by journalist and Inside Arts editor Alicia Anstead, the Opening Plenary Session is designed to help dance artists and organizations reassess resources to make it through an economic crisis.
Don't "drift through the storm" in isolation when you can interface with your peers and learn from experts with answers!
Secure Your Future... REGISTER NOW!
Dance/USA Awards 14 Scholarships to the 2009 Dance/USA Annual Conference
Dance/USA announces the selection of 14 individuals from the New York City community who have received Access Dance/USA scholarships to attend the 2009 Dance/USA Annual Conference being held in Houston, TX, June 3-6. The Access Dance/USA scholarship program provides funding for member and non-member dance administrators and artists to attend the Dance/USA Annual Conference. Access Dance/USA participants will be paired with mentors who will act as guides during the Council meeting and as references following the conference to help those new to Dance/USA get the most out of their experience. Funding for the scholarships was made possible by Dance/NYC through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Dance/USA will continue to foster opportunities in other communities for future Access Dance/USA scholarships.
The recipients of this year’s scholarships are listed below:
Jen Abrams, Independent Choreographer
Christy Bolingbroke, Mark Morris Dance Group
Colleen Cashman, Parsons Dance
Maya de Silva Chafe, Los Chavales del Barrio y Flamenco Revolucion
Justina Gaddy, Degree Dance Collective
Irfana Jetha, David Dorfman Dance
Leslie Malmed, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana
Pia Monique Murray, Urban Bush Women
David Persky, ZviDance
David Sadowsky, Elisa Monte Dance
Kristen Schifferdecker, Red Novae Movement Group
Andrea Sholler, Dance Theater Workshop
Emily Watts, Fractured Atlas
Adrienne Westwood, VIA Dance Collaborative
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Houston Community Provides Access to Dance/USA Annual Conference
A grassroots fundraising effort in Houston, TX will supply many individuals and companies with the necessary funds to attend the 2009 Dance/USA Annual Conference. The Houston Local Host Committee has worked with local funders to furnish two conference registrations and a one year membership, valued at $1,000, to each of the 11 companies performing in the June 5th dance showcase, "The Power of Movement". James Nelson, general manager of Houston Ballet and Christina Giannelli of Dance Source Houston-Local Host Committee co-chairs-want their community to see firsthand the benefits of membership in Dance/USA, and how the conference can provide inspiration and connection, especially in this trying economic climate. “We’ve been extremely pleased with the generous support from the community and we’re looking forward to giving Houston center stage for this conference,” states Nelson. Dance/USA offers special thanks to the Houston Endowment, Houston Arts Alliance, Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, Houston Downtown Alliance, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Discovery Green, Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine (CPAM) at The Methodist Hospital, and City of Houston Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department.
EDA Update: Dance/USA Needs Your Input!
Dance/USA is building a base of information for the dance field about audience engagement. We would like to know your issues and challenges along with your successes. To do that, Dance/USA members and other nonprofit organizations working in dance are encouraged to complete the Survey of Audience Engagement practices (one submission per organization, please). WolfBrown, a research and consulting firm, will produce a public report and present the findings at our Houston meeting this June. Results will only be reported in aggregate; no organization or individual will be identified. Please help us address this critical issue by completing the survey by May 4, 2009. It only takes about 10 minutes to complete. Note that we have opened up the survey up to non-members, so feel free to forward the link to other organizations in the dance field. To take the survey, click here.
How are the Current Economic Rough Waters Affecting You?
The Research Department wants to hear from you!
As part of Dance/USA’s continuing effort to capture a picture of how the current economic turmoil is affecting the dance field, we have updated the Rough Waters Survey. On average, this survey is completed in 7 to 10 minutes. Your responses help us describe the current situation, how the field has changed since winter, and what next season looks like. Please click on the link below to access the survey or copy and paste the website address into your web browser to take the survey.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=DVD1X7rwSBNN_2bGXfCXRlMg_3d_3d
Although the hard times are continuing, the dance field is adept at managing limited resources and thinking creatively when faced with a challenge. Help prove it by visiting the link above and taking the survey. The deadline for completing this survey is Friday, May 1. The Dance/USA research staff thanks you for your time and participation.
Dance Service Organizations: please contact research associate Victoria Smith directly, if you would like your constituents to participate in the survey or to share your observations on how your community is being affected by an uncertain economic future.
Estate Tax & Charitable Giving
President Obama’s FY10 budget outline recommends permanently freezing the estate tax at 2009 levels. However, during the budget resolution discussions in Congress, the Senate passed an amendment introduced by Senators Kyl (R-AZ) and Senator Lincoln (D-AK) to weaken the estate tax from 2009 levels by raising the individual exemption to $5 million and lowering the tax rate from 45% to 35%. Many in the nonprofit sector believe that an estate tax, which requires individuals of substantial wealth to give back to the communities, is a strong incentive for charitable giving. The House budget resolution does not include a change to the Estate Tax so the Senate amendment may not survive conference committee later this month. Stay tuned.
Artist Fair Market Value Deduction
In 1969, Congress repealed legislation allowing artists, writers, and composers to take a fair-market value deduction for their works donated to a museum, library or archive, resulting in a dramatic decline in donated works. The Artist-Museum Partnership Act would reinstate the fair-market value deduction, and would include as qualified charitable contributions "musical, artistic, or scholarly compositions." On Thursday, January 29, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) re-introduced the Artist-Museum Partnership Act (S. 405). A month later, Congressmen John Lewis (D-GA) and Todd Platts (R-PA) re-introduced the House bill for the 111th Congress (H.R. 1126).
Dance/USA supports the Artist-Museum Partnership Act because the legislation would serve as an incentive for current choreographers to donate the papers, notation and visual recordings associated with their creations to college dance programs, performing arts libraries and nonprofit dance organizations.
