Meetings

• National Performing Arts Convention
• Dance/USA Roundtable
• National Dance Leadership Forum at Jacob's Pillow
• 2008 Winter Forum - Marketing and the Use of Technology
• Taskforce on Dancer Health

Registration for NPAC is now available at
www.performingartsconvention.org

Denver, June 10–14, 2008

Registration - See Who's Registered
General Schedule
Pre-Convention Programs
AmericaSpeaks
Arts Town 2028/Exhibit Hall
In-Depth Workshops
Art-Making Workshops
Transportation
Scholarships
Travel Assistance
Dance/USA National Roundtable Activities
NPAC Volunteer Opportunities

Don’t miss this unprecedented gathering of arts professionals from Dance, Music, Opera and Theatre - all in the same place at the same time!

Dance/USA is proud to join more than 20 national performing arts organizations to present NPAC 2008, a place for the performing arts community to come together like never before.

At NPAC 2008, you’ll find:
• World-class speakers and presenters
• Hear industry leaders and subject matter experts on topics important to you
• Learn the latest techniques and best practices in all facets of the performing arts
• Take a hands-on course in opera, dance, composing, play writing, or conducting
• Network at receptions and cocktail parties, performances and other gatherings
• Attend performances every night

Click here to Register

NPAC Registration:
Individual: $350
2-4 persons from the same organization: $325 each
5-7 persons from the same organization: $300 each
8 or more persons from the same organization: $275 each
Note: If your organization has multiple individuals to register, separate login accounts must be created for each person.

Your registration fee for NPAC covers entrance to all NPAC workshops and seminars including AmericaSpeaks, breakout sessions, in-depth workshops and art-making workshops. Registration also allows access to the opening party and into the exhibit hall. No meals are covered with your NPAC registration fee.

Dance/USA National Roundtable Registration
Members: $200
Non-Members: $275

Your registration fee for the Dance/USA National Roundtable includes breakfast on Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning, served at the Sheraton Hotel (formerly Adam's Mark) hotel; one ticket to the Dance/USA Honors Celebration Dinner and access to the Council Meetings on Friday afternoon. Showcase tickets must be purchased at the time of registration but are not included with the registration price. See the Events section for more information.

Click here to Register

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General Schedule

*Indicates activities exclusive to Dance/USA National Roundtable registrants.

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Pre-Convention

National Arts Strategies Pre-Convention Programs - register for these sessions on the NPAC website

National Arts Strategies will lead a unique executive education program for performing arts professionals as NPAC begins on June 10th. Three full-day sessions inspired by the NPAC theme "Taking Action Together" will be led by world-renowned faculty experts and teachers. Learn new approaches to partnerships that will help you and your organization realize your vision, and tap all the creativity energy of the performing arts, the broader cultural sector, and the for-profit world.

SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

Tuesday, June 10, 9am-5pm
Opening the Right Doors: A Strategic Approach to Selecting Effective Partners

Today, the most creative initiatives are being achieved through partnerships—informal, formal, short-term, long-term, personal, and professional. These partnerships deliver more information, resources, and expertise than any one person or organization can possibly have alone. But how do you identify the partnerships that are most likely to succeed? In which partnerships should you invest your limited time and resources? What are the secrets to creating those relationships efficiently? In this session you will learn frameworks for analyzing your "network" and targeting the right partners at the right time. Selecting the right partners will help you:
* Develop more valuable partnerships with less time and effort
* Learn more quickly about changes and trends that will affect your organization
* Select better targets for fundraising and for your board
* Predict and prepare for challenges in approaching each potential partner

This interactive and practical session will be led by Walter (Woody) Powell from Stanford University, a leading expert in the areas of network theory and organizational research. Visit the NPAC website for more details.

Tuesday, June 10, 9am-5pm
The Art (and Science) of Negotiation

Negotiation is an art - and a science. Leaders use it every day in one form or another as a business tool to advance their organizations. But even the most experienced leaders get surprised by the complex psychology and group behaviors that drive negotiations. Arts and cultural leaders have challenges in negotiation around labor agreements, with outside contractors and partners, and in some cases with boards of trustees. This highly interactive session on negotiation strategies and techniques will enhance your ability to:
* Create negotiated solutions that support healthy long-term relationships
* Achieve your goals even when the other side holds the more powerful cards
* Negotiate successful coalitions across multiple organizations and interests
* Go beyond "dividing the riches" to work together to "grow the pie."

This session will be led by Margaret Neale from Stanford University, a leading expert in negotiation. Visit the NPAC website for more details.

Tuesday, June 10, 9am-5pm
Cause Marketing: New Strategies for Corporate Partnerships

Corporate sponsorships and philanthropy provide financial support, but these traditional forms of corporate support are harder to find in today's world of strategic corporate philanthropy. Nonprofit organizations are going beyond these traditional approaches to develop strategic "cause marketing" relationships with corporations. This new approach helps deliver on more significant mission goals and corporate objectives by combining all of the resources available in a nonprofit and corporate partnership. Performing arts organizations can apply these strategies too, and in this session you will explore frameworks to:
* Win more attention and financial support from corporations in your community
* Create an optimal fundraising strategy that includes cause marketing partnerships
* Identify in advance the most promising—and not so promising—cause marketing partners
* Design an effective cause marketing program with a corporation

This case-driven session will be lead by Kash Rangan from Harvard Business School, an internationally recognized expert in marketing strategies for mission-driven organizations. Visit the NPAC website for more details.

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AmericaSpeaks

The National Performing Arts Convention held June 10-14 in Denver, CO will feature a special series of decision-making caucuses led by AmericaSpeaks to shape the future of the performing arts in America.

Leading up to the "21st Century Town Meeting," on Saturday, June 14th, three caucuses will be held to cull ideas and create an action agenda aimed at ensuring a strong future for the performing arts in the years to come.

The caucuses will be broken into round tables of ten. Each table will engage in a facilitated cross-disciplinary conversation which will identify goals and action steps toward a vital performing arts future. Each caucus will have a core question and a specific outcome, and the responses of all of the tables will be compiled every day and shared with the full convention to form the basis of the following day's work.

The National Performing Arts Convention has engaged AmericaSpeaks to lead this process of caucuses using methods and technologies that they have refined over a decade of work helping citizens be heard on important issues nationwide. You'll find a level playing field where every voice is equal, where all ideas are considered.

It is vital for the dance community to make its voice heard in this process.

Join the discussions—let your ideas, opinions, and hopes help shape the future of the performing arts in America.

If you are interested in being a table facilitator for the caucuses, please contact Leslie Zucker. Click here for a description of what a table facilitator does.

21st Century Town Meeting
The ideas that surface at the caucuses the previous three days will be addressed at Saturday morning's 21st Century Town Meeting. Using the latest technologies, topics will be consolidated, discussed and voted upon by thousands of your peers, each with an individual touch pad. Results will be projected on large video screens in order to identify and hone an agenda to be ratified by this newly unified performing arts community.

Plan to stay for Saturday's Town Meeting, which is not to be missed, where the ideas that surface at the caucuses the previous three days will be addressed. The Convention will culminate in an action agenda, determined on the spot and positioned to build a better future for the performing arts in America for years to come.

AmericaSpeaks table facilitator responsibilities:
• Conduct table group conversations for up to 10 other participants in each of the three caucuses as well as in the final Town Hall meeting;
• Participate in advance Facilitator training at which time you will be provided a detailed facilitator script;
• Follow a detailed design enabling the conversation to result in specific outcomes;
• Participate in de-briefing session at conclusion of each Caucus meeting to identify any highlights or adjustments needed for the subsequent Caucuses/Town Hall

Key skills: group facilitation; ability to establish a safe space for participants while also maintaining a sense of focus and purpose; good listening abilities and capacity to capture key points succinctly.

If you are interested in being a table facilitator for the caucuses, please contact Leslie Zucker.

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Arts Town 2028

The Power of Community Building
Wednesday, June 11, 2:00-3:30pm

Join host Anna Deavere Smith to celebrate the performing community and share exciting visions of what the future of the performing arts could be.

You'll hear three inspiring stories of successful community-building with the arts, from three distinct and compelling perspectives: Louisiana's Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu speaks on building a strong performing arts community as a crucial part of a vital society; Oregon Shakespeare Festival artistic director Bill Rauch talks about creating performance in partnership with community; and Denver's Mayor John Hickenlooper and Cultural Affairs Director Erin Trapp, present Denver's deeply researched and carefully crafted vision for a healthy performing arts future in 2028.

Don't miss this warm and exciting session. It will lay the foundation for ideas that will be discussed and challenged throughout the Convention. These views and an action plan will be voted on and formalized at the final session led by AmericaSpeaks on Saturday—a plan that will send the performing arts community out ready to take action together.

The Exhibit Hall

When is an exhibit hall better than an exhibit hall? When it's an Arts Town. As part of the National Performing Arts Convention, the city of Denver has been envisioning what a sustainably arts-rich community would look like. That project is called ArtsTown 2028 and the results of the city's work will be the focus of a session during the Convention.

Building on that concept, the Exhibit Hall will be designed to resemble a real town, complete with Village Green, Town Hall (the advocacy center), Library (the resource room), two Grocery Stores (the permanent food stations), neighborhood parks, a Performing Arts Center, and, of course, all of your businesses serving the performing arts field! Naturally, in so doing, we are starting with the wide aisles and ready accessibility to all booths that is ideal in a traditional Exhibit Hall.

For more information on becoming an Exhibitor, visit: http://www.performingartsconvention.org/exhibitor.cfm

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In-Depth Workshops

Visit the NPAC Website for details

Thursday, June 12, 2:45-5:45pm - 3-hour comprehensive sessions on a range of topics.

Beyond Audience Development: Innovative Strategies for Performing Arts Sustainability
Speaker: Heather Peeler, senior consultant, Community Wealth Ventures

The Not-So Distant Horizon: The Near Future and the Performing Arts
Speaker: David McIntosh, futurist

Taking Art off the Shelf: What Do Today’s Audiences Really Want?
Moderator: Lynne Conner, author of “In and Out of the Dark: A Theory About Audience Behavior From Sophocles to Spoken Word”
Speaker: Kevin Noe, artistic director, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble

The Value of a Seat
Speakers TBD

Our Political Power: National, State and Local Advocacy Strategies
Speakers TBD

Indispensable: What Does it Mean to be Civically Engaged?
Speakers TBD

Higher Education and the Real World of Practice: Creating a New Alignment
Moderator: Jane Polin, consultant and philanthropic advisor

Nurturing Teaching Artists
Moderator: Eric Booth

Assessment and Evaluation in Arts Education
Speaker: Lynn Waldorf, principal evaluator, McREL

New Frills or Deep Change? Innovation and the Performing Arts Organization
Moderators: Richard Evans, president, EmcArts ; John Shibley, director of organizational learning, EmcArts; Melissa Dibble, general manager and director of client partnerships, EmcArts

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Art-Making Sessions

Thursday, June 12, 2:45-5:45pm - 3-hour intensive, hands-on programs covering several disciplines. For details, visit the NPAC website

Opera from Soap to Nuts
Artist: Roger Ames, composer and arts educator

HIP HOP: The Basics
Artist: Will Power, playwright and spoken word artist

Playwriting (Mini) Boot Camp
Artist: Paula Vogel, playwright

A Pilobolus Field Guide: The Natural History of Collaborative Dance-making
Artist: Adam Battelstein, choreographer, Pilobolus

We Are All Composers
Artist: Jon Deak, artist

African Rhythms and Rituals with Baba Chuck Davis
Artist: Dr. Charles "Chuck" Davis, founder and artistic director, African American Dance Ensemble and DanceAfrica

Conducting Workshop
Artists TBD

Re-Imagining Creativity and Collaboration
Artist: Rinde Eckert

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Transportation

Frontier Airlines

In order to assist you with your travel to The National Performing Arts Convention, Frontier Airlines is offering a 10% discount off all published roundtrip fares.

Bookings may be made at www.frontierairlines.com. Select "More Search Options" from the home page and enter the Meeting ID FC4L5P.

All rules of the published fare apply. This program discount may not be used or combined with any other air travel certificates or program discounts.

Attendees may also use a travel agency by providing the agency with Meeting ID FC4L5P at the time of booking. The Meeting ID must be properly applied to the ticket in the Tour Code Box in order for the discount to be taken.
Getting Around In Denver

Airport Transfers: NPAC has negotiated a special rate with Denver SuperShuttle: $19 one way or $30 round trip from Denver International Airport to all downtown hotels. Please open and print the attached coupon.

Taxis: An average taxi ride from the airport to downtown Denver can run anywhere between $45 to $65, depending on time of day, location, etc. Many of the hotels have special negotiated rates with the taxi companies that can save you money. Please contact the hotel where you will be staying before you travel to find out the rate – taxi drivers are not required to post this information and may not offer it to the traveler.

For additional information about transportation options in the Denver area, including getting around town, visit http://www.denver.org.

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Travel Assistance

Many state arts agencies provide resources that can help artists and arts managers participate in conferences, training sessions and other professional development events. For complete information on funding eligibility and availability, call your state arts agency or consult your state arts agency's grant guidelines on the Web. Contact information for every state is available via: http://www.nasaa-arts.org/aoa/aoa_contents.shtml.

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