Letter from Executive Director, Andrea Snyder

March 2008 Dear Colleagues: Let’s just say that having had the 12-week sabbatical, I was fortified to weather the onslaught that greeted me over the last several months. In brief (and with the help of Dance/USA and branch staff for several activities):

• Taking my turn as chair of the American Arts Alliance Board of Directors (as of January) and a change of managerial leadership;
• Research and recommendations for the relationship between the branch offices and Dance/USA;
• Dance/USA’s FY07 Audit review;
• Finding a guest editor for the Dance/USA Spring Journal;
• Fundraising for and collaborating with colleagues Ella Baff and Sandra Gibson on a publication (soon to be in print) emanating from the last five years of the National Dance Presenters Leadership Forum;
• Working through the particulars related to the Dance/USA-TCG co-sponsored seminar, Dual Leadership: Partnering from the Inside Out, which is taking place in New Orleans as I write;
• Putting the pieces together for a Dance Working Group Forum just prior to the Arts Presenters Conference (for which I thank Ken Foster and Penny Dannenberg for their responsiveness and leadership, and Kim Konikow for her moderation). Click this link for summary notes ;
• Dance/USA Board of Trustees November meeting, ongoing communication and committee activities;
• Planning for the Dance/USA Winter Forum on “Marketing and the Use of Technology” in Los Angeles;
• Ongoing development, conversations with funders, and work with Board Chair Cookie Ruiz on individual donor building for Dance/USA;
• Reviewing the Minnesota Census research by John Munger;
• Roundtable and NPAC planning, including the Dance/USA Honors Celebration;
• Dance/NYC staff transition and a recent staff change at Dance/MetroDC;
• Preliminary planning for the August 2008 Tanzmesse in Dusseldorf.

This short list is meant to give you a snapshot of what’s happening around the Dance/USA office (and that’s not including work by all the dedicated staff members), but enough about me…

Los Angeles Winter Forum Wrap Up
Kudos to Leslie Zucker, Ann Norris, the L.A. host team, and all the helpful Dance/USA staff for orchestrating and managing a very successful Winter Forum in L.A. in mid-January. There were 75 attendees, most with laptops in hand, to learn about new technologies for marketing dance. Tthe positive interaction among senior, experienced leaders and staff in the field and young, new voices who had great awareness and comfort using technology for dance promotion was outstanding. (That’s not to imply there isn’t skill and knowledge at the senior level!) Every “hands-on” session provided tangible, insightful and valuable tools or methods for attendees to digest. Council sessions separated out as follows: 22 people representing companies with budgets under $1M, 10 people from companies with budgets between $1M - $4.5M, and 26 individuals reflecting companies with budgets over $4.5M. Ideas were generated amongst the participants for future Forum topics, including training in Human Resource issues, which rarely gets enough attention. Stay tuned for news about where we will head in January 2009.

American Arts Alliance and Advocacy
I am certain Haley Gordon has kept you informed about the AAA’s activities, especially our recent gathering to honor Congressman Norm Dicks from the state of Washington for his leadership on the House Interior Appropriations Sub-Committee. His passion and support of the arts secured an amazing increase for the NEA and NEH. Yet, he was very cautious about being able to retain those increases in the coming year’s appropriation. The NEA, NEH, and Corporation for Public Broadcasting are again all subject to dramatic cuts in the President’s budget.

In order to maintain this increase and urge Congress to support public policies that advance the continued growth of the arts sector, we need your help! Dance/USA encourages you or another representative from your organization to come to Washington, DC for Arts Advocacy Day on March 31- April 1, 2008. Last year, hundreds of arts advocates from across the country met with Senators and Representatives to discuss issues ranging from arts education and cultural exchange to charitable giving incentives and visa processing for foreign guest artists. This year’s Arts Advocacy Day begins on March 31 with an all day legislative training sessions followed by the annual Nancy Hanks Lecture by best-selling author, Daniel Pink. On April 1, there will be a Congressional Arts Breakfast in the morning and Capitol Hill visits all afternoon. Help make sure the dance field is represented at Arts Advocacy Day by registering today! Please visit the Americans for the Arts website to register and email hgordon@danceusa.org if you are planning to attend. If you can’t attend both days of events, Dance/USA will be holding a separate Arts Advocacy Day legislative training session in March.

Last week, there was a meeting of the CEOs of many of the national arts service organizations. As part of that interchange, our concern about recent negative public comments regarding the arts and the non-profit sector was discussed. Among recent statements were these:

“When millions of people are dying of AIDS and malaria in Africa, it is hard to justify the umpteen society gala held for the benefit of a performing arts center or an art museum.” Investor William Goss, The New York Times, September 6, 2007

“This year’s charitable donations are expected to total more than $200 billion, a record. But a big portion of this impressive sum – especially from the wealthy, who have most to donate – is going to culture palaces: to the operas, art museums, symphonies and theaters where the wealthy spend much of their leisure time.” Robert Reich, The LA Times, October 1, 2007

Rep. Xavier Becerra “had reservations about whether donations to institutions such as art museums and universities should be given the same tax treatment as contributions to social service charities that help poor people.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy, October 4, 2007

How can we become more meaningful to communities? How can there be a wider understanding of the breadth of what the arts do? How can we make the argument that the arts are irreplaceable anchors for community building? These and other questions reverberated through the room, and while there were no instant answers, we recognize collaborative strategy building is of great urgency and plan to attack this problem…which is a great segue to the next major topic below.

National Performing Arts Convention (NPAC)
Save the dates! From June 10-14, 2008, the performing arts community is “Taking Action Together” at the National Performing Arts Convention (NPAC) in Denver, Colorado. Over 4,000 choreographers, composers, musicians, actors, administrators, conductors, producers, dancers, trustees, managers, marketers, critics, businesses, educators, directors, fundraisers and agents are coming together for this historic gathering to build a stronger performing arts community for the future.

The major themes of the convention are examining the challenges and opportunities we face as a sector, identifying the most effective, collective actions to communicate the importance of the performing arts to national life, and developing new ways that arts leaders can more successfully bring the value of the arts in America to a wider audience. The convention will include a unique Town Hall Meeting overseen by AmericaSpeaks, for which there will be daily caucuses and during which every convention delegate (this means you!) will have an opportunity to have his or her voice heard in drafting the arts advocacy agenda for the next four years. For our dance members, this is a unique occasion to interact not only with dance colleagues, but also with peers across disciplines from throughout the country. For the dance field, your presence and input at the NPAC is vital.

And there’s more to be gained from attending. The city of Denver will present its vision for what role a city’s arts community might play by the year 2028. Given the collaborative vision-setting and action by Denver’s Scientific and Cultural Facilities District in the late 1980s that resulted in a portion of sales tax designated for the arts, there is every likelihood that creativity and boldness will guide their thinking and spark ideas amongst the convention participants. There will be several pre-conference, in-depth workshops, convention break-out sessions, engaging speakers, performances, and endless networking opportunities. In addition, Dance/USA’s Roundtable will bring our community together for a celebration at its Honors Dinner on Wednesday, June 11 to culminate this 25th Anniversary year, and there will be two evenings of dance showcases featuring a diversity of Colorado and national dance artists and companies. Per the desire of the NPAC leadership to invite and include as many working artists as possible, we want to encourage our community to help support artistic directors, choreographers and dancers to attend.

Also, although not typical of our general Roundtable makeup, we welcome trustees of member organizations to participate and interact with their counterparts from dance and the other disciplines. I can assure you that trustees from opera companies, choruses, orchestras and theater organizations will be there in force. To encourage this, attached is a document listing “Ten Reasons Why Trustees Should Attend.” Please bring it to the attention of your own board leadership. I can’t underscore enough the need for the dance community to be there in force.

I invite you to browse the NPAC website to learn about all of the offerings at NPAC. You can also find discounts on hotels and airfare. There may be the possibility of alternative housing – we’ll keep you informed.

Presidential Election Arts Platforms
As we continue to see positive reinforcement for increased appropriations for the arts at the federal level, it’s timely to consider the arts platforms that will shape the future of the next administration. Our AAA colleague, Americans for the Arts, has established the ArtsVote2008 website that contains relevant information to advocates and campaign staff working on arts and arts education issues. You can download the platform statements in support of the arts made by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and former Governor Mike Huckabee. (At this moment, Senator John McCain does not have a written arts platform.) It’s vitally important to know where they stand and to share this information with your colleagues, trustees and communities.

Recession Planning
All the signs point to a likely recession in the coming months/year/years. What that means for dance artists and institutions is uncertain. One may assume that concert going will decline, charitable giving will languish, foundation support will tighten…I hate to pose a dire picture and know that we can all weather some rough patches. At the recent Winter Forum, several managers shared their anxieties as well as their thinking for the near future. If at all possible, you should know how your organization fared during past recessions. I urge you to seek the best guidance you can find to help forecast and plan for the next year and, when appropriate, be willing to share information with your Dance/USA colleagues. Here at Dance/USA, we are seeking guidance from amongst our own board members who have the benefit of economic knowledge from within their institution’s leadership.

FY 09 Dance/USA Board Rotation
In the coming months, the Dance/USA Trustees Committee will take on the responsibility of trustee nominations, Executive Committee composition, and officer nominations for the next fiscal year. If you would like to submit a nomination for consideration, please complete the nomination form and email or fax your suggestion to Monica Reid, Dance/USA’s Administrative Manager, at danceusa@danceusa.org by no later than March 31.

As part of the rotation process, Council Chairs will contact peers through the list serves to either confirm their intention to serve (if they have not maxed out the three consecutive year policy and still want to represent you on the Board) or to engage you in the process of nominating and voting for a new Council Chair. Doing this process in the spring prior to the June board meeting and Roundtable assures maximum participation by all members (rather than those registered and in the room during Council sessions at the Roundtable) and informs the Trustee Committee well in advance so they can determine the most diverse makeup of the Executive Committee for Board approval in June.

Individual Donor Building
As part of the Dance/USA strategic plan, the Board of Trustees has taken seriously the need to diversify Dance/USA’s contributed income portfolio. Led by Board Chair Cookie Ruiz and in concert with Board and member organization representatives, several efforts are underway to cultivate interested donors who recognize the need for the leadership of a strong, national dance service organization. Social events have been initiated in NYC and Chicago, with Austin, Dallas and San Francisco on tap for the future. A National Leadership Council is under development, and I am making myself as available as possible to speak with the boards of directors of member organizations.

I guess that’s enough for now. All of us at Dance/USA look forward to seeing you in June in Denver. Until then, all the best for the spring season.

Sincerely,

Andrea E. Snyder
Executive Director