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November 11, 2009

Last Chance to Submit Break-Out Proposal Sessions: Dance/USA 2010 Annual Conference

Don't miss this chance to submit a break-out session proposal!

Submission Deadline: Midnight ET, November 13, 2009

In June 2010, Dance/USA will hold its Annual Conference in Washington, DC. The theme of the conference is "Dance Beyond Borders." We want your ideas!

At the conference, attendees meet in:

Large Plenary Sessions, designed to expand thinking and contextualize current moments
Council Sessions (peer gatherings of members and member organizations)
Break-Out Sessions designed to address the immediate concerns of the field and conference theme
Open Time for attendees to reconnect and form new relationships that will sustain them between annual conferences.

Dance/USA is now accepting proposals for Break-Out Session topics!

Submit your proposal here
(Before submitting your proposal, please review the PDF of the submission process for Break-Out Session proposals.)

For additional information on the review process and notification, visit the Dance/USA website.

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Technology-Driven Marketing Resources from Andrea Snyder's Travels

A Special Travel Update from Executive Director Andrea Snyder

The final leg of my fall "travel fest" began in New York City on October 28, to witness, celebrate, commemorate, and reunite with several generations of Merce Cunningham dancers, staff, board members, supporters, and students, in addition to many others in the dance community, enthusiasts, the press, and the public at a five-hour Cunningham Memorial at the Park Avenue Armory, pared down to its raw shell.

The evening was elegant in its conception and truly representative of Merce's artistry -– bodies moving in space. It felt as if Merce was there and had designed the evening himself. No speeches or presentations –- just live music and dance, and a lot of it. Past and present merged into one, timeless whole. Especially delightful for me was recognizing former Cunningham dancers who were company members in the late 1970s when I worked for the Cunningham Foundation; their bodies could still articulate his vocabulary beautifully.

The words SRO (Standing Room Only) were apt in this setting. Most of the filled-to-capacity crowd of 1,500 stood or meandered around the perimeter of the three square "stages" to watch different segments of works done by different dancers, both former and current. Many audience members found dance colleagues and friends, both former and current. It was a rare and altogether extraordinary and memorable evening.

Then it was on to New Orleans to participate in the Louisiana Cultural Economy Summit, which also featured the Louisiana World Culture Economic Forum. Teresa Eyring, executive director of Theatre Communications Group, and I shared an afternoon’s presentation about the state of our fields with theater and dance participants at the conference. Among the attendees were colleagues and friends Jenny Hamilton, executive director of the prominent New Orleans dance presenting institution, NOBA, Lisa Mount, arts consultant, and M.K. Wegmann, executive director of the New Orleans-based National Performance Network.

Most impressive was Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu's passion and knowledge about Louisiana’s cultural community and his conviction that the state’s cultural richness is an asset to be grown. Over 700 attended the Summit, including more than 100 international guests.

Of special note to share with you was the outcome of a session titled "Technology Driven Marketing and Advertising" that I attended. Moderated by Richard Read from NOCCA Institute, the panel of experts included marketing strategist Holly Way, David Dombrosky from Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Arts Management and Technology, Ann Laura-Parks from the Southern Arts Federation, Gene Meneray from the Arts Council of New Orleans and Nolafunguide.com, and Blake Haney, a marketing and technology designer from The Canary Collection. By the end of the session, an annotated list of useful websites was compiled, which you can find through the following link: http://arts-marketing.wikispaces.com. Scroll down the list under “Home” on the wiki page; each section will provide different information.

What better way to end the month than to experience a New Orleans Halloween! Gracious Southern hospitality and frivolity abounded, despite the challenges that the people in the Crescent City and region have experienced. The party atmosphere was infectious, beginning early in the morning and lasting until the wee hours of the next day. The city's spirit is still alive and bright!

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Who Do You Do Business With?
Dance/USA’s Development Committee is working to identify and secure new sources of support for the Annual Conference, and the committee needs your help. Their goal is to identify a group of 5-7 sponsors who are well-known and respected within the dance field—in other words, the companies you are doing business with.

Click here to let us know who you are doing business with. Please take a few minutes to fill out this very brief survey before Wednesday, November 18.

As always, thank you for your time and participation.

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Green Initiative Survey
In cooperation with Arts Presenters, Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts, and Booz Allen Hamilton we invite you to participate in this first study of greening in the performing arts industry. Whether you’re a presenter, artist, agent, producer or manager, your input matters. The survey will only take 15 minutes of your time but will add great value to the overall mission of understanding how our industry is progressing on this important subject.

The results of the survey will be shared at the APAP Conference in New York this coming January. We ask that you respond to the survey by November 13, 2009 in order that we may share the result of the survey by the end of 2009.

To access the survey just click on this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=hF0dg9Ud4gJE0TgDSn_2bmfg_3d_3d

This survey has the following objectives:

To assess your efforts to implement green initiatives within your organization;
To learn how effective these efforts have been and to understand the challenges you have encountered;
To understand the factors that have influenced your organization to pursue green initiatives;
To quantify best practices and challenges regarding the impact of an organization’s initiatives on its broader community.

All responses to this survey will be kept confidential and results will only be used in aggregate.

We encourage your participation.

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Results from the Technology and Social Media Survey

Thank you to the more than 170 Dance/USA members who responded to the Technology and Social Media Survey in October. Please visit this link to access the five-page highlight of survey results.

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Government Affairs Update
Did You Know? Dance/USA Keeps Advocacy News Online!
Dance/USA tracks a variety of public policy issues in coalition with the Performing Arts Alliance and the Cultural Advocacy Group. Visit the Advocacy Section of the Dance/USA website for arts policy updates, grassroots advocacy ideas, and information on the economic power of the arts: http://danceusa.org/newsactionalerts

NEA Receives $12.5 million Increase for FY10
On Tuesday, October 27, Congress passed a $12.5 million increase to the National Endowment for the Arts. The increase brings the Agency’s budget to $167.5 million for FY10. Send an email to your legislators and thank them for the funding increase! Your emails make a difference: http://theperformingartsalliance.org/campaign/ThankCongressforNEAIncrease

National Endowment for the Arts Announces New Director of State and Regional Partnerships
The NEA announced on November 5 that Laura A. Scanlan will be stepping into the position of Director of State and Regional Partnerships at the NEA. Ms. Scanlan is the former executive director of the Delaware Division of the Arts and is a principal with the consulting firm, Creative Cultural Strategies. Read more here: http://www.nea.gov/news/news09/scanlan-appointment.html

Independent Sector and Health Care Reform
Independent Sector has continued to track health care reform proposals on behalf of the tax exempt community. Visit Independent Sector’s website for updated comparison tools and analysis: http://independentsector.org/programs/gr/HealthCareReform.htm

Questions about the Government Affairs Update?
Email Amy Fitterer at afitterer@danceusa.org and visit the advocacy section of our website at http://danceusa.org/newsactionalerts.

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