Arts Midwest

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The Conference staff is very pleased to launch our next step forward into the technological realm today! The Spotlight Showcase application is now available and, this time around, will be an exclusively online application. We’re looking forward to saving lots and lots of paper as well as a portion of the staff time required to process 200+ applications and prepare them for the review panel. It’s still a big job, but it’s exciting to be able to redirect to more content-related tasks a portion of the time formerly spent on time-consuming clerical tasks like hand-typing the information from each hand-written application form into our database and photocopying each form for multiple panel binders.

Just as in past years, we welcome applications from performing artists/ensembles and artist managers/agents on behalf of performing artists, from music and dance to theater and youth and family programming. And as we always have, the Conference continues to serve all major performing arts disciplines; if you remember, in 2009, we added a special focus on one particular genre through professional development sessions, performance opportunities, and other activities. In 2010, we’ll shine a little extra light on classical music, and, as part of that highlight, we encourage classical and chamber artists/ensembles to apply along with all of our friends from other musical subgenres, theater, dance, etc.

We also encourage our friends and colleagues from the presenting side of the aisle to help us out by encouraging their artist colleagues to apply, or by writing a letter of support that an artist can include with their print promotional materials. What artists have really connected with your community lately? What ensembles are doing great work onstage and off? Get the word out — you’re one of our best resources for reaching artists that the Conference doesn’t know and vice versa.

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Many of you who attended the 2009 Conference already know that Midwest Arts Conference manager Ann Christensen Arndt was expecting her first child — and she and her husband welcomed the new addition to their family last week! Ann and Dave are the proud parents of a little girl, Fiona, and mom and baby are both doing well.

Fiona’s arrival, of course, means that Ann will be on maternity leave through April. In her absence, the Conference team will be assuming her responsibilities, and we are very pleased to announce the return of Megan Torkelson, who was a wonderful addition to the 2009 team as our intern. Megan will be managing the 2010 Spotlight Showcase application and panel process from January through April, and will stay with the team through the 2010 Conference.

If you have questions about the 2010 Conference, please contact us at midwestartsconference@artsmidwest.org and one of us will get back to you as soon as possible.

Congratulations, Ann, and welcome back, Megan!

While planning for the 2010 Conference started many months before we even got to Saint Paul this past September for the 2009 Conference, it’s not until the few months afterwards that we really start ramping up for the next year’s event.

2009 in review
Since we saw you all in Saint Paul a few months ago, we’ve debriefed the 2009 event and discussed what worked and what didn’t, and what programmatic elements might just need some gentle tweaking to go from good to great. We’ve carefully read all of the great feedback you gave us in the Conference evaluations and the professional development and New Colleague session evaluations, and shared amongst the Conference team the phone and email conversations we’ve had with you. Photos have been compiled into a Flickr photostream and interviews and event footage into a video podcast. (Check them out — see if you can spot yourself!)

Planning for 2010
A few weeks ago, the Conference team, along with other key Arts Midwest staff, traveled to Indianapolis, our host city for the 2010 Conference. There, we met with our Conference co-chairs, the local Host Committee, the Indiana Presenters Network, and numerous contacts at venues throughout the city. We started making plans for the Marketplace exhibit hall layout, visited potential independent showcase venues, talked about a number of issues with the Host Committee and how they will be assisting the Conference team going forward, and also got to sample some of the great restaurants in the city, some of which you’ll see in the restaurant guide come summer.

We’ll be making lots of plans and decisions in the next few months, and as soon as we have some more details solidified, we’ll be updating the Web site as those plans come together. Soon we’ll be able to post dates and deadlines, registration fees and exhibit packages, and in January you’ll see the Spotlight Showcase application become available online.

Welcome to the newest communciations venture of the Midwest Arts Conference!

As our preparations and planning for the upcoming 2010 event in Indianapolis next September continue to ramp up, we'll be posting here regularly to keep you in the loop about what's being planned for the upcoming event. We'll also give you behind-the-scenes peeks at how this exciting and complicated event comes together and share stories from your colleagues about their experiences with us over the years.

Don't miss a thing -- subscribe to the blog via our RSS feed, or you can sign up to receive email notifications when new posts go up. (We'll revise this post with directions/links as soon as they're live!)

Back soon!