Arts Midwest

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.