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Pre-Conference & Mid-Conference Seminars

EmcArts will present two in-depth seminars during the Conference. Both will center on the issues outlined as part of New Pathways for a New Era; each session will be tailored to a different segment of Conference attendees.

Note: Pre-registration and payment is required for these sessions, and you may register for them when you register for the Conference. If you have already registered and would like to add a seminar, please email us at midwestartsconference@artsmidwest.org.

Pre-Conference Seminar: New Pathways for a New Era: Innovating in Turbulent Times for Presenters and Service Organizations
Date: Wednesday, September 9
Time: 12:30 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
Recommended for: Presenters and service organizations
Fee: $90
Note: A mid-afternoon beverage break is included with your session registration; plan to arrive in Saint Paul early enough to grab lunch on your own beforehand.
Description: Challenging times call for innovative and practical action. This interactive, in-depth session will help you build the skills you need to implement productive innovations in your organization, strengthen your capacity, and move ahead in our changing economic climate. The session will be comprised by four segments that will combine the lessons learned from EmcArts’ practice with participants and help you apply these lessons to your own situations, with each new segment building on those preceding it. The segments will focus on Defining and Developing an Innovative Approach, the Qualities of Innovative Arts Organizations, Incubating Innovative Ideas, and Getting Started on Your Innovation Project. Participants will complete a series of worksheets, which will form the basis of a practical innovation plan that you can bring back and incorporate into your daily work. EmcArts is the leading U.S. social enterprise helping the arts field develop practical approaches to designing and implementing innovations. In this seminar, EmcArts invites you to apply its approaches – formed through years of practice – to the real challenges and opportunities that you face every day. Work on this session began before the Conference with a pre-Conference worksheet that was completed by pre-registered participants, and if appropriate, others from their organizations. At the conclusion of the session, you will leave with concrete directions to take, plus some novel approaches that you can use to address the issues you’ll face in the future.
Mid-Conference Seminar: New Pathways for a New Era: Innovating in Turbulent Times for Artist Managers/Agents and Individual Artists
Date: Friday, September 11
Time: 1:45 p.m.–5:45 p.m.
Recommended for: Artists and artist managers/agents
Fee: $90
Note: A mid-afternoon beverage break is included with your session registration.
Description: Challenging times call for innovative and practical action. EmcArts has designed this interactive, in-depth seminar was designed based on consultations with artist managers/agents and artists about the major issues they are facing. Acknowledging that the business landscape in the arts has changed dramatically and will only continue to change, EmcArts has created a dynamic, provocative session to guide participants through fundamental issues in the role of artist managers/agents and artists, the emerging world of Web 2.0, and the skills needed to work more effectively in this new environment. EmcArts is the leading U.S. social enterprise helping the arts field develop practical approaches to designing and implementing innovations. This session will combine lessons learned from EmcArts’ practice with individual and group work by participants – looking at the assumptions that drove the old business model, what technology means for that model, new business strategies emerging in response to change, and the skills needed to make new strategies work. Throughout the seminar, the emphasis will be on examining participants’ own real-world activities and on developing or reinventing those activities to meet the challenges and opportunities of these turbulent times. The session will conclude with an introduction to some of the new skills that this reinvention will require.