From the Executive Director

Come Together, Right Now

By Teresa Eyring

Do this now. Go to the website for the National Performing Arts Convention and sign up. Because…

This is going to be one heckuva powwow. And it’s not to be missed. Imagine this: Participating in a classic TCG National Conference—with old and new friends, engaging speakers, enlightening breakouts and lasting interpersonal dialogue (or lasting trips to the bar/café if none of the above is materializing for you). And upon exiting these sessions, you enter into a deep and wide-ranging discussion with a national community of artists, administrators, funders and trustees from across the performing arts spectrum. Together, the assembled group discusses what has been achieved and what more can be achieved—if we take action together as the influential sector we are, making a major contribution to American life.

With NPAC, scheduled June 10–14 in Denver, we will have this chance! TCG is collaborating with a multidisciplinary group of some 25 arts service organizations that are hosting NPAC—with Chorus America, Dance/USA, Early Music America, League of American Orchestras, Music Critics Association of North America, OPERA America and TCG holding their national conferences within the framework of the larger convening.

Artists? Convention? Aren’t these kinds of events for Trekkies or politicians or software barons? Indeed, we will be spending some of our time at a convention center—but the vibe will most likely take on its own unique set of electrical properties. Plenary sessions will tackle topics such as art and community building, as well as “radical ideas from beyond the border,” with artists from the U.S., South Asia, Latin America and beyond. Art-making sessions with stellar creators, such as Will Power, Paula Vogel and Rinde Eckert, will also be available. Not-for-profit organization hero Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Good to Great and the Social Sectors, will deliver a plenary talk as well. We’ll even catch a glimpse of Denver’s own powwow—literally. Denver is host to one of the largest annual Native American powwows in the nation, featuring dancers and musicians from 70 American Indian tribes, and excerpts will be presented to our gathering.

NPAC, which had its debut in 2004, is expected to be held every four years, coinciding with Presidential elections. The gathering offers an opportunity to discuss, debate and agree upon priorities necessary to accomplish a desired vision for our sector—and to examine ways of carrying our message to policymakers at all levels of government, as well as funders and leading thinkers in the private arena.

In addition to small cross-disciplinary discussion groups, there will be a major end-of-conference town hall meeting, moderated by America Speaks. This übertalented group of facilitators has repeatedly been successful in bringing about consensus within gatherings of people who hold wildly varying viewpoints and priorities—groups facing dramatic challenges, such as rebuilding efforts at Ground Zero and in post-Katrina New Orleans. Through carefully moderated discussion and an electronic voting process, the conference will close with the bringing about of consensus on the top priorities and commitments for action in the performing arts sector.

Another important note for American Theatre readers is that NPAC is not simply reserved to members of the various convening organizations, but is open to all performing artists and organizations. The goal is to benefit from a breadth and diversity of perspectives, with anticipated attendees including actors, agents, arts administrators, arts consultants, composers, conductors, critics, dancers, directors, educators, fundraisers, instrumentalists, marketers, musicians, producers, singers, trustees and volunteers.

As for TCG’s own conference, this year’s theme is “Theatre at the Center,” which—as it turns out—is a double entendre: We will examine how to bring theatre to, and keep it at, the center of community life and discourse; and we’ll be holding our meetings at the Denver Center Theatre Company. We will examine social and environmental trends affecting the nation and their relationship to theatre. In one session, we will hear from a climate-change expert (the National Center for Atmospheric Research is based in Boulder, Colo., where numerous climatologists reside) about the rapid developments occurring in the environment, along with a staged reading of plays created by high school students who partnered with noted scientists in exploring these cataclysmic changes.

Over its 32 years of existence, TCG’s National Conference has been a flashpoint for new ideas, friendships, collaborations and even entire new organizations. Theatre people are like sailors in their ability to conjure up tall tales of adventure, in their joy of telling stories—about creating work, stopping shows midway through, missing cues, going up and getting out of it. Heartening successes and spectacular failures: These are the winds, waves and whales of our trade. And there’s a tremendous generosity about sharing the triumphs and the traumas of the work we do. The conference is one place where we can come together and do this en masse.

With NPAC, we have the chance to expand our horizons, our networks, our commitments to action and our collections of tall tales. So come one, come all. Don’t wait. Visit www.performingartsconvention.org