Details of National Performing Arts Convention: June 10-14 in Denver

Registration Now Open for First Large-Scale

National Performing Arts Convention, June 10-14

• Dance, Opera, Music and Theatre All Coming Together in Denver
• Discounted Early-Bird Registration Closes March 31
• Over 60 Sessions and Presentations to Take Place: More Presenters Announced

January 29, 2008 (New York, NY) - Registration opened last week for the nation's first truly combined National Performing Arts Convention (NPAC) at www.performingartsconvention.org. Scheduled for June 10-14 in Denver, NPAC will bring together nearly 5,000 people, with a diverse range of interests in the non-profit performing arts, to shape the direction of the industry over the next decade. Attendance is open to anyone, including: actors, agents, arts administrators, businesses, composers, conductors, critics, dancers, directors, educators, fundraisers, instrumentalists, marketers, musicians, producers, singers, trustees and volunteers.

Discounted 'Early-Bird' registration rates are in place until March 31; they represent a savings of between 17 and 33 percent off full price. Full details are available at www.performingartsconvention.org. While NPAC has been designed to engage attendees in shared, multi-disciplinary content where they will learn best practices and meet colleagues from other fields, time has also been reserved for each artistic discipline's organization to convene its own members for special events and programming. During NPAC's online registration process, participants will be prompted to also enroll in discipline-specific sessions of special interest to them, at an additional cost.

NPAC is being presented by nearly 25 national performing arts service organizations that are rolling up their sleeves and coming together to develop, design, fund and facilitate the 2008 convention in close partnership with colleagues from the Denver performing arts community. "We expect this historic collaboration will more clearly communicate the importance of the performing arts to the nation's quality of life, economy and identity," said Ann Meier Baker, co-chair of NPAC and President/CEO of Chorus America. "By working together, performing arts leaders will be able to more effectively bring the value of what we do to a wider audience, not least of all to policymakers and politicians through an online Advocacy Center that will be operating through the convention," added Marc A. Scorca, co-chair of NPAC and President/CEO of OPERA America.

In addition to general session speaker Jim Collins, acclaimed author of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the LeapŠand Others Don't, nearly 100 speakers and presenters of note have been confirmed. Some of the diverse names include: Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, Baltimore Symphony music director Marin Alsop, Venezuelan music education phenomenon Jose Antonio Abreu, Jazz at Lincoln Center executive director Adrian Ellis, current and former National Endowment for the Arts chairs Dana Gioia and Bill Ivey, contemporary American tenor John Duykers, New York Times critic and founder of the Lincoln Center Festival John Rockwell and Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu is also tentatively scheduled - to name a few. A full list of speakers and presenters can be found at www.performingartsconvention.org.

Examples of some of the 60 planned sessions include: Taking Art Off the Shelf: Making the Arts Relevant Again; The Art of Living, or Living for Art: A Survival Guide for Individual Artists; The Value of A Seat; Design, Evaluation and Research on Arts Education Programs; Playwriting Bootcamp; Fun with Critics; The Changing Technological Universe and its Potential for the Arts Sector; Boomers: A Blooming Audience, or Fading Flowers in the Cultural Scene?; Artists from Abroad: Everything You Need to Know about Visa and Tax Issues; Opera: From Soap to Nuts; It Ain't Easy Being Green!; and, Art and Activism: Making Art, Making a Difference.

The participating NPAC arts service organizations include: American Composers Forum, American Music Center, Americans for the Arts, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Chamber Music America, Chorus America, Conductors Guild, Creative Capital, Dance USA, Early Music America, Folk Alliance, Grantmakers in the Arts, International Association for Jazz Education, League of American Orchestras, Meet the Composer, Music Critics Association of North America, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, National Performance Network, North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents, OPERA America, Theatre Communications Group, and University/Resident Theatre Association.

NPAC also expects more than 150 different companies to exhibit: ranging from artist managers and music publishers - for example - to acousticians, staging, apparel and recording companies in the convention's 100,000 square foot exhibition hall, located an escalator ride away from the majority of the programming. NPAC is made possible through the generous support of a range of donors and sponsors. A full list is available at www.performingartsconvention.org/sponsors.

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Media website: www.performingartsconvention.org/press.htm

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