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TAKING ACTION TOGETHER
NATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS CONVENTION

Day-By-Day Schedule

Download "NPAC AT A GLANCE" PDF

Items with an asterisk (*) indicate advance registration and/or additional fee required.

Check this page regularly for updates to this day-by-day Conference schedule. All contents subject to change.

click to expand Tuesday, June 10

9:00am-5:00pm
Location TBA
Cost: $225 per person

Pre-Convention Programs from National Arts Strategies*

On Tuesday, June 10 programs organized by National Arts Strategies (NAS) will provide insight and tools for building partnerships, funding opportunities and negotiating skills. Registration for these seminars is open to all attendees on a first-come, first served basis. Click here for more detailed information about NAS, the programs, and the faculty. Open to all. Registration and additional fee required. Don't delay, space is limited for these outstanding programs by one of the leading executive education organizations for arts and culture.

  • Opening the Right Doors: A Strategic Approach to Selecting Effective Partners*

    Professor Walter W. Powell, Stanford University

    Today, the most creative initiatives are being achieved through partnerships. How do you identify the partnerships that are most likely to succeed? What are the secrets to creating those relationships efficiently? Learn frameworks for analyzing your "network" and targeting the right partners at the right time. Professor Powell is a leading expert in the areas of network theory and organizational research. Click here for more information and faculty bio.

  • The Art (and Science) of Negotiation*

    Professor Margaret Neale, Stanford University Graduate School of Business

    Negotiation is an art—and a science. Even the most experienced leaders get surprised by the complex psychology and group behaviors that drive negotiations. Enhance your ability to create negotiated solutions that support healthy long-term relationships; achieve your goals, negotiate successful coalitions, and learn to work together to "grow the pie." Professor Neale is a leading expert in negotiation. Click here for more information and faculty bio.

  • Cause Marketing: New Strategies for Corporate Partnerships*

    Professor Kash Rangan, Harvard Business School

    Corporate sponsorships and philanthropy are harder to find in today's world of strategic corporate philanthropy. Nonprofit organizations are going beyond traditional approaches to develop strategic "cause marketing" relationships with corporations. Explore frameworks to win more attention and financial support from corporations, create an optimal fundraising strategy that includes cause marketing partnerships, identify in advance the most promising cause marketing partners, and design an effective cause marketing program with a corporation. Internationally recognized expert in marketing strategies for mission-driven organizations Kash Rangan leads this program. Click here for more information and faculty bio.

5:00pm-Onward

Evening Activities TBA

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click to expand Wednesday, June 11

Exhibit Hall in the Colorado Convention Center is open from 9:00am to 5:30pm.

8:00am-12:30pm
Hyatt Regency Convention Center Hotel
Cost: $165 per person through April 11; $190 thereafter

ORCHESTRA LEADERSHIP ACADEMY Seminars from the League of American Orchestras

Let us help you invest in the future! The League of American Orchestras is committed to recognizing and encouraging effective and visionary leadership in the orchestra profession and for the performing arts. A healthy and growing talent pool of well-trained, dedicated professionals is critical to maintaining institutional vitality and future growth. And, those who work for the arts in America need enhanced skill sets to undertake the complex tasks needed to ensure our collective success.

There are three half-day OLA seminars open to all delegates; one of them is likely to be just right for you. Click here for complete program information, including agendas and faculty bios.

  • Health and Wellness for Musicians*

    Orchestra staffs, board, and musicians, are all invested in the health of our musicians.

    Faculty: Janet Horvath, associate principal cello, Minnesota Orchestra, author of "Playing (less) Hurt-An Injury Prevention Guide for Musicians"; Russell Jones, former director, Association of British Orchestras; vice president for marketing & membership development, League of American Orchestras

  • Branding: Beyond the Hype*

    Everyone thinks they have a brand, or need one—but most people aren't quite sure what a brand actually is. Discover how brand-building is wider and deeper than identity, and how every communication—print, digital, environmental, conversational—can work hard to build your brand.

    Faculty: Roger Sametz, president, Sametz Blackstone Associates, Brandon Walsh, strategist, Sametz Blackstone Associates

  • Seminar for Women Conductors: Leadership Redesigned*

    A great opportunity for women conductors to share their experiences and establish a powerful professional leadership network.

    Faculty: Rayona Sharpnack, founder, Institute for Women's Leadership and author of "Trade Up: 5 Skills for Redesigning Your Leadership and Life from the Inside Out"

9:00am-Noon
The National Center for Voice and Speech,
1101 13th Street, Denver (within walking distance)
Cost: $95 per person

Pre-Convention Seminar presented by Chorus America and OPERA America

  • To Your (Vocal) Health! A Morning with the Experts at the National Center for Voice and Speech*

    Ingo Titze, Ph.D., executive director, The National Center for Voice and Speech

    We've arranged for a special session to discuss the science behind the voice and current trends, issues, and discoveries about vocal health for singers of all ages. The session will also feature a tour of this fantastic facility, to see vocal health strategies in action. Open to all. Additional fee required. Click here for more details. (Click here should link this session description on the Programming page)

NOTE: Additional seminars will be available on Wednesday, June 11 offered by our partner service organizations for their own membership. Please check your own organization's registration page or website for details.

Exhibitors Area is open from 9:00am to 5:30pm.

12:45pm-1:15pm

Delegate Orientation

Location TBA

2:00pm-3:30pm

  • Opening Session: The Power of Community Building

    Wells Fargo Theater, Colorado Convention Center

    Join host Anna Deavere Smith to celebrate the performing community and share exciting visions of what the future of the performing arts could be.

    Hear three inspiring stories of successful community-building with the arts, from three distinct and compelling perspectives: Louisiana's Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu speaks on building a strong performing arts community as a crucial part of a vital society; Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Bill Rauch talks about creating performance in partnership with community; and Denver's Mayor John Hickenlooper and Cultural Affairs Director Erin Trapp, present Denver's deeply researched and carefully crafted vision for a healthy performing arts future in 2028.

    Don't miss this exciting session. It will lay the foundation for ideas that will be discussed and challenged throughout the Convention. These views and an action plan will be voted on and formalized at the final session led by AmericaSpeaks on Saturday—a plan that will send the performing arts community out ready to take action together.

    Click here for more details.

4:00pm-5:30pm

  • AmericaSpeaks Caucuses

    Location TBA

    In preparation for Saturday morning's 21st Century Town Meeting® three caucus sessions will be held, one each day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The caucuses are designed to cull ideas and create action agenda for consideration on Saturday, one aimed at ensuring a strong future for the performing arts in the years to come.

    The caucuses will be broken into round tables of ten. Each table will engage in a facilitated cross-disciplinary conversation which will identify goals and action steps toward a vital performing arts future. Each caucus will have a core question and a specific outcome, and the responses of all of the tables will be compiled every day and shared with the full convention to form the basis of the following day's work.

    The National Performing Arts Convention has engaged AmericaSpeaks to lead this process of caucuses leading to our town meeting, using methods and technologies that they have refined in over a decade of work nationwide helping citizens be heard on important issues. You'll find a level playing field where every voice is equal, where all ideas are written down and considered. Join the discussions—let your ideas, opinions, and hopes help shape the ideas, opinions, and hopes of others.

5:30pm-7:00pm

  • Opening Party

    Sponsored by Target

    Location TBA

    Expand your personal network as you mingle with many new faces from all over the performing arts universe, as well as orchestra colleagues, presenters, and business partners at the opening reception. Refreshments and cash bar available. Open to all.

    With additional and deeply appreciated support from Center Plate

5:45pm-7:00pm

  • TRUSTEE RECEPTION

    Seawell Ballroom

    Trustees from diverse performing arts disciplines are invited to a reception featuring cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, offering the opportunity to meet and share common interests. The reception is hosted by trustees from Denver's premiere performing arts organizations.

Evening

Performances and Other Activities*

Please check your national service organization (NSO) or click here for events in Denver.

9:00pm and beyond

Affinity Group Gatherings and Late Night Events*

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click to expand Thursday, June 12

Exhibit Hall in the Colorado Convention Center is open from 9:00am to 6:45pm.

7:00am-8:00am

Affinity Group Breakfasts

8:00am-9:30am

Service Organization Programming

Please check with your own organization

10:00am-11:30am
Location TBA

  • AmericaSpeaks Caucuses

    Location TBA

    In preparation for Saturday morning's 21st Century Town Meeting® three caucus sessions will be held, one each day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The caucuses are designed to cull ideas and create action agenda for consideration on Saturday, one aimed at ensuring a strong future for the performing arts in the years to come.

    The caucuses will be broken into round tables of ten. Each table will engage in a facilitated cross-disciplinary conversation which will identify goals and action steps toward a vital performing arts future. Each caucus will have a core question and a specific outcome, and the responses of all of the tables will be compiled every day and shared with the full convention to form the basis of the following day's work.

    The National Performing Arts Convention has engaged AmericaSpeaks to lead this process of caucuses leading to our town meeting, using methods and technologies that they have refined in over a decade of work nationwide helping citizens be heard on important issues. You'll find a level playing field where every voice is equal, where all ideas are written down and considered. Join the discussions—let your ideas, opinions, and hopes help shape the ideas, opinions, and hopes of others.

Noon-1:00pm

  • From Good to Great and the Social Sectors

    Best-selling author Jim Collins discusses his groundbreaking theory on what makes the difference between a "good" organization and a "great" one, and how to achieve superior performance in the social sector. Click here to read selections from the monograph From Good to Great and the Social Sectors.

1:15pm-2:30pm
Exhibit Hall and SmART Bar Consultations

Grab some lunch in the exhibit hall and explore all amenities within.

  • New Works Sampler and Lunch

    Ellie Caulkins Opera House

    Opera Colorado and Central City Studio artists will perform excerpts from recent premieres that have received funding through OPERA America's Opera Fund. This is your opportunity to hear some of the latest opera and music-theater works from North American composers and librettists! This exciting performance will include excerpts from Elmer Gantry by Robert Aldridge and Hershel Garfein, A Flowering Tree by John Adams and Peter Sellars, Frau Margot by Thomas Pasatieri and Frank Corsaro, Hannaraptor by Allan Gilliland and Val Brandt, and Kirke Mechem's John Brown.

    New Works Sampler admission is FREE for all National Performing Arts Convention attendees. For your convenience, you can pre-order lunch for an additional cost when registering. If you have already registered but would like to add a lunch order, please contact Paul Gosselin at PGosselin@operaamerica.org

2:45pm-5:45pm

Sponsored Sessions, Breakout Sessions, In-Depth Workshops, and Art-Making Workshops

For this three-hour period you will have your choice of session(s) to attend. In-Depth Workshops and Art-Making Workshops each last for 3 hours. Breakouts are each 75 minutes. You will find that some breakouts will be held twice, some only once, so please choose carefully.

Sponsored Sessions

Some of our sponsors will be providing useful and informative sessions on a number of topics and that are open to all. Click here for a full description of these sessions.

IN-DEPTH WORKSHOPS (3 hours)

Ten 3-hour comprehensive sessions on a range of topics are yours for the choosing. Hear thoughtful presentations from experts on big issues, engage in active problem solving and exploration in small groups, and, in many cases, create take-away plans and ideas to inform your work back home.

  1. Beyond Audience Development: Innovative Strategies for Performing Arts Sustainability

  2. The Not-So Distant Horizon: The Near Future and the Performing Arts

  3. Taking Art off the Shelf: What Do Today’s Audiences Really Want?

  4. The Value of a Seat

  5. Indispensable: What Does it Mean to be Civically Engaged?

  6. Higher Education and the Real World of Practice: Creating a New Alignment

  7. Nurturing Teaching Artists

  8. Assessment and Evaluation in Arts Education

  9. New Frills or Deep Change? Innovation and the Performing Arts Organization

ART-MAKING WORKSHOPS (3 hours)

Locations TBA

Take a master class with an artist from your own discipline or another. Workshops are open to anyone at the Convention, whether novice or expert. Take home something you create yourself!

  1. Instant Opera with Gourmet Results

  2. HIP HOP: The Basics

  3. Playwriting (Mini) Boot Camp

  4. A Pilobolus Field Guide: The Natural History of Collaborative Dance-making

  5. Turning Sound Into Music

  6. African Rhythms and Rituals with Baba Chuck Davis

  7. Conducting Workshop

  8. Re-Imagining Creativity and Collaboration

2:45pm-4:00pm

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

(75 minutes)

Locations TBA

Looking for a practical approach to a specific problem? Then these rounds of shorter, topic-specific breakout sessions will appeal to you. Because these breakout sessions will be multi-disciplinary, participants will be able to learn from experts and from one another in ways that are not available at regular annual conferences.

  1. Consultants’ Roundtable

  2. If Only I Didn't Have to Work with (fill in the blank)! Human resource conversations among peers and HR experts

  3. Inside the NEA Grantmaking Process

  4. When Women Lead: Advancing the equality, innovation and excellence of arts organizations through diversity

  5. The Art of Living or Living for Art: A Survival Guide for Artists

  6. Critical Issues for the Non-profit Community

  7. Negotiating Between Innovation and Sustainability

  8. New Models for Incubation and Fiscal Sponsorship

  9. Fun with Critics

  10. New Technologies/New Opportunities

  11. Creating a New Framework: the Future of Arts Leadership

  12. Best Practices in Developing a Diverse and Committed Audience

  13. A Wake-Up Call

  14. Arts, Inc., How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights

  15. Stop Taking Attendance and Start Measuring the Intrinsic Impact of Your Programs

  16. Artists from Abroad: Everything You Need to Know about Visa and Tax Issues

  17. Treasure Hunting: Finding Non-Traditional Sources of Government Support

  18. International Cultural Diplomacy: Engaging Communities Abroad

  19. Developing a Research Agenda for the Sector

  20. The Online Salon Movement

  21. Human Resources for Humans! Frank and Informal Discussions and Solutions to Today’s Hot Topics in HR

  22. The Future of Private Giving to the Arts

  23. Absolutely Accessible Arts- Embracing Diverse Audiences and Artists

  24. Perspectives on Leadership Training

  25. The Changing Volunteer Environment

  26. Arts Boards: Innovating for the Future

  27. Art and Activism: Making Art, Making a Difference

  28. It's Not Easy Bein’ Green!

  29. From Big Picture to Back Yard: Improving Support for Arts Education

  30. Parents as Learners, Advocates and Audience Members

  31. Effective Partnership and Collaboration within Arts Education Ecosystems

  32. Creative Aging/Life-Long Learning in the Arts

  33. The Denver Model: Building Local Support for the Arts

  34. Building Arts Participation in Rural America

  35. Adventurous Programming: Making New Music the Main Course

4:00pm-5:45pm

Breakouts (2nd set of sessions)

Details to come

5:45pm-6:45pm

All Delegate and Exhibitor party in the Exhibit Hall

Mingle with colleagues, presenters, and business partners at the opening reception. Refreshments, hors d'oeuvres and cash bar available. Open to all.

Evening

Performances and Other Activities

Please check your national service organization (NSO) or click here for events in Denver.

6:45pm-??

Dine-Arounds*

Make new friends and enjoy Denver's fine restaurants at a Dine-Around this evening. Sign up for the restaurant or group that appeals to you, then meet in the hotel lobby at the time specified on the form. Dine-Arounds are pay-your-own-way.

7:30pm-10:00pm

Performances and Other Activities*

9:00pm and beyond

Affinity Group Gatherings and Late Night Events*

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click to expand Friday, June 13

7:00am-8:00am

Affinity Group Breakfasts

8:00am-9:30am

Service Organization Programming

Please check with your own organization

9:30am-4:00pm

Exhibit Hall in the Colorado Convention Center will be open.

10:00am-11:30am

  • AmericaSpeaks Caucuses

    Location TBA

    In preparation for Saturday morning's 21st Century Town Meeting® three caucus sessions will be held, one each day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The caucuses are designed to cull ideas and create action agenda for consideration on Saturday, one aimed at ensuring a strong future for the performing arts in the years to come.

    The caucuses will be broken into round tables of ten. Each table will engage in a facilitated cross-disciplinary conversation which will identify goals and action steps toward a vital performing arts future. Each caucus will have a core question and a specific outcome, and the responses of all of the tables will be compiled every day and shared with the full convention to form the basis of the following day's work.

    The National Performing Arts Convention has engaged AmericaSpeaks to lead this process of caucuses leading to our town meeting, using methods and technologies that they have refined in over a decade of work nationwide helping citizens be heard on important issues. You'll find a level playing field where every voice is equal, where all ideas are written down and considered. Join the discussions—let your ideas, opinions, and hopes help shape the ideas, opinions, and hopes of others.

11:45am-1:15pm
Exhibit Hall

Grab some lunch in the exhibit hall and explore all amenities within.

1:30pm-3:00pm

  • General Session: Radical Ideas from Beyond the Border

    Location TBA

    Artists:
    José Antonio Abreu, founder of El Sistema
    Madhusree Dutta, founder and executive director, Majlis
    Germaine Acogny, founder, Centre for Traditional and Contemporary African Dances
    Performance by the Colorado Children's Chorale, Debbie DeSantis, music director

    Moderated by Marin Alsop, music director, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

    Meet some extraordinary leaders who have created innovative programs that are changing the way performing arts are perceived in their countries and building powerful relationships with their communities. These pioneers will inspire you as they offer dramatic models of what is possible.

    Click here for more program information.

3:15pm-6:00pm

Service Organization Programming

Please check with your own organization (link to list of participating organizations in About)

6:00pm-7:00pm

Dine-Arounds*

Make new friends and enjoy Denver's fine restaurants at a Dine-Around this evening. Sign up for the restaurant or group that appeals to you, then meet in the hotel lobby at the time specified on the form. Dine-Arounds are pay-your-own-way.

7:30pm

Performances and Other Activities*

Please check your national service organization (NSO) or click here for events in Denver.

9:00pm and beyond

Affinity Group Gatherings and Late Night Events*

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click to expand Saturday, June 14

7:00am-8:00am

Affinity Group Breakfasts

8:00am-9:30am

Service Organization Programming

Please check with your own organization

10:00am-12:30pm

A 21st Century Town Meeting® with AmericaSpeaks Conclusions and Concluding Session

Location TBA

The ideas that surface at the caucuses the previous three days will be addressed at Saturday morning's 21st Century Town Meeting. Using the latest technologies, topics will be consolidated, discussed and voted upon by thousands of your peers, each with an individual touch pad. Results will be projected on large video screens in order to identify and hone an agenda to be ratified by this newly unified performing arts community.

At this concluding session, you will help set the agenda for how the arts will be perceived now and in the coming years: by our communities; by national, state, and local governments; by our supporters; and by our audiences. Let your voice be heard, and your vote count, so that we will speak with one voice and together ensure a vital future for the performing arts.

The National Performing Arts Convention has engaged AmericaSpeaks to lead the caucuses. AmericaSpeaks is a non-profit organization that uses innovative deliberative methods and technologies to help citizens be heard on important issues nationwide. In these sessions, you'll find a level playing field where ever voice is equal, where all ideas are considered.

12:30pm and beyond

Service Organization Programming

Please check with your own organization

-or-

Enjoy the rest of your stay in Denver!

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