Uniquely American Artists

PADX Trade Mission
Busan + Hong Kong

The West has long been the gateway to Asia, and WAA is building on that legacy with the first official US trade mission of performing arts professionals to Asia. With support from US Department of Commerce International Trade Administration, 12 artists and agencies share our story with the world.

Meet the Delegates

Circle Up!

Over 500 people circled up in Oakland for the 59th Annual Conference, but it’s not too late to discover the next great performance. Continue to connect, learn and book!

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Funding Partner

Sponsors

PARTNERS

City of Oakland, Cultural Affairs Division
Opus 3 Artists
SOZO

PLATINUM

Mariachi Continental de San Diego
Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

GOLD

Artes Latinas
Bay United Artist Collective
CAMI Music
MM Music Agency
Spektrix
Tacoma Arts Live

SILVER

AMAZ Entertainment
Kamstar Artist Management
Tix
UCSB Arts & Lectures

BRONZE

Arizona Presenters
Prism.FM
Dance Managers Collective
NAPAMA
Rocky Mountain Arts Consortium
Québec Government Office in Los Angeles
White Bird

SUPPORTER

California Presenters

NEWS

News
Announcing the Inaugural Presenter Development Program
Announcing the Inaugural Presenter Development Program

Meet This Year’s Presenter Development Program Cohort!

  • Daniel Bondi, The Faight

  • Gus Denard, Early Music Seattle

  • Stacy Horne, Stern Grove Music Festival

  • Carolyn Jackson, Lesher Center

  • Roger Menell, Denver Botanic Gardens

  • David Siegel, Ent Center for the Arts

  • Clayton Shelvin, The Freight

Read more →
The Inaugural Marcelo Avilés Scholars
The Inaugural Marcelo Avilés Scholars

Congratulations to the 2026 Marcelo Aviles Scholars!

  • Amalyah Muñoz, Jesús Muñoz Flamenco

  • Tenessa Ripple, Artown

  • Nina Seul, Delirium Musicum

  • Eric Shiring, Invertigo Dance Theatre

  • Anna Stewart, Green Box

  • Purna Venugopalan, UMass Amherst

Read more →
2026 WAA Intersections Fellows
2026 WAA Intersections Fellows

Congratulations to the 2026 Inaugural Intersections Fellows!

  • Bernard Brown, bbmoves

  • Dóri Bosnyák, The Grand 1894 Opera House

  • Antonio M. Gomez, Early Music Seattle

  • Achinta McDaniel, Blue13 Dance Company

  • Socks Whitmore, CIPA & 8TPS

Read more →
Keeping Up with Inflation
Keeping Up with Inflation

Keeping Up with Inflation
Information about the proposed dues increase to maintain WAA’s current level of services in the face of ~10% cumulative inflation over three years.

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ALL NEWS AND UPDATES

WESTERN WAYS: MEMBER CONTENT

Western Ways
2025 AIP Symposium (in two parts)
2025 AIP Symposium (in two parts)

The 2025 Advancing Indigenous Performance (AIP) Symposium was a virtual community gathering for WAA members and colleagues to learn about the next phase of the Advancing Indigenous Performance program and help shape a new affinity and interest group.

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Introducing the AIP Resource Center
Introducing the AIP Resource Center

We’re proud to introduce the AIP Resource Center, an evolving online hub designed to share tools, links, and videos that help organizations and presenters deepen their cultural competency, nurture allyship, and create meaningful opportunities for Native artists and communities.

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Rethinking Residencies
Rethinking Residencies

The last 12 months have forced us to "stop, collaborate and listen" (word to Vanilla Ice) as we work toward a new normal. As the field embraces "green" touring, deeper community engagement, and artists as partners, how do we evolve the residency to maximize the impact and minimize the environmental toll?

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Authentic Engagement - Lessons from Indigenous Communities Workshop 
Authentic Engagement - Lessons from Indigenous Communities Workshop 

This conversation, held as part of WAA and Arts Midwest’s partnered online 2020 conference, centers Indigenous ways of knowing, being, creating, engaging, and presenting – practices that, we are reminded, have evolved over millennia: As Nadine McDonald-Dowd put it: “We’ve kept this country strong for 60-odd-thousand years, we’ve survived colonization.” 

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Where business feels like family Become A Member

Membership

Connect with the strongest community of performing arts professionals in the West.

THANK YOU TO OUR FUNDERS