2016 WAA Conference PreCap
Tim Wilson, WAA Executive Director
SPOILER ALERT: This article reveals important story details, plot twists, and character development for the soon to be released 2016 WAA Conference: Return to Los Angeles IV. If you plan to see this conference, DON’T STOP reading.
WAA is returning to Los Angeles for the fourth time in 11 years, and our first downtown conference since 2007. LA’s booming art scene and the renaissance of its downtown core offer the perfect setting for an exciting, informative, and productive conference. Here are a few highlights!
Conexiones!
Under the auspices of Conexiones: Latino Arts @ WAA, the conference will feature a series of events focusing on Latino arts and community. Conexiones: Engaging Latino Artists & Audiences leads off the conference on Sunday, August 28 with a day-long seminar drawing on leading artists, business professionals, and marketers to explore critical issues.
Marisol Hernandez, the dynamic and magnetic lead singer of the Grammy-winning La Santa Cecilia, is this year’s keynote speaker (Monday, August 29). If she’s not the youngest keynote speaker WAA’s ever had, she’s right up there.
Photo by Jorge Perezchica, courtesy of Crisalida Community Arts Project/McCallum Theatre
If you can’t make Sunday’s seminar, don’t miss Tuesday’s Conexiones Roundtable: Intercambio de Ideas! Idea Exchange: Programming Ideas for Latino Engagement. It will offer a fun, fast-paced exchange of real-world ideas for deepening relations with Latino communities.
Looking for a Latino or Hispanic artist for your season? WAA’s conference app will include a special showcase list for every relevant showcase at the Conference!
All About Dance
In recent years, Los Angeles has become a hotbed of American dance, and WAA’s rolling out the red carpet for a star-studded focus on dance. Thanks to our partners Dance/USA, LA’s Dance Resource Center, and West Moves, the dance track will include a workshop, forum, roundtable and showcasing.
The track begins on Sunday, August 28, with a four-hour workshop: Advancing Dance, taught by Bonnie Brooks, Director & Lead Curator, The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, and Christy Bolingbroke, Curator & Deputy Director for Advancement, ODC San Francisco.
Blue 13 Dance Company's "Fire & Powder," photo by Anne Slattery, courtesy of the company.
Monday morning, August 29, we’re proud to premiere Dance/USA’s Dance Forum West. It’s the West Coast version of their popular forum at APAP each year…a go-to event for dance professionals.
Of course, WAA’s dance presenters won’t want to miss West Moves – A Forum for Dance Presenters. It’s a chance to catch up on the latest in dance from your peers.
Only in LA, could WAA offer a marathon of dance showcase performances. As of press time, the program includes 36 dance showcase listings. Thanks to our friends at Dance Resource Center for helping us celebrate dance!
Arts-Making-Change
The 2016 election seems to be bring out the worst in American society. What can we do? Fight back with change-making programs! This year’s conference includes a thread of topics and programs that address issues of equity, diversity, inclusion, and civic practice. In addition to the Conexiones program outlined above, checkout these inspiring programs….
Continuing the work of WAA’s acclaimed 2015 Indigenous Performance Symposium, on Tuesday, August 30, Andre Bouchard (Kootenai/Ojibwe) of Walrus Arts Management and Quita Sullivan (Montaukett), from New England Foundation for the Arts, will host the roundtable, Advancing Indigenous Performance. Special guest, playwright and performer Larissa FastHorse (Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sicangu Lakota Nation) will be on hand to talk about the Indigenous performance scene in LA.
On Wednesday, August 31, Artists and Communities Catalyze Change: Arts Presenting and Social & Civic Practice, exploring how socially-engaged artists can more effectively (and frequently) work with presenters. The panelists are Michael John Garces, Cornerstone Theatre, Playwright Larrisa FastHorse, Actor Kenny Ramos, Michael Reed, ASU Gammage, and Moderator Wiley Hausam, independent producer.
Jenny Marlowe (center) and "Urban Rez" cast performing at The Viaduct in Downtown Los Angeles. Photo by Kevin Michael Campbell, courtesy of Cornerstone Theater Company.
And now for the fun bits!
The Lucky Strike @ LA Live
Like movies, a good conference changes pace in fun and surprising ways. The 2016 WAA Conference: Return to Los Angeles IV, is a veritable rollercoaster in three acts. The Marvel movie franchise has got nothing on WAA!
Think of the Opening Reception, Monday, August 29 at 6:15 pm, as WAA’s exposition, establishing the main characters, their relationships and the world we live in-- full of promise, potential, and incredibly tasty nibbles from the JW Marriott, thanks to our sponsors LA Arts Groups Supporting WAA and the LA Tourism & Convention Board.
Our Second act begins with the Annual Luncheon, Wednesday, August 31, sponsored by Cadenza Artists and IMG Artists. The luncheon starts out like any other… boring announcements from the podium, a delicious 3-course plated lunch, WHEN SUDDENLY, foreshadowing programming yet to come, we see (and hear!) composer and guitarist Kaki King and bluegrass four-piece The Slocan Ramblers.
And for our dénouement… the Commons is closed for the last time and the exhibits struck. It’s all over but for the tears, laughter, and deals….DISSOLVE TO: the Closing Night Event (Thursday, September 1) sponsored by ICM Partners. BOWLING! PUPUS! BEVERAGES! “Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.” Neo (Keanu Reeves) – THE MATRIX.
As the credits roll, we see the small, but mighty WAA staff, packing away the conference. In closeup Conference Manager Jennifier Stewart turns to the camera. She starts to ask a question, then stops. There’s a twinkle in her eye, as if to say, “I don’t know how we’ll top this next year, but…MUST TRY”… in WAA 2017: Sleepless in Seattle—50th Anniversary Edition!
VO: It’s not too late to purchase tickets to these and other conference events. Stop by the box office (WAA Registration Counter at the JW Marriott) and fill out an add-form…you’ll be glad you did!
THE END