Pitch Your Idea for WAA 2024

Exploring New Ideas & Possibilities From Across the Performing Arts

WAA offers exceptional opportunities for learning and discovery and we’re looking for professional development ideas that deliver high impact and appeal to our members. Beginning with the Annual Conference in San Diego, California (August 26-28, 2024), WAA will provide a variety of in-person and online sessions throughout the year. 

Submit your idea by March 4th for priority consideration. Your idea will be reviewed by the Professional Development Committee and selected based on our guidelines, values fit, and alignment to current themes and initiatives. If you have any questions, please contact Joshua Heim.     

Joe Kye, Amplified, 2023 WAA Conference; Jo Cosme Photography

Hyphen+Asian International District Walking Tour, 2023 WAA Conference

James Miles, Keynote, 2023 WAA Conference; Jo Cosme Photography

WOCA Roundtable, 2023 WAA Conference; Jo Cosme Photography

Formats 

Common formats include keynote speakers, panel discussions, presentations, roundtables, webinars, workshops, written papers, or other multimedia formats. There are limited opportunities for in-person sessions at our conference, and WAA will prioritize proposals that take advantage of being face-to-face. We want to center connection through high levels of interaction including play and/or more tangible takeaways physical or otherwise. For example, open dialogue with specialists instead of keynote presentations, hands-on workshops as opposed to PowerPoint deck info dumps, forums to find or implement solutions to our collective and actionable problems over insular brainstorming sessions.

Themes & Topics 

• Conexiones sin fronteras, Connections without borders

  Latinidad reflects the beautiful and complex constellation of culture and ethnicity that binds U.S. Latinos and Latin Americans. With heritage that weaves together Indigenous, European, African, but also Asian and Middle Eastern legacies, it reflects strands of both commonality and difference, and transcends the borders that have been imposed upon it. How can we better connect with U.S. Latine communities and artists, while also addressing the transnational potential for cross-border collaboration and business?

• Presenting 101
  The performing arts presenting have endured major changes since the fundamentals were established in the 1990s with the rapid expansion of performing arts centers, and many of these changes have accelerated as the result of the pandemic including aging audiences, demographic shifts, subscriptions, and calls to respond to social movements. A new paradigm of presenting is emerging, so what are the new fundamentals to succeed in today’s rapidly changing marketplace for live events? What’s the right balance between mission-driven programs and commercial acts? How do you finance tours that accommodate fair wages and inflation? Are presenters in the business of serving audiences or building communities? And who’s responsible for bringing an audience – the presenter or the artist? 

• Be Well
  The pandemic has redefined the American workplace including the performing arts. Touring life has always been tough, and many artists are choosing to explore new avenues for their work whether that’s opting out entirely or pushing to change the current structure and expectations of our touring culture. Other performing arts professionals have different expectations for work-life balance as they try to keep their wheels spinning without burning them out. As society at large sees the arts as a vehicle to heal from the pandemic, what does that mean within our own organizations and greenrooms? How do we strike a new work-life balance and maintain a healthy sense of well-being?

• Succession

  It’s more than a compelling TV Show! There’s a profound shift happening in the performing arts now with five generations all working together. New colleagues are emerging on all sides of the performing arts equation with new leaders taking the reins and delegating to a wider swath of experiences and expertise than ever before. Whether it’s on-boarding new blood or preparing for longstanding leaders to step away, how does this hand-off look and is there such a thing as a graceful transition? How do we hold multiple generational perspectives at once? We want to not only prepare for potential adversity, but what opportunities can we identify from our unique circumstance?