PANELS/WORKSHOPS

Conexiones 

Expand your horizons about Latine arts and audiences in the West and how to forge lasting and authentic connections (conexiones) with this beautiful and complex assemblage of commonality and difference. Each of these sessions are offered to you by Conexiones: Latino Arts @ WAA, our affinity group dedicated to advancing Latinx engagement, participation, and programming at WAA and communities across the West. 

• Latine, Beyond the Pitch: Join your colleagues from across the field – presenters, agents, self-represented artists, and more – to discuss how to better curate and produce performances by Latine artists and for Latine audiences. What are the roadblocks to booking single acts and touring Latine artists, and what are the potential solutions for preserving performance uniqueness and providing quality production without breaking the bank? Hosted by Jesus Munoz. 

• Emergent Latinidades: Bridging Beyond Diversity: The ways we express Latinidad (Latin American heritage) are incredibly complex. What are the lines that weave together Afro-Caribbeans, Chicanos, Andeans, Indigenous Central Americans, and others? Join a diverse gathering of Latine artists, presenters, agents, and community organizers in a conversation that will challenge you to look at your own community with greater clarity and to understand the role of the performing arts in holding this beautiful and complex assemblage of commonality and difference. 

• Latine Mujeres Leadership Circle: Unlocking the Trailblazer Within 

• Cultivating Latine Audiences Through Dance and Music: Gain a deeper understanding of the nuances of Latine communities and how to meaningfully serve them through intentional programming. Panelists Yvonne Montoya (Safos Dance Theatre), David Herrera (DHPCo), Armando Castellano (Quinteto Latino) along with moderator Delia Ibañez (Safos Dance Theatre) will show you how contemporary dance and music created for and by Latine communities serves as a catalyst for connection and address the importance of centering Latine stories and aesthetics on stages throughout the West and beyond. 

• Noche de Baile: Celebrate six sizzling Latine works for a "Night of Dance" featuring artists and companies CONTRA-TIEMPO, Jesús Muñoz Flamenco, push/FOLD, Yvonne Montoya/Safos Dance Theatre, La Mezcla, and Weaving Spirits Fest’s Cuauhtemoc Peranda. Noche de Baile is produced by CONTRA-TIEMPO in comunidad with WAA’s Conexiones, the performing artists and companies plus David Herrera Performance Company, and with gracias especiales to Karina Sainz.
  
  

  Image: WAA 2019; credit: Corporate Closeups

Leadership 

Equip yourself with insights, tools, and the network you need to adapt to this rapidly changing field and lead in a post-COVID world. 

• Making the Arts Accessible to All: Disability Seen and Unseen: Uncover ways to make our arts spaces more welcoming and accommodating for everyone and reshape the narrative around accessibility in the arts.  Through open dialogue facilitated by Chriss Rimpel (RAD Muzik), you will discover how inclusive arts environments benefit us all and paint a picture of a future where everyone can fully engage in the beauty and creativity of the performing arts. (sponsored by Edmonds Center for the Arts) 

• Censorship Town Hall: “Appropriate” content clauses, script review, and election-year worries are weighing seasons down. You will talk with hosts Charlie Robin (Capitol Theatre), Jack Rogers (the LINCOLN center), Joe McNalley (The Hutchins Consort), and Spring Karlo (Holden Arts) and others about the rise of censorship in the performing arts and share resources and strategies to navigate the future. 

• Culture of Care: The quarantine period shed light on the unsustainable structures within our field. What models of work do we need to dismantle, and what systems of care are we building? Regardless of your role or position—be it HR, Marketing, Presenter, Artist, or Agent— you will explore sustainable work approaches with host Victoria Detres (RISE) and craft fresh industry strategies to foster a culture of care in the performing arts. 

• Performing Arts Readiness (PAR): Succession Planning Project Findings & Resource Preview: Gain valuable insights about tools and resources to support better succession planning for cultural institutions from Tom Clareson (Performing Arts Readiness). You will be asked to share additional input to tailor the resources to the needs of arts organizations. 

• Leadership Transitions: How can the field grow in this time of major shift? After the COVID Pandemic, we are all reckoning with the issues revealed by George Floyd and the revelation that we are amid an epic transition of leadership. Join us for an interactive conversation with multigenerational arts leaders to share wisdom and questions about navigating the industry in this time of change. Hosted by Tamica Washington-Miller (Lula Washington Dance), Rafael Gonzalez (Grand Performances), and Marie-Reine Velez (USC Vision and Voices). 

  
  Image: WAA 2019; credit: Corporate Closeups

Marketing

Tap into the mindset of audiences today and learn how to meet (and engage) them where they are at: online, on social media, and in streaming services. 

• Off the Couch and Into Your Venue: A journey that starts before the event and continues long after. The intangible magic of witnessing world-class performers from athletes to actors. You will examine the advantages live events have over digital content with Nick Ronan, Senior Director of Business Development at AudienceView, who will share insights into the behaviors, motivations, and plans of live eventgoers and strategies for how to better engage ticket-buyers. 

• Leveraging Livestreams for Access, Audiences, and Engagement (Part I): Livestreaming technology is for you and it’s imperative to the shifting arts audience landscape. You will demystify the technical implementation and costs of livestream production with Sam Hobbs, Artistic Director of push/FOLD, and learn how to start and build virtual audiences in a viable business model that serves your mission and expands arts equity and access opportunities. 

• Collaborative Marketing - How Agents & Artists Can Support Presenters: Dive into topics from audience engagement to social media to new revenue streams through special programming. Part of the NAPAMA’s Making Artistic Cents series, you’ll discover how artists, managers and agents can get involved with marketing strategies to support presenters in promoting your shows. 

• Harnessing AI for Enhanced Audience Insights and Personalization: Learn how to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven analytics for deeper audience understanding through case studies that showcase successful implementations of AI-driven audience segmentation and targeting in arts marketing. You will grapple with the ethical concerns surrounding data privacy, bias, and transparency in AI-driven marketing with Danielle Johnson of ASYMM Digital and learn strategies for maintaining ethical standards and building trust with audiences.  

  
  

  Image: WAA 2019; credit: Corporate Closeups

PRESENTER FORUMS 

Take your season to the next level in these focused sessions for presenters to discuss the ins and outs of presenting dance, Indigenous/Native performance, and circus. Please note that some sessions are exclusively for presenters. 

• MOVE FORWARD: This wide network of North American presenters is dedicated to bringing more dance to their communities and venues with the goal to inspire more dance presenting, especially in the western states, to build tours and to keep touring costs low. The session will kick off with a  presentation by Cristina Vazquez, Director of Contenidos Artisticos, on the vibrant contemporary dance scene in Mexico. We will then focus on snapshots of presenters' dance programming in the past 2023-24 season, what they are looking forward to in the upcoming 24-25 season, and what dance is being considered for the 2025-26 season. This is a highly interactive session, which will revolve around everyone relating their success stories and challenges in bringing dance performances to their respective audiences and communities. Hosted by Walter Jaffe and Paul King, Co-Founders, White Bird, Portland, OR. Speaker Cristina Vazquez.

• AIP Seminar: Best Practices for Presenting Indigenous and Native Performance: Advancing Indigenous Performance (AIP) offers you tools to deepen your values-based relationship building practice that is applicable to culturally specific artists and communities of all identities. Facilitated by Delbert Anderson, you will discuss best practices with a panel of "ally" programmers who regularly include Indigenous/Native acts in their presenting seasons and get recommendations and tips for engaging with Native performers and their audiences. 

• Beyond Cirque: Dispel stereotypes and misconceptions about the circus art form and expand your awareness of the richness and diversity unique to circus and outdoor spectacle. Panelists Beatrice Thomas (Authentic Arts and Media LLC), Mia Fiorella (La Jolla Playhouse), Elizabeth Duffell (Meany Center for the Performing Arts), Chad Herzog (Associate Vice President of Arizona Arts and Executive and Artistic Director of Arizona Arts Live), and facilitator Ruth Juliet Wikler (Clark College/Wikler Arts), will offer you strategies for relevant audience development and community engagement opportunities and will respond to your concerns or questions in a Q&A. 
  
  

  Image: WAA 2019; credit: Corporate Closeups