Americans for the Arts

Terence McFarland.

Where would the arts be without him? Blogger extraordinaire, icon of style, NAMP affiliate through LA Stage Alliance (National Arts Marketing Project—not the National Association of Mortgage Professionals, National Association of Meat Processors, or the National Association of Mold Professionals), convener of MetLife Forums, theater patron, arts advocate, artist, board member, and all around "someone to watch" guy. Did I mention he's also the executive director for Los Angeles Stage Alliance? He's a great example of the great people who work in the arts, 1,400 of which at at Convention right now

This marks my first ever foray into the world of BLOG...Please pardon any typos, as I am still a practitioner of the 'Raptor' typing technique, utilizing 3 fingers on each hand...ironic I know being a Seattlite, but I digress.

Yesterday I facilitated my first panel, and it was a great experience.  Perhaps the best part was being able to spend most of the day with my collegue Anne Corbett from Cultural Development Corporation in DC.  She's such an inspiration, and I'm glad the conference gave us so much time to connect personally and professionally.  We were sad that 2 of our original panelists needed to cancel due to tragic circustances, but our stand in, Matthew Kwatinetz, stepped in admirably.  As is turns out, having to 'wing' the panel more than expected worked in our favor, as we had WAY more people show up that the room was capable of holding.  I arrived early and started setting up chairs in a circle; our vision was to host an 'UNpanel', where we went without Power Point and instead tried to facilitate a conversation amongst all the people in the room...