[Karen Atkinson, NAAO Board President forwarded the post below to the 'Stream'] "If you would like to participate, see the information at the end of this announcement. Scholarships to Los Angeles City organizations with budgets under $100,000 are available. Volunteers needed."
Announcing:
VITAL SIGNs: creative and healthy communitiesA national conference to be held in Los Angeles, CA, April 26 – 29, 2007
National Association of Artists’ Organizations (NAAO) Conference
Hosted by
CalArts,
JACCC,
NAAO, and
Side Street Projects.
The National Association of Artists’ Organizations (NAAO) is a nonprofit dedicated to serving and strengthening artist-driven orgs. NAAO addresses the field’s ongoing struggle with issues relating to artist’s rights, organization stability, working conditions, and professional isolation across all disciplines and communities.
NAAO, It’s where the netWORK happens!
www.naao.net, info@naao.net
651.294.0907
If you are an arts-driven organization or gallery (non profit or not) or an individual artist who works with artists or a curator who works independently, and want to network on a national level, this conference is for you.
In order to generate advocacy for the arts, there has to be a way for those in the arts to convene. Convening is one of the ways to network with like-minded individuals and organizations that may be interested in the same issues you are. NAAO connects artists and arts organizations to each other, provides a forum for challenging dialog, and presents information to keep our arts communities healthy and creative. Our next convening will take place in Los Angeles, California and will address nuts and bolts workshops on the health of artists and arts organizations, sustainable and healthy organizations and communities, and give us all a chance to help NAAO choose it’s most important activities over the next couple of years. By keeping our conference rates low, (only $150 for the whole conference) we encourage small and mid-size organizations to participate. If your organization has a budget of under $100,000 and is in the City of Los Angeles, there are scholarships available on a first come first serve basis. An overview of the conference activities is on the following pages. We encourage you to contact us if you are interested in participating, funding, or making suggestions for this convening.
We chose the theme of this year’s conference to be about health. Not only are we talking about medical health, but also the health of our organizations and the communities we work with. Artists and arts-driven organizations are lacking affordable health insurance for themselves and or their employees. There is a crisis in the US regarding health care, and artists are some of those that are affected. Not only is medical health important, but so are the communities and organizations that support artists. By addressing issues central to this theme, we hope that a national dialog and contributions to advocacy will become a part of our healthy communities.
Conference Highlights:• 100 Years of Artists’ At Work, A history of artist-driven organizations and independent artist projects at Redcat, April 28, 2007.
• Nuts and Bolts Workshops on Advocacy, Health, Fundraising, Generating Earned Income, Boards, Marketing, Web Strategies and Community
• Building, Digital Technology as Super Tools, Creating Community Arts Partnerships, Legal Issues, Presenting Yourself, Service Organizations
•A Mock Panel for Attending Artists, Introduction to Public Art, Getting Your Sh*t Together and more.
• Panels and Discussions on Creating a Professional Practices Workshop,
• Meetings As a Strategy for Change, Health Issues in the Arts, Conflict Resolution, Curatorial Strategies, Advocacy, and Education.
• National Affinity Group Meetings include The Artist Bill of Rights, Civic Dialog and Engagement, Arts Education for All Ages, Best Practices for Organizations, Creative Aging, Feminism and Gender in the Arts, Health and the Arts, Immigration and Cultures, Legal Issues and the Arts, New Trends in Funding. Here you can participate in a national dialog on these issues and find out what other organizations and artists are engaged in.
• A Company Picnic (no office attire allowed) for the families and staff of arts organizations attending the conference and local organizations in Los Angeles.
• Keynote Speakers and NAAO’s Catalyst Awards to three individuals and more!
Come join us for our next exciting gathering of arts-driven organizations from across the country. Meet your colleagues and netWORK with old friends. If you haven’t seen each other in a while, this would be the place to re-connect!
If you would like to be put on the mailing/emailing list for the conference, please email Karen Atkinson (Conference Chair) at: karen@karenatkinsonstudio.org.
Registration will begin in February, and you will be notified when the conference details and registration are on our
web site.
[updated: Monday, January 29, 2007]
