Renaissance Center to host Governor’s Conference on the Arts for Middle Tennessee Oct. 19

Release Date: 9/16/2005. Expired: 10/19/2005

With a strong emphasis on technology and the arts, The Renaissance Center is the perfect venue for the Middle Tennessee stop of E-Arts...The Governor’s Regional Conferences on the Arts. The Tennessee Arts Commission will present the regional conferences at three locations across the state this fall, with the Middle Tennessee conference scheduled for Oct. 19 at The Renaissance Center in Dickson. Other conferences will be held at the University of Tennessee Conference Center in Knoxville Oct. 13 and at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre in West Tennessee Oct. 28.

The popular conferences will feature a full schedule of informative sessions, with nationally recognized speakers and workshop leaders. Sessions are planned in the areas of board development, strategic planning, arts advocacy, fundraising, partnerships, web site development, marketing and arts education. Additionally, there will be special sessions at all three conferences on e-grants. Participants will be introduced to e-grant technology and learn about the unique benefits and possibilities.

“These regional conferences provide a broad variety of technical assistance to strengthen and improve arts organizations and arts programs throughout the state. The sessions provide valuable information and opportunities to network with peers, meet new and old friends, and share innovative ideas,” says Rich Boyd, executive director of the Tennessee Arts Commission.

Known for its outstanding speakers, the Governor’s Regional Conferences on the Arts will feature an impressive list of arts leaders for this year’s sessions.

Joining participants in Dickson will be Thomas Birch, who has served as legislative counsel in Washington, D.C. to a variety of nonprofit organizations including the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA). He will be joined by Nashville government relations consultant Molly Pratt in presenting sessions on Arts Advocacy.

Birch has worked closely with NASAA, representing the state arts agencies on Capitol Hill and the interests of artists and arts organizations, directing advocacy efforts, and advising state and local groups on advocacy strategies.

An attorney by training, Birch came to this work from Congress, having served as legislative counsel to members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives on issues of domestic policy. He was a Peace Corps volunteer for three years in Morocco, and has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations. He currently serves as a member of the Folger Poetry Board.

Sessions on fundraising will be presented by Irma Kaplan. Kaplan has worked as an independent consultant since 1992, and works as an adjunct consultant for the Center for Nonprofit Management in Nashville. She has presented highly successful workshops for the commission in 2002 and 2003. Kaplan’s sessions will be conducted at the Germantown and Dickson conferences.

Mike Kopp, senior vice president of MMA Creative, will present a web site development session in Dickson. Kopp has more than 25 years of government, corporate and media experience, and has been on the front lines of more than 120 political campaigns at the federal, state and local levels. He was a former press aide in President Carter’s 1980 presidential campaign, which led to an eight-year stint as Al Gore’s Capitol Hill communications director and press secretary.

Kopp has years of hands-on media experience in front of and behind the camera, and still appears frequently as a political commentator on local TV and radio. His non-political consulting experience includes managing and executing marketing/communications initiatives and projects for private and publicly held corporations, as well as nonprofit interests.

E-Arts... Governor’s Regional Conferences on the Arts will have a strong Arts Education component, and two outstanding presenters will conduct those sessions at all three conference locations.

Barbara Shepherd, director of national partnerships in education at the Kennedy Center, will present sessions on teacher training using the Kennedy Center model at the Knoxville conference. At the Kennedy Center, she directs the Partners in Education Program, the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network, and the Imagination Celebration national sites.

Shepherd will also participate in the Tennessee Alliance for Arts Education (TAAE)/Kennedy Center Partners sessions. Joining her for those sessions will be Rodney Van Valkenburg of Chattanooga, president of TAAE.

Another clinician in the Arts Education track is Karen Erickson, a professional classroom teacher who teaches language arts and theater. She will present sessions in Dickson and Germantown for teaching artists how to incorporate state curriculum standards in classroom residencies. As executive director of Creative Directions, she trains artists and teachers in curriculum planning, arts integration, and assessment development.

Other sessions, which will involve commission staff, include “Tips for Writing Good Grant Applications,” “Arts Education Grant Changes,” and “Introduction To E-Grants.”

Rod Reiner, deputy director of the commission and coordinator of the conferences, encourages anyone interested in the arts to attend.

“We have been planning for months, and we have put together a program that offers quality and substance. Participants will leave with information they can put to immediate use. We expect a large turnout at all locations, so we certainly encourage everyone to register early.”

Regular registration is $35 per person for each conference attended. Participants may pre-register two weeks prior to a specific conference and pay only $25.

For more information on E-Arts...The Governor’s Regional Conferences on the Arts, contact Rod Reiner at (615)741-2093 or e-mail . Information is also available online at www.arts.state.tn.us.