At 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, in Eastern Michigan University's Student Center Grand Ballroom, over 100 local artists of all stripes gathered around tables for a continental breakfast (and, among those who generally work nights, a considerable dose of coffee). The occasion was an event titled Convergence - the Arts Alliance's first annual conference, co-hosted by the Arts Management and Administration Program at EMU.
Tamara Real, Arts Alliance President
In alignment with these goals, the conference offered two opportunities, in break-out sessions, for attendees to learn about the Alliance's county-wide cultural web portal, A3arts.org, that's currently in development. As Real explained, the portal's moniker is A3 rather than A2 because the Alliance not only serves Ann Arbor artists, but those in the surrounding areas as well — Saline, Manchester, Chelsea, Dexter, Milan, and Ypsilanti — so A3 stands for "Ann Arbor area."
Other Convergence breakout sessions, meanwhile, addressed arts education in Washtenaw County; art spaces (re-purposing or developing properties with artists in mind, etc.); strengthening the creative economy; legal information for the arts and cultural community; the future of arts fundraising; ArtWalk; and making the most of social networks and online marketing. The conference keynote address, which happened after lunch, featured Stuart Rosenfeld, of Regional Technology Strategies, Inc., who delivered a lecture titled, “The Creative Economy: Success Stories Elsewhere; Opportunities in Washtenaw County." "I'm very pleased with how (Convergence) turned out," Real wrote in an e-mail on Tuesday afternoon. "We had over 130 people registered for the event, which is an incredibly impressive turnout, given that the Arts Alliance only covers Washtenaw County, and that this is the first half-day conference we've ever presented.
"A couple of things particularly come to my mind as I reflect back on the day: I'm extremely pleased that our audience was almost equally composed of artists and arts managers. So often, our visual artists, performers, and literary artists are overlooked in favor of serving cultural organizations. Today, that wasn't the case.
"I was also extremely pleased that we were able to incorporate dance, poetry, paintings, sculpture, and music into the program. So often, conferences are just talk, talk, talk. The performances and art display really helped to remind us why we were gathering together.
"Finally, I was impressed by the comment one artist made to me. She related how isolating it can sometimes be to be an artist. This artist is also a small business person, and she confided how scary the economy is now, But, she said, she really felt inspired and invigorated by being with so many arts and cultural people — the conference really reminded her that she's not alone, and that there's a whole community of arts people here in Washtenaw County. That said to me that we're on the right track, and that the Arts Alliance is providing a useful service."
Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.
Get the Ann Arbor RSS Feed
AnnArbor.com