This program is made possible through the generous support of Canadian Heritage Trade Routes program.

Professional Development Intensive (PDI) is held at the conference hotel - Hilton Metrotown.

Thursday, March 27, 2008 — 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Cost:
— $84.00 - Members (Pacific Contact Delegates)
— $126.00 - Non-members (Day Only Delegates)
(Includes Lunch & GST)

It is with great pleasure that the BC Touring Council invites Pacific Contact delegates to particpate in a pre-confernce day with distingushed international presenters from Australia, the UK and the United States in a day long event that is focused on bridging gaps, broadening opportunities and building relationships in International performing arts touring.

This day-long networking event will be of benefit to all delegates whether you are an artist, agent, manager or presenter. The expertise and knowledge of our guests from away are diverse. They book Canadian artists in their seasons and series, are engaged in successful and innovative booking and touring programs and are active change agents in their respective communities. We hope that this will be the first in series of conversations and new relationships with international colleagues

The format for they day will include a a plenary panel discussion, break-out sessions with special focus and expertise. Coffee/tea breaks and lunch will be provided. In addition, our international guests will be on hand for 1½ days following for special consultations, informal networking time and to particpate in Pacific Contact.

Apply early as space will be limited.
Registration is Now Closed.

Fenn Gordon, Producer
Performing Lines
Redfern, NSW
AUSTRALIA

Fenn joined Performing Lines in July 2007. Previously she was based in New Zealand as an independent producer of theatre and dance, touring New Zealand works nationally and internationally.

From 1989 – 2007 she worked with some of New Zealand ’s leading arts practitioners. In 2003 she wrote The Touring Manual – a guide to touring and producing New Zealand performing arts, she updated this and it was reissued in 2007. Fenn wrote and taught Arts Management courses for the New Zealand School of Dance and the Masters in Theatre Arts course at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand School of Dance and Drama. She is a founder member of PANNZ (Performing Arts Network of New Zealand).

Performing Lines was set up to encourage touring for the small to medium sector of Australian performing arts companies, working from concept to production to touring.  It works with artists at every stage of their careers, from emerging artists to internationally recognised names  - and in many cases, plays a critical role in artists’ development.  It produces and tours works presented at all levels of the Australian performing arts industry – from contemporary arts venues to regional venues large and small, to flagship venues such as the Sydney Opera House and to all the major Australian Festivals. The artists Performing Lines works with are regularly invited to tour internationally. Performing Lines employed Fenn to develop and extend this international touring.

http://www.performinglines.org.au/

#1. Mission, vision and values of your organization(s).

"Performing Lines develops, produces and tours new Australian work nationally and internationally. We work across genres including physical theatre, circus, dance, indigenous and intercultural arts, contemporary opera, music, puppetry, text-based theatre and hybrid performance. Since its inception, Performing Lines has travelled far and wide with tours specifically designed to give each company or performer access to a broader audience. Since 1990, it has worked with companies large and small throughout Australia, touring 100 productions to 300 locations around the world. Performing Lines works from concept to production and touring. It works with artists at every stage of their careers, from emerging artists to internationally recognised names – and in many cases, plays a critical role in artists’ development. It produces or tours works presented at all levels of the Australian performing arts industry – from the contemporary arts venues comprising the Mobile States consortium, to regional venues large and small, to flagship venues such as Sydney Opera House, and to all the major Australian festivals."

#2: What do you intend to talk about during your presentation at the Int. Presenters Network Day?

"An introduction to Mobile States, how it works and its possible relevance for Canada. Historically, contemporary practitioners have had difficulty in touring their work nationally, due largely to the high costs involved, and the limited availability of programming funds to this sector. Mobile States, a consortium of Australia’s major independent contemporary performance presenters, was established to address this situation. It provides touring opportunities for small companies and independent artists in contemporary practice, enabling audiences across the country to experience performance from outside their hometowns. I'll also provide a general introduction to the performing arts scene in Australia and New Zealand"

Tom Iovanne, Executive & Artistic Director
The Washington Center for the Performing Arts
Olympia, WA

Tom has been the Executive Director and artistic director of the Washington Center for the Performing Arts since 1989. He came from New Hampshire, where he was the Director of the Arts Center on Brickyard Pond at Keene State College. In the arts industry he is a Past President of the Western Arts Alliance, the former President of Arts Northwest, and the 2004 recipient of their ‘Coyote’ award for outstanding service to the performing arts community in the northwest. He is also the former President of the Green Mountain Consortium in New England and treasurer of New England Presenters.

In his local community he is a founding Board member and former President of both the Olympia Downtown Association and the Olympia Lacey Tumwater Visitor and Convention Bureau. He is also a former Board member of Thurston County Habitat for Humanity and the Olympia Rotary club.

Tom’s mother was an Acadian born and raised in Nova Scotia, and as an adult he has never lived more than a four-hour drive from Canada. He still can’t figure out why US television stations deny that Canada has any weather.

Sue Robinson, Scheme Manager
Spot On, Lancashire's Rural Touring Network
Robinson Howell Partnership
Blackburn, England

Sue is a founding director for Robinson Howell Partnership, a project management and consultancy firm specialising in arts and culture in an urban and rural regeneration context, based in Blackburn, Lancashire UK. Sue has run Spot On, Lancashire ’s Rural Touring Network for 10 years and built it from 20 shows a year to 80 events. Sue coordinates tours, works with volunteer presenters and smoothes the way for artists. Through Spot On she also creates new commissions, community /participatory projects and facilitates international touring, mostly through partnership with other networks.

Sue Robinson Sue has had a wide and varied career in the arts. She has worked in the rural arts sector in NW England for 15 years, both in touring and community participatory projects. Starting out as a drama practitioner, working with community groups on theatre projects, she went on to work at a strategic level for two regional arts boards, and as an arts officer in local government. She’s also worked in the arts and urban regeneration sector.

In 2004 she and her partner Rob burrowed their way out of a career and a regular paycheque into the world of a small creative business. But she’s still thriving. She is the co-editor of Mailout, the UK-wide magazine for participation in the arts (www.e-mailout.org) and runs an arts network in Manchester for artists who work in neighbourhood renewal.

#1. Mission, vision and values of your presenting program

Spot On, Lancashire's rural touring network exists to enable rural communities to host high quality professional live arts events on their doorstep. We support volunteers in the selection of work suitable for thier venues and audiences, and support them in the promotion of the events. Rural audiences have the same right to a good night out as their urban counterparts. Although our venues are mostly village halls, good planning, creative direction and an ability to relate to people ensures that a small hall can become a place of magical theatre for one night.

#2: What Canadian Artists have you presented? What have been the outcomes?

"All these tours have been made possible due to trans-regional collaborations. Barachois Autumn 2001 Polyjesters Autumn 2006. Returning Autumn 2008 Motus O Autumn 2006. Returning Spring 2009 Chuck and Albert Spring 2007, returning Spring 2009. Pavlo Spring 2007. Jim Payne and Fergus O'Byrne Spring 2006. Outcomes: Barachois and Jim and Fergus toured via a UK agent. The others were direct links with one or other member of the English Northern Rural Touring Consortium. Three are returning within the next year and have scceeded in gaining grants to support their second tours."

Barbara Slack, Co-Director
Highlights Productions Ltd
Appleby, Cumbria
England

Highlights Productions Ltd.

Barbara Slack is the Co-Director of Highlights Productions, a touring scheme based in Cumbria and covering three counties in the North of England. The scheme works with a network of 85 community venues, ranging from village halls to small theatres. Most of the venues are in rural locations which have limited access to professional theatres. The aim of the organisation is to enable volunteer organisers to book work of the highest quality for their audiences. Barbara programmes between 100 and 130 performances a year both international and home grown, working with about 30 different companies and selecting a varied mix of theatre, music, dance and children’s work. Her role also involves developing workshop and residency opportunities for young people, commissioning new work, strategic development and fundraising

Barbara has been working in rural arts provision for nearly 20 years, 10 of those have been as Director of Highlights. She has also worked as a local government arts officer, festival organiser and project manager. This included a short spell, working in community arts in London , but she couldn’t wait to get back to the country.

www.highlightsnorth.co.uk

#1. Mission, vision and values of your presenting program

We aim to offer a varied programme of high quality, small scale work, which is accessible to all ages.

#2: What Canadian Artists have you presented? What have been the outcomes?

"Theatre of Newfoundland. Pavlo. Chuck and Albert. The Polyjesters. Motus O. (Last three are making return visits). Each company attracted a wide audience range. "

Michael Blachly, Ph.D.
Director, University of Florida
Performing Arts Associate Dean for Arts Resources and Services, College of Fine Arts

With a career in the arts expanding over thirty years, Dr. Blachly came to University of Florida Performing Arts in 2000. Other positions include Director of UCLA Performing Arts, Vice President and West Coast Director of Sales for Columbia Artists Management; Vice President of Bill Fegan Attractions, Assistant Vice President and Director of Performing Arts for the 1982 World's Fair, Director of Campus Center at the University of Hawaii, Director of Activities at Colorado State University and Program Director at the University of Tennessee.

At University of Florida, Dr. Blachly is responsible for all public performing arts events presented under the auspices of the University of Florida Performing Arts, as well as overseeing fiscal management, marketing, educational residency activities, community outreach, fund development, commissioning, technical production, and facility coordination and scheduling.

Dr. Blachly holds a BA in Speech and Theatre/Psychology from the University of Northern Colorado, an MA in Communication Theory/Sociology, from Washington State University, and a PhD in Educational Psychology/Higher Education Administration from the University of Tennessee.

http://performingarts.ufl.edu/

#1. Mission, vision and values of your presenting program

"To educate, entertain and challenge the Heart of Florida residents, students and visitors. To foster cultural awareness by attracting international artists and audiences, and by presenting new works. To provide arts education to patrons of all ages within the Heart of Florida regions through pre- and post-performance discussions and residency, master classes and open rehearsals. To offer healing through the arts, bringing world-class performing artists into health care settings through the AIM Together program, a collaboration between UFPA and Shands HealthCare. To advance the field by commissioning new works and providing a space to mount new works. To bring international recognition to the University of Florida through its lead partner role in groundbreaking research into the value and impact of live performing arts experiences. To enrich our community through the performing arts, making it a culturally vibrant and desirable place to live."

#2: What Canadian Artists have you presented? What have been the outcomes?

"Gordon Lightfoot, Pink Floyd Experience, Leahy, Natalie MacMaster, Barrage.
All performed to strong houses in terms of numbers of audience members and all received very favorable responses to the performances."

Charles Henry Bethea
Executive and Artistic Director
Lied Center for Performing Arts, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Charles Henry Bethea is Executive and Artistic Director of the Lied Center for Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Lied presents music, dance, family, theater, Broadway, world music, and popular programming as well as serving University, community, and state users. Joining the Lied Center in 1997, he previously served as Associate Executive Director of ASU Public Events, ASU School of Music administrator, and as a public school music and theater teacher. He received the Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and Master of Choral Music from ASU.

He is a member of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, International Society of Performing Arts, International Association of Assembly Managers, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Dance USA, Chamber Music America, and is Past President of Plains Presenters Consortium. He is a board member of the Nebraska Repertory Theater, member of the Education Advisory Committee of the Omaha Community Playhouse, Vice President of Nebraskans for the Arts-Nebraska Alliance for Arts Education and is an advisor to the Nebraska Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commission. He is a Nebraska 2001 Kennedy Center Partners in Education team member. He received the Lincoln Arts Council Arts Leadership Award in 2006.

http://www.liedcenter.org/

#1. Mission, vision and values of your presenting program

We believe the arts are integral to humanity. The Lied Center for Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln presents artists and performances of distinction. We lead Nebraska and the Plains standing at the center of achievement, creativity, imagination, celebration, learning, discovery and diversity in the arts.

#2: What Canadian Artists have you presented? What have been the outcomes?

"Sons of Maxwell-successful, Danny Grossman-commissioned work; successful, Royal Winnipeg Ballet-successful, Michel Lemieux-successful, DynamO Theatre-successful"

Dan DeWayne

Dan has been the Executive Director of Chico Performances at California State University, Chico since 2001 and is Director of University Public Events including the NPR radio station.

Cutting his teeth on large festival productions, with his wife Christine he is co-founder and producer of the California WorldFest and the Chico World Music Festival and co-founded the Strawberry Music Festivals in Yosemite, California.

Dan has served with the California Arts Council, the North American Folk Alliance, Western Arts Federation, and the Western Arts Alliance.

http://www.csuchico.edu/upe/performance/

#1. Mission, vision and values of your presenting program

Our mission is to present Chico and the Greater North State Region of California with culturally diverse, nationally and internationally acclaimed performing arts programming including dance, music, theater, internationally recognized guest lecturers, and Northstate Public Radio. CSU, Chico believes in the value of service to others and we continue to serve the educational, cultural and economic needs of Northern California. We actively participate in expanding the tourism opportunities in our community with continuous arts programming and strive to educate our adult and youth about the Arts. In addition, University Public Events helps maintain Chico’s historic Laxson Auditorium, one of our regions finest performance venues.

#2: What Canadian Artists have you presented? What have been the outcomes?

We have presented dozens of Canadian Artists, all with great public acclaim. This year alone we have presented Natalie MacMaster, Cowboy Junkies, Leahy, Alpha Ya Ya Diallo & the Bafing Riders, Wailin'Jennys, Chico Gamine.

Gerald D. (Jerry) Yoshitomi

Gerald D. (Jerry) Yoshitomi is an independent cultural facilitator, engaged by foundations, public arts agencies, arts organizations and individual artists to read, research, and provoke innovative new practices, with just in time knowledge to increase:

• participation in the arts
• personal benefits and public value of the arts, artists and arts organizations
• adaptability, creativity and leadership in changing environments
• earned and contributed income

Methods from his writings/workshops have been successfully implemented by several thousand arts workers and arts organizations in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to increase attendance and earned/contributed income.  See Engage Now! An Arts Worker’s Guide to Deepening Experience and Strengthening Participation in the Arts http://www.artsmarketing.org/marketingresources/files/JYNotes-Apr022003.pdf

Presentations in Canada have been sponsored by Canadian Public Arts Funders, CCI - Ontario's Presenter Network, BC Touring Council, Ontario Arts Council, CAPACOA, Manitoba Arts Council and the Vancouver Alliance for Arts & Culture.  He sees himself as a "Knowledge Facilitator" for the BC Touring Council.

Mr. Yoshitomi is the Facilitator for a collaborative of Performing Arts Presenters at major research universities.  Jerry served as Facilitator for the START (State Arts Agency) Initiative of the Wallace Foundation, managed by Arts Midwest.  Thirteen State Arts Agencies formed Communities of Practice to increase participation in the arts and reveal the public value of the arts to their states.  See Revealing the Public Value of the Arts in Ohio www.fuel4arts.com/files/attach/RevealingPublicValue_220905.doc and Creating Public Value Through State Arts Agencies http://www.artsmw.org/start/CreatingPublicValue.pdf.

He was Lead Consultant on Information and Network Strategies for LINC - Leveraging Investments in Creativity, a national initiative to improve the lives/conditions of artists. He chaired the National Task Force on Presenting and Touring the Performing Arts, resulting in the 1989 seminal report, An American Dialogue.  Jerry chaired three panels at the National Endowment for the Arts, served four years on the California Arts Council, was Treasurer of the Music Center of Los Angeles County and was the Executive Director of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center.  He’s a graduate of Stanford University with a Masters in Public Administration from Arizona State University.

Judy L. Harquail
Arts Marketing Consultant

Judy Harquail has been involved in an administrative capacity in the performing arts industry for over two decades, working in a variety of capacities such as executing touring activity for some of Canada’s most highly respected dance and opera companies, developing and executing strategic marketing campaigns and working in collaboration with an extensive range of arts organizations and arts professionals across Canada, the United States, and throughout the world. Among other ongoing contracts, she is currently the program manager for block booking for the Ontario Presenters Network, a consortium of over 75 professional venues in Ontario, Canada.

Judy has presented workshops on marketing, audience development, touring and presenting for national and regional service organizations in Canada and the United States. She has served as a consultant in the areas of tour management, marketing and audience development for more many organizations, including dance, theatre, music and presenting organizations as well as for facilities, government agencies, colleges, universities and arts councils. She recently co authored the web-site www.artsontour.ca, an on-line learning tool for touring artists and presenting organizations funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. Judy is the 2007 recipient of the National Arts Centre award in Canada for distinguished contribution to the Canadian touring milieu.

#1. Mission, vision and values of your organization(s).

As an Arts Consultant I strive to work with organizations whose work I admire and with organizations that I value what they do.

#2. What do you intend to talk about during your presentation at the Int. Presenters Network Day?

Based on what you ask me to do.....at this point need feedback from that before I can provide an idea of remarks.

Peter D. Smith, General Manager
Imperial Theatre
Saint John, NB

Peter was born at an early age in Ottawa, ON and since then has been a truck driver, furniture mover, cook, programmer, meeting disrupter, graduate of the National Theatre School, technician, sound designer, lighting designer, technical director, production manager, finance officer, stage manager, Dance Dad, and a presenter.

He has been the General Manager of Imperial Theatre since 1998, after serving as Assistant General Manager and Manager of Operations beginning before the Grand Re-Opening in 1994. Prior to becoming a presenter, Peter did all those other theatre things listed in the paragraph above at a variety of producing theatres across Canada, as well as doing lighting and sound designs for several national and international tours. Somewhere in there he managed to win a Dora award for Outstanding Lighting Design.

Peter is the President of the Atlantic Presenters Association, and is on the Board of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival. He has also served on the Boards of CAPACOA, CultureNet, NB Arts Board, NB Arts Council, Uptown Saint John, and one other arts-related Board that he can’t remember right at the moment.

As his resume states, in addition to the thrill of making live performances happen, and since last summer he finished building the RNGS (Really Nice Garden Shed), his other interests are reading, hiking, computers, camping, birdwatching, and flight simulation.

http://www.imperialtheatre.nb.ca/site/index.php

Tim Yerxa

Tim Yerxa is the Executive Director of the Fredericton Playhouse (NB), where he is responsible for the overall operation and development of Fredericton’s premiere performance venue. He programs an annual multidisciplinary presentation series of 40+ performances as well as an extensive education and outreach program. Under his leadership, the 709-seat venue was named Organization of the Year (2003) by the Canadian Arts Presenting Association (CAPACOA) and Venue of the Year (2006 & 2007) by the East Coast Music Association.

Before arriving at the Fredericton Playhouse, Tim served as the General Manager of the Main Street Business Development Association and of the Fredericton Junior Chamber.

He has volunteered with a number of organizations including serving as chairman of Fredericton’s prestigious Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival from 1997 until 2000. Tim currently serves on the boards of directors of Enterprise Fredericton, the Atlantic Presenters Association (APA), and the Canadian Arts Presenters Association (CAPACOA) where he serves as the national association’s President. Most recently, Tim served as chairman of 2008 East Coast Music Awards, Festival, & Conference in Fredericton.

http://www.theplayhouse.ca/

#1. Mission, vision and values of your organization(s).

Our primary mission is as a community culutral agency, specifically in the performing arts. To accomplish this, we also are a facility manager. We are a presenting and rental roadhouse. The result is a third facet of our mission which is to enhance the socio-economic well being of the community. Our vision is to operate on a world-class level, promoting access to a diverse range of artists and art to a wide audience. Our values are largely based around principles of inclusion, diversity, freedom of expression, the arts as an agent for social change and human dialouge, and promoting the arts as a way for our community to define itself.

#2. What do you intend to talk about during your presentation at the Int. Presenters Network Day?

Spending time in the US marketplace. Forging relationships with US and International agents & artists and the challenges and rewards of working with presenters in the USA.

Sherrie Johnson
Producer of Theatre, Dance, Film, Performing Arts Festivals and Networking Events

Sherrie Johnson brings seventeen years of prolific experience producing award-winning theatre, dance and film. As the producer of da da kamera (1993 – 2007), her long-standing association with Daniel MacIvor has resulted in a string of acclaimed theatre productions that have toured Canada, Scotland, Ireland, United States, Australia, Norway, Israel and Western and Eastern Europe.

Sherrie was co-founder and programmer (with Menno Plukker) of the internationally acclaimed theatre and dance festival Six Stages and successfully produced festivals in Toronto, Prague, Glasgow and Berlin between 1995 - 2003.
She represents and manages Canadian playwright/author John Mighton (Half Life,Possible Worlds) andwas instrumental in publishing both his books: The Myth of Ability (House of Anansi) and The End of Ignorance (Alfred A. Knopf)
She is developing two new feature films: Remember Me with Daniel MacIvor and Raymond and Hannah with Jeremy Podeswa.

Sherrie was the touring liaison for The Magnetic North Theatre Festival in 2006 and 2007. She is currently the producer of the PuSh Assembly held annually during the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in Vancouver and recently produced (with Bernard Lagace, Alain Pare and Esther Charron) I.E.T.M. Montreal 2007 in Montreal.

Registration is NOW CLOSED.

This program is made possible through the generous support of Canadian Heritage Trade Routes program.