Next Annual Meeting is December 6-10, 2007 in New Orleans!

Annual Meeting
The Annual Meeting is a network-wide gathering infused with plenary sessions, workshops, video screenings, performance showcases, and social events designed to provoke discussion and exchange. NPN Partners, colleagues and artists come together to articulate issues, debate alternatives and develop policies that shape the local and national presenting context.

The Annual Meeting is a vital national forum for:

• Increasing awareness of the host city’s artist communities
• Providing peer dialogue and professional development opportunities
• Facilitating discussion about co-commissioning and touring opportunities for artists
• Generating challenging dialogue about cultural policy issues, particularly those important to artists
• Presenting new NPN program guidelines
• Conducting the annual NPN business meeting
• Opportunities to make NPN Partners aware of new artists ready to tour

The Annual Meeting is held in a different city each year, and is hosted by local partners in collaboration with the NPN National Office.

Artists’ Convening
The Artists’ Convening, a component of the Annual Meeting, is designed to break down the barriers that exist between artists and presenters – even presenters who are, themselves, artists. The Convening fosters a greater understanding among people who sign the same contracts and serve the same audiences, but don’t always approach issues of equity and responsibility from the same perspective. Invitations are extended to artists who have toured under NPN contracts in the last three years, or those commissioned through NPN’s Creation Fund.

Artists’ Convening Goals

• To give artists a forum for support and discovery
• To provide nuts and bolts information that supports artists’ careers
• To offer significant opportunities for networking with their peers

Regional Desk
NPN introduced a new program in 2001: Regional Desks. Through the Regional Roundtables and the long-range planning process begun during the summer of 2000, it became evident that NPN would benefit from strengthening and expanding its regional activities. Four Regional Desks (Midwest, Northeast, South, West) were established to conduct activities, enhance communications within regions, and communicate regional issues to the national office and board.

In addition to supporting the Regional Desks’ activities, NPN hosts Regional Meetings in the spring of each year. These meetings convene NPN Partners and others in the region, including artists, presenters, community representatives and funders. Topic-specific Regional Meetings focus on areas such as cultural policy, organizational development, and professional development for both artists and administrators. Meetings move around within the region from year to year and are organized and paid for by the NPN national office, with assistance from the Regional Desk.