Below is the 2017 APASO Conference schedule. This information is subject to change, so please check back periodically for updates to the schedule.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Colleagues arrive throughout the day and evening

9:00pm-Midnight  | Hospitality Suite Open (The Asbury Hotel)

 

Wednesday, May 17:
Sustainability of Arts Service Organizations

Location: Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank

8:30am  | Bus to Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank

9:00am  | Breakfast at Count Basie Theatre

9:30am  | Welcome Remarks

9:45am  | Round Robin                                                                                  

10:45am   | BREAK

11:00am  | Keynote Address and Q & A: David Grant, author of the Social Profit Handbook
Sustainability for Arts Service Organizations in Uncertain Times: It Helps to Have a Sense of Humor

David Grant, former President of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, will offer reflections on the challenges facing the social sector in 2017 and practical advice on ways to achieve our goals as individual organizations and as a field.  He will give us a preview of a new national collaborative initiative, Thriving Artists/Thriving Communities, which uses the concepts and tools presented in his book The Social Profit Handbook.

12:00pm  | Walk over to Two River Theater, Red Bank

12:10pm  | Lunch at Two River Theater and Tours

1:10pm  | Walk Back to Count Basie Theatre

1:30pm  | Job Title Breakout Sessions

Marketing / Communications
Peer led discussion on where we’re investing both our time and budgets to maximize revenue, maintain stellar customer relationships and spread the word. Share one great thing you’re excited about in partnerships, advertising, social and email marketing, website development or customer management that you implemented this year. Have you started a re-marketing campaign? Have a killer referral program? Used social media for fundraising? Is your CRM your best friend? Expanded your Google Ad Grant? We want to know!

Programs and Services
A peer to peer discussion for all those whose work can be described as programming, member, or artist services. Because arts service organizations do such specialized work, the APASO gathering is the rare chance to connect with colleagues who run spaces, offer grants, teach professional development, undertake field research, throw awards ceremonies, or run ticketing programs for patrons of the arts! We will use this time to share strategies, challenges, new programming goals, and areas of need that we are hearing about from our members, artists, and stakeholders.

Executive Directors
Staff are the most precious resource of an ASO – not only their talent, but also their relationships with the sector we serve.  How can we develop the staff teams we need, compensate them fairly, and manage our staff teams well?

3:00pm  | BREAK                                                 

3:15pm  | Breakouts – choice of 2 sessions                                             

A Conversation with Funders:  A Perspective on Arts Service Organizations
Location: Library at Two River Theater
As foundations evaluate their priorities in the light of growing concern over diversity and equity, and feel increasing demand for philanthropic support for other community issues, support for arts and culture has both diminished and focused upon different kinds of impact.  What does this mean for the role of arts service organizations?  ASOs serve as intermediaries that connect cultural nonprofits to each other.  They provide capacity building, professional development and marketing services; advocate for arts and culture; and connect the arts to other community sectors.  This session explores how funders view arts service organizations today.  Where do ASOs add unique value?  How can ASOs help foundations to achieve greater impact, serving as a local and national resource to help the cultural sector to change in positive ways?  How can ASOs best position and communicate their impact to funders?

Facilitator:  Nina Stack, President, Council of New Jersey Grantmakers
Panel:
Sharnita Johnson, Arts Program Director, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
Laura Packer, Executive Director, The Howard Gilman Foundation
Susan Feder, Program Officer for Arts and Cultural Heritage, The Andrew Mellon Foundation

Earned Revenue for ASOs: Turning Relationships into Support
Location: Count Basie Theatre
ASOs earn revenue in a number of ways – what’s working, and what’s not?  What are our best opportunities to get entrepreneurial?  Panelists will explore two different types of services.  First, ways in which ASOs reach out to audiences on behalf of arts organizations, through ticketing and promotions.  Second, ways in which ASOs serve their member organizations to help them to operate efficiently, with a discussion of membership dues and service fees.  Sponsorships play a role in both.  Expect a lively discussion as we explore how ASOs are turning relationships into support for their missions.

Moderator: Maud Lyon, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
Panel:
Ben Theim, League of Chicago Theatres
Julie Hennrikus, StageSource, New England

5:00pm  | Bus Back to The Asbury Hotel

6:15pm  | Walk to Watermark, Asbury Park Boardwalk

6:30pm-8:30pm  | Opening Night Cocktail Party, Watermark

9:00pm-Midnight  | Hospitality Suite Open ( The Asbury Hotel)

 

Thursday, May 18:
Putting Diversity, Equity & Inclusion into Action

Locations: McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton and Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton

8:00am  | Bus Leaves for McCarter Theatre, Princeton

9:15am  | Breakfast at McCarter/Tour                                                       

9:30am  | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Keynote | Living Equity: Putting Theory into Practice

In this session, we will dismiss the buzz words and get to the heart of what diversity, equity and inclusion is and how we live and practice the principles throughout all of our work. Alternate ROOTS and Women of Color in the Arts missions and practices are rooted in these values and permeate through all of its work and not just special initiatives. Sharing how these organizations fulfill their missions on day-to-day basis will hopefully encourage other organizations and leaders in the field to adapt wholistic practices where being equitable is something that is at the core of the work and not on the fringes.

Facilitators:
Ashley Walden Davis, Managing Director, Alternate ROOTS
Kaisha S. Johnson, Co-Founder/Founding Director, Women of Color in the Arts

11:30am  | Bus Leaves for Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton

Noon  | Lunch and Welcoming Remarks

1:00pm  | Open Space
Facilitator:  Elizabeth Murphy,  The Murphy Group
Theme: How can ASOs assist the communities we serve in the areas of sustainability, equity and inclusion, and arts journalism?

6:00pm  | Bus Leaves for The Asbury Hotel

7:15pm  | Arrive at Asbury Hotel and Dinner on Your Own

9:00pm-Midnight  | Hospitality Suite Open – The Asbury Hotel)

 

Friday May 19:
Telling our Story

Location: The Asbury Hotel, Asbury Park

9:00am  | Breakfast

9:30am  | Arts Service Organizations and Arts Journalists: Working Together

A discussion and working session on the diminishing arts coverage in mass media and new ways that arts service organizations and arts journalists can work together to effectively create and distribute reviews and promotional content. Remarks by Scott Heller of The New York Times will be followed by a panel of media experts, Q&A, working break-out sessions, and a networking lunch. The break-out sessions will be tasked with crowd-sourcing ideas as to how ASOs can work with various media outlets to make themselves more visible and promote their constituents.

Panelists:
Scott Heller, Deputy Editor of Arts & Leisure and Theatre Editor, New York Times
Howie Shapiro, former critic at Philadelphia Inquirer, now with NewsWorks
Steven Leigh Morris, Executive Director, LA Stage
Christopher Kelly, Managing Producer for Entertainment, NJ Advance Media (The Star Ledger/nj.com)
Zachary Stewart, Chief Critic, TheaterMania
Molly deAguiar, Program Director, Informed Communities, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
Diep Tran, Associate Editor, American Theatre

Moderator: Stephanie Simon, Arts & Culture Reporter, Spectrum/NY1News
Facilitator: Jim Atkinson, Director of Programs & Services, ArtPride New Jersey Foundation

10:45am  | Breakouts  – 2-3 sessions with arts journalism panelists

12:00pm  | Lunch

1:00pm  | APASO business – APASO 2018 & 2019

2:30pm  | Time on your own

3:30pm  | Tour of Asbury Park (Stone Pony, Wonder Bar, etc.)—OPTIONAL

6:30pm-8:30pm  | Closing Night Dinner—Cross and Orange

9:00pm-Midnight  | Hospitality Suite (The Asbury Hotel)