Bob, I love the idea of having the showcases and booking conference
together!  Then everyone will have seen the artists and will be on the same
page.  Kudos to everyone for coming up with the idea.  It's one of those
ideas that's so brilliant you wonder why no one thought of it before.

Judy


on 6/21/2007 16:16, Robert Boyer at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Thanks to everyone for making the trip Monday to participate in our
> first annual meeting! A couple of thanks in particular to: Mimi
> Shimmin, who graciously hosted us at an exceedingly cool pre-civil war
> mansion that Metro Parks owns, Larry Kosson of SMG Artists for his
> insights - and the beer, and to Lee Warren for the donation of her
> fingertips. She had to have worn every finger down to the first knuckle
> the way she was pounding on the keyboard trying to keep notes on our
> brainstorming efforts.
> 
> For those of you unable to attend, please check out the report in the
> news section of the website (bookmark www.tnpresenters.org right now
> while you're thinking about it!) and go to for a more detailed report
> at:
> http://www.tnpresenters.org/news(detail).php?resourcesid=2
> 
> The short story is that after a lot of thought and discussion on the
> part of each and every one of us in attendance, we didn't quite do a
> 180 degree turn from how most folks think a presenting consortium goes
> about its business, but we adjusted our thinking pretty significantly
> based on our mutually agreed-upon needs. The bottom line is that we are
> going to try to hold down the costs associated with our planned
> activities by trying to keep as much information and operations online
> as possible and by combining functions at our meetings.
> 
> The effort is going to be two-pronged: 1) add as much information and
> functionality as we can imagine (and is technically possible) to the
> website and our listserves and 2) combine meeting functions to hold
> down on production and travel costs when we do get together. Instead of
> a big showcase conference every other year, we'll have a smaller, one
> day showcase conference coupled to a booking conference and we'll hold
> them at member's venues across the state instead of renting space in
> trade centers. Hopefully, these initiatives will keep us from
> increasing our budgets and worrying about funding so much that we lose
> sight of what we're really supposed to be providing for our members:
> block booking opportunities and access to each other.
> 
> J Noble of the TAC (yea, J!) has graciously offered to rework our venue
> and series survey (which I e-mailed to all of you a couple of  months
> ago in its raw form) and Bonnie MacDonald in Kingsport has offered to
> spearhead the drive to collect all of the information which we will be
> asking you to provide about your venue. When we get everything
> together, we'll get it up on the website so, in addition to our
> programming information, we can get a feel for what types of programs
> might work in which venues. Simultaneously, member agents will be
> adding their rosters to the website so we might quickly ascertain some
> of the acts which are out there.
> 
> We're also going to be surveying members for their particular interests
> and areas of expertise and posting that information. We are hoping to
> be able to use these "experts" to help members by providing additional
> programming information we might not otherwise be able to obtain as
> well as providing a general pool of expertise about operations,
> marketing, sponsorships, and a host of other informational needs we all
> share.
> 
> We're going to try to organize a formal process to easily enable
> members to attend each other's performances as the need may arise to
> see an act first-hand before making a booking decision.
> 
> This is just the beginning. The only limit to what we can accomplish is
> our own imagination. If you see a need, or have an idea, post it to the
> list. We started a list of action items at the meeting for us to
> accomplish and we want your continued input so that list continues to
> drive our thinking.
> 
> While we're not quite done lurching from one organizational issue to
> another, we're finally getting to the point where we can start figuring
> out what we want to be when we grow up...and that's exciting. I'm
> looking forward to the journey with everyone here.
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> Robert Boyer
> Patten Performances Director
> UTC Fine Arts Center
> www.utc.edu/finearts
> 423.425.4379
>