(CelebrityAccess News Service) – The national nonprofit performing arts community will gather together for annual conferences, forums, performances, artist workshops, cross-disciplinary sessions, and other joint activities as part of the First National Performing Arts Convention, June 8–13 in Pittsburgh, PA.
The 12 participating organizations include: the American Symphony Orchestra League, American Composers Forum, American Music Center, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Chamber Music America, Chorus America, Dance/USA, Meet the Composer, Music Critics Association of North America, National Alliance for Musical Theater, OPERA America and Theatre Communications Group. As many as 5,000 delegates representing 1,400 communities are expected in Pittsburgh. Arts administrators, artists, trustees and volunteers, and the public are invited to participate in the activities of the convention.
Local host organizations in Pittsburgh include the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Opera and Pittsburgh Symphony. Performances by these host organizations will highlight each evening of the Convention week. In addition, there will be numerous other programs and performances by many of Pittsburgh's other arts organizations during the Convention week.
Of the 12 national arts organizations that will gather at the First National Performing Arts Convention in Pittsburgh, four will hold their annual conferences as part of the Convention: the American Symphony Orchestra League, Chorus America, Dance/USA, and OPERA America. The remaining organizations, American Composers Forum, American Music Center, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, Music Critics Association of North America, National Alliance for Musical Theater and Theatre Communications Group, will hold special convenings under the umbrella of the Convention.
“Recent arts research has been part of the inspiration for us to gather together as a sector in Pittsburgh in 2004," Marc Scorca, president/CEO of OPERA America and chairman of the National Planning Committee, said. "Support for the performing arts and the value that is placed on them by the American people, attenders and nonattenders alike, runs very deeply through our society today. We come together both to celebrate and to build upon this strong foundation.”
The American Symphony Orchestra League's President and CEO, Henry Fogel,
stated, “The gathering in Pittsburgh in June of 2004 will demonstrate to the nation what most of us have instinctively felt—the live performing arts are an extraordinarily important component of the health and vitality of every American community and deserve our dedicated support.”
Four of Pittsburgh's local host organizations will present performances during each evening of the convention: the Pittsburgh Symphony in concerts with flutist James Galway, the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in the Pittsburgh premiere of a ballet set to J.S. Bach's Magnificat, and performances by the Pittsburgh Opera of Jake Heggie's widely acclaimed new opera, Dead Man Walking.
The First National Performing Arts Convention, Pittsburgh 2004, Taking the Arts to the Next Stage, is made possible through the support of lead corporate sponsor, PNC Bank of Pittsburgh. Other generous support has been provided by: The Allegheny Conference, Master of Arts Management Program/Carnegie Mellon University, Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau, The Heinz Endowments, The McCune Foundation, The R.K. Mellon Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and The Mary Hillman Jennings Foundation. –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
www.nationalperformingartsconvention.org
