Arts Presenters

Info You Can Use: Foreign Guest Visas

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Arts Presenters has recently alerted their membership to a proposed change in the way visas for foreign artists are evaluated. According to Artists From Abroad, O Visas are given to “only one alien of extraordinary ability in the arts entering the U.S. to work in his/her area of expertise. “Extraordinary ability” for purposes of the arts is not an especially high standard. It means “distinction” which, in turn, means a high level of achievement in the field, substantially above that ordinarily encountered.”

This differs from the P-1 and P-3 visas, the first of which applies to groups of note with a long term association and the latter which requires cultural uniqueness.

The nature of my work is such that I don’t use O visas. As I understand it, the problem with emerging with the O visa is that Customs and Immigration are proposing “45-day cap on the amount of time allowable between engagements.” Since an O visa can be valid for up to three years, it is feasible there would be gaps in activity of 45 days here and there during this time.

If you do use O visas or have the potential of doing so, you may want to review the page Customs and Immigration has set up soliciting feedback on the proposed changes.

If you need help framing your feedback, Arts Presenters is encouraging people to contact Leah Frelinghuysen, Director of Public Affairs.

Even if you don’t use O visas, Arts Presenters is advocating for changes in the whole visa process because it has been incredibly frustrating and problematic for people trying to bring tours together. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to provide feedback and comments as those policies (hopefully) come under review.

Leadership Training and Discussion Moves Forward

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If you have seen Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser on his Arts in Crisis tour or read any of his writings on the matter of arts leadership training, you will know that he feels not enough is being done to teach people about how to do the job well. On occasion, I have also opined that arts leaders don’t talk to each other enough about the challenges we face and the processes we employ in pursuit of our jobs and goals.

It seems like that is starting to change now. In addition to the Emerging Leadership Institute program Arts Presenters runs, they have decided to partner with Research Center for Leadership in Action (RCLA) at NYU on a program for mid-career arts professionals with an eye toward grooming them for senior leadership positions. The Leadership Development Institute is accepting applications right now in fact. The deadline is April 19. The pilot phase of the program will employ “two series of collaborative inquiry sessions, virtual webinars, online resources and one-day action-learning seminars.”

Over at Americans for the Arts’ ARTSblog some interesting perspectives on leadership in the arts are emerging from the various contributors. Just today there was a post by Joanna Chin listing all the general arguments for the value of the arts that she could think of: “Arts = Arts; Arts = Humanity; Arts = Health/Quality of Life; Arts = Civic Engagement and Social Change; Arts = Economic Vitality; Arts = Creativity/Innovation = Growth/Vitality; Arts = Cultural Tourism = Economic Vitality; Arts = Jobs & Industry; Arts = Shared Benefit.” She expands briefly on each of these areas and wonders if this is an exhaustive list. If you can think of others, visit the entry and contribute your thoughts.

Marc Vogl offered a clever analogy of “What a Seder Can Teach Us about Arts Leadership”

“Those in leadership positions especially carry the burden of executing the plan of record which, as many E.D.s will attest, means putting out the fire that’s blazing now or shifting the pots on the stove around so that none boils over today.

So, who is responsible for periodically stepping in and asking the elemental but critical questions?

Perhaps it should be those on top of the organizational structure – whether administratively or in governance positions at the board level – but frequently those are the people who must answer the questions.

In the Seder it’s the kids who sing out to the elders: why are we doing things the way we’re doing things?

And it is for everyone around the table to respond, and hopefully, to reflect for a moment on the history that informs that response, to consider the present circumstances and how times have changed, and maybe even to look ahead and determine what we can do going forward so that we don’t spend another year going through rote motions and taking important things (like freedom in the case of Passover, or making art that has meaning for those of us in this field) for granted.”

Shannon Daut who is Deputy Director at the Western States Arts Federation and has a broad perspective on how the arts are developing regionally and I would imagine nationally, talks about the lack of leadership opportunities for younger administrators because those on the executive level continue to circulate between the available positions.

“I recently had a conversation with WESTAF’s director, Anthony Radich, and asked him what his resume looked like when he was my age—35. He rattled off a list of ED positions at various arts organizations. I think his experience is pretty typical. Because the arts field was so young, experienced arts administrators were not available to fill open positions. They made it up as they went along and were entrusted with great organizational responsibilities at early stages in their careers.

For the most part, today’s emerging (and mid-career) administrators have not been able to benefit from an environment that would take risks on “unproven” job candidates. “

Finally, Letitia Fernandez Ivins, addresses the all important issue of balancing work and personal life in an industry where it has always been expected that one suffers for ones art. Her entry primarily deals with the impact of pregnancy on a career in the arts. However, the general topic is clearly an important one. There are many comments on the entry already. One woman expresses her relief upon learning so many other people are facing the same choices.

Actually, I shouldn’t say finally regarding Letitia’s post. There have been more than 20 entries on the subject of leadership since Monday. These are just the handful that resonated with me most today. I should mention that Americans for the Arts have their own Emerging Leader Network from which I assume the drew many of these contributions. I am pleased to see such great movement in leadership training and discussion happening right now. It wasn’t that long ago that I was mentioning the lack of such activity. I didn’t think this much progress would be made in a few short years.

Info You Can Use: Will You Have To Get Rid Of Your Wireless Mics?

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You may or may not be aware that after June 12, 2010, you will no longer be able to use wireless microphones that operate in the 700 MHz range. Arts Presenters has been following this issue very closely and has put together a good resource page on the subject. The page contains information on the ruling and has a link to help you figure out if your wireless mics operate in that range. If they don’t, you can keep using them. Some microphones can be re-tuned to operate outside that range which may also be good news.

I say may because APAP also hosted a conference call on the subject. The transcript may be found here. According to one of the speakers, Matthew Nodine, chief of staff for the FCC wireless bureau, the FCC has made room in the UHF band for all those displaced by this ruling. The question is whether you can stay there or will have to move again. From my reading the experts answering the questions don’t give any concrete assurances that wireless microphones can operate in that area over the long term. They even mention there are a number of other interests who wish to operate in the same area of the white space on an unlicensed basis.

“You have competing interest in the white spaces proceeding which has to be resolved for the commission to decide exactly what rule is going forward that should apply to wireless microphones, should apply to other users, should apply to the licensees and the other licensees in the band.”

There seems to be potential for being bumped from where you are operating at a later time if the FCC decides that space should be used for WiFi or cell phone internet operations. (Just as an example. I have no idea if operating in this span of bandwidth is viable for these functions.)

On a more positive note, it sounds like theatres could actually secure some frequencies by becoming licensed to use them. (my emphasis)

“The FCC is basically setting up a licensing opportunity as one of the possible destinations for operations on a permanent basis in the TV core spectrum. The value of licensing as you may have guessed is that you have enhanced interference protection as against white space devices. You are permitted, and I will just leave it there. You also have interference protections as against all unlicensed operations. You have flexibility to conduct two-way wireless mic related operations. Queuing is permitted for licensed operations for production personnel. It also permits certain types of uses of wireless devices to key stage hands, so sort of backstage uses which are related to performance. All are encompassed under the authority which licensed operators to which they are entitled.”

If you do employ a lot of two way communications, getting licensed may be a necessity. (again, my emphasis)

On the unlicensed side, if you chose not to be licensed, it seems like first of all the only sort of interference protection that you would enjoy would be to operate on certain set aside channels in the TV core where white space devices are not allowed to operate. I think this is a proposal in the commission’s order, but it says that such operations will be limited to 50 millowatts, 5-0 millowatts max power and would probably be limited to one-way only operations. …. it seems as if the queuing and the backstage kind of radio access, the two-way capabilities are very much a part of the performance experience and part of the production values which have been built into certainly into any sort of serious professional production. It looks to us for this particular community of users, that licensed use has a lot of the characteristics which really are the bedrock of any sort of quality performance.

What happens if you keep operating your 700 MHz devices after June 12, 2010? According to FCC wireless chief of staff Nodine,

“There are penalties that are going to be associated with wireless microphone system user who is using their wireless microphone system in the 700 megahertz range after June 12th. We don’t know – we can comment on what we believe those are going to be. And that’s probably going to be a, a fairly wide range of both civil and potentially criminal penalties. And it will be looked at on a case by case basis.”

First Creative Campus Class Reports In

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As I have been reading blog entries about the recent Association of Performing Arts Presenters annual conference, (APAP) I have seen mentions of Creative Campus project presentations. Since this information isn’t widely disseminated, I thought I would give the projects and the participating organizations some publicity to share the news of their success.

First a little history, APAP administers the grants program but the original idea emerged back in 2004 at the 104th American Assembly. (The paper they produced on the concept may be found here.) The first group of projects is drawing to a close (though some were only one year projects and have been completed) and the granting for the next group is in process.

Many of the organizations in the first group created dedicated webpages to archive their efforts which you may be interested in visiting.

Dartmouth College dedicated themselves to exploring the class divide in the surrounding community as well as within the college community.

The University of Nebraska Lied Center worked with multimedia performance group Troika Ranch to create a new performance piece, bring the disparate departments of the university together in creative experiences, and most interesting to me, adapt motion performance software for modern dance for use with rehabilitation patients.

This is not to be confused with the efforts of the University of Kansas Lied Center’s project, Tree of Life Creativity – Origins and Evolution which involved a intra-campus collaboration as well as partnerships with other campuses.

The University of Iowa’s Hancher Auditorium, still displaced by the damage caused by the flooding of summer 2007, commissioned the development of a world premiere, Eye Piece, in cooperation with various departments. The work explores the process of gradually losing eye sight. The topic may seem a strange one until you learn that the university’s Carver Family Center for Macular Degeneration was a project participant.

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s current theme is Diasporas. I say current, because it the description implies there is a different theme each year. Indeed, the APAP website information about the project lead me to believe it was about the death penalty. The university’s some times controversial summer reading program is a partner in this project along with the departments of communications, dramatic arts and resident LORT company, Playmakers Rep.

I wasn’t able to find information about their respective projects on the Hostos Community College or Stanford University sites, so the final project is Wesleyan University’s Feet to the Fire on global warming. This project involved interdisciplinary learning that appears to have permeated every corner of campus activities and moved out into the surrounding community. From the video summary of the project, it sounds like people who attended their events felt the power of the arts was essential to getting the message across, as was suggested in recent posting.

Even though the project officially ended last June, the university has continued to provide the experiences they initiated. Like most grant programs, I am pretty sure this was the goal–that the funded initiative will be perpetuated. If you are inspired by what you see, it is unfortunately too late to get into the current grant cycle. But it is the perfect time to start conversations about what you might like to do–including prodding a local university member of APAP to get involved.