2028

To break the New York City heatwave I've left town and gone west to Denver - for the National Performing Arts Convention and Dance/USA Roundtable - a massive gathering of arts professionals across all disciplines to steer the future of the arts in America.

After meeting some fellow ACCESS Dance Scholars - Andrea, an Artistic Director of her own dance company, Marisa who programs dance outreach in city schools and Alberto, a professional dancer who is opening a performing arts school in Queens at the airport, we taxied into downtown Denver with the mountains to the west. The dance delegates all stay at the same hotel, minutes away from the Colorado Convention Center where all the action takes place.

A representative from Dance/NYC helps me navigate the massive convention center and after check in and orientation we gather for the opening session featuring Anna Deavere Smith, Bill Rauch of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and an enthusiastic mayor John Hickenlooper of Denver who shows his musician and thesbian side with a tune on the piano and lines of Shakespeare. A Pow Wow opens the session and a collaborative rendition of Romeo and Juliet is performed by Denver arts groups follows including Kim Robards Dance and the Denver Gay Mens Chorus. Civic engagement was a theme as well as the idea that connection to the community is essential for the survival and relevance of the arts.

Then the 3,500 delegates break into groups of ten for the groundbreaking cross-disciplinary America Speaks caucuses. I facilitate a group that consisted of a composer, a chorus director, a visual artist, a literary performance producer, and two theater presenters. We responded to a vision statement for the performing arts community and identified top strengths and areas in need of improvement for the arts industry. The most difficult part was the time limit on this stream of feedback, thoughts and ideas from the group of leaders.

Andrea and I got some fresh air at the opening party in the Galleria of the Denver Performing Arts Center - Denver beer, arial performers, brass band and African drumming. Back at the Sheraton, Dance/USA delegates gathered for a special evening honoring Anna Kisselgoff, Rena Shagan and Frederick Franklin. It was a magical evening-a who's who in the dance world. We sang happy birthday to Mr. Franklin - his 94th birthday! We toasted todays arts leaders and the future of the industry. We did the obligatory exchanging of business cards and took a photo of all the 300 dance attendees in the room.