Attendance at the breakfast is open to conference registrants.

Prior to his leadership role with APAP, Durham was posted at the National Endowment for the Arts where he served as director of Artist Communities and Presenting from 2004–2011. At the NEA, Durham contributed to programs such as An Evening of Poetry, hosted by President and Mrs. Obama, and the NEA Opera Honors. He inaugurated the NEA’s Artist Communities granting program and was the initiator of Live from Your Neighborhood, a groundbreaking study of the impact of outdoor arts festivals in the U.S.

After holding numerous management positions and serving as artistic director at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the 1990s, he founded Yerba Buena Arts and Events in 2000, the producing organization of the annual Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. The outdoor event offers more than 100 free performances by the San Francisco Opera, the San Francisco Ballet, and more for an audience of 100,000 attendees.

Throughout his career of over 20 years as a presenter, Durham has served on numerous boards, special advisory committees, and funding panels. He is currently on the board of the Alliance of Artist Communities and the National Center for Creative Aging.

Durham was recently elected to chair of the Performing Arts Alliance, a board of the leaders of the major performing arts service organizations in the U.S. Durham had previously served on the APAP board of directors and on the executive committee. He is on the community advisory council of the PBS station WETA in Washington, D.C., and on the American University Arts Management Advisory Council.

In addition to the Google Analytics and social media pre-conference session on Wednesday, June 5, announced earlier, regular workshops will include presentations and discussions on artist hospitality, political advocacy, block booking, educational outreach, showcasing, and more.

Special guests presenting workshops include Jaimé Campbell Morton from Artspromo, based in central Massachusetts; Brandon Gryde, director of government affairs for Dance USA/Opera America in Washington, D.C.; Rebecca Catlinet of the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance; and the musical duo Trout Fishing in America.

Artist agents participating in the workshops include Marc Baylin of Baylin Artists Management, Larry Kosson of the Roots Agency, Jennifer Morris of Siegel Artist Management, and Sean Casey with CMI Entertainment.

Performing arts presenters involved in various sessions include Andy Cassano of the Zoellner Center for the Arts at Lehigh University, Cathleen Stephen of the Miller Center for the Arts at Reading Area Community College, Laura Kendall of the Ware Center at Millersville University, and Larry Stock of Butler County Community College.

Two to three additional workshops are planned to be added. A preliminary schedule is available on the website. Complete descriptions of each workshop and updated schedule information will be posted in early May.

Workshops are only available to those registered for the conference. Online registration is now available. The full conference registration is $200 through April 30. On May 1, full registration increases to $240. One-day registrations are available.

The first set of showcases will start at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5, in Fisher Auditorium of the IUP Performing Arts Center. The lineup includes contemporary chamber ensemble Cordis, Ugandan refugee and musician Samite, the mutli-genre Annie Moses Band, magician Bobby Borgia, the popular Billy Jonas Band, and the four-time Grammy nominee duo of Trout Fishing in America.

On Thursday, June 6, starting at 1:45 p.m., showcases will be held in Gorell Recital Hall, located on the second floor of Sutton Hall at IUP. Included in the performances will be a special showcase by actor John Astin, who also serves as the conference keynote speaker. Astin rose to celebrity status as Gomez on the original television series The Addams Family.

Also performing that afternoon will be family favorite Alex and the Kaleidoscope Band, European folk group the Guy Mendilow Ensemble, comedian and balloon artist extraordinaire John Cassidy, 12-string folk guitarist Neil Jacobs, and the rousing Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.

The final showcase session will be presented in Fisher Auditorium on Thursday, June 6, starting at 8:00 p.m. This set of artists include contemporary dance ensemble Groundworks Dance Theater, songwriter and performer KJ Denhart, multicultural dance troupe Illstyles and Peace, high-energy juggling performance group Playing by Air, and the Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble.

Performance groups are subject to change and are not listed in the order of the performance. Additional information on each artist and updated information is available on the PA Presenters Conference website.

The PA Presenters Spring Arts Conference is held annually in different parts of the state and targeted for performing arts presenters, performing artists, artist agents and managers, and other professionals engaged in bringing touring performers to their venues and communities. Members of PA Presenters come from across Pennsylvania and neighboring states, with artists and agents attending from across the country. This year’s conference is being hosted by the Lively Arts.

Those wishing to attend the conference, which includes a variety of networking and professional development opportunities, can register online. Early bird registration is available through April 30 at $200 for the entire conference. The fee increases to $240 starting May 1, and single-day registrations are available.

The workshop will be held from 1:00–4:00 p.m. in Cogswell Hall on the IUP campus on Wednesday, June 5, 2013. The conference officially begins that evening with a 5:30 p.m. reception at the Jimmy Stewart Museum and runs through early afternoon on Friday, June 7.

The workshop will be led by Beyond Spots and Dots president and founder Melanie Querry. She will be joined by the company’s CFO, Andreas Beck. Those participating in this intensive workshop will be lead through the benefits of using Google Analytics and Google AdWords and integrating that into a comprehensive marketing plan.

Beyond Spots and Dots is a full service advertising agency with global reach dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising for its clients. Founded in 2006, Beyond Spots and Dots is operated out of downtown Pittsburgh and has a global reach. Recognition and awards for their work have come from Inc. 500, Pittsburgh Business Times, and Media Association of Pittsburgh, receiving five All-Star Media Awards. Their clients include a wide variety of businesses from the arts to education to hospitality, government, and more.

Querry’s expertise is in strategizing with business owners and marketing managers to understand how to allocate their marketing budgets more effectively so the dollars work harder on the business’s behalf. As a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, she has a degree in advertising and has been successful in the broadcast television and cable television sales areas for over 12 years.

At Beyond Spots and Dots, she has led her team to the 2011 and 2012 Pittsburgh Business Times “Pittsburgh’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies.” She has overseen the development of each comprehensive marketing plan to include market research, media planning and buying, website development execution, management of brand standards, implementation of online branding elements, and determining appropriate messaging and choice of medium for each target audience.

Beck is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and is responsible for all financial and fiscal management aspects of company operations. He also provides leadership and coordination in the administrative, business planning, accounting, and budgeting efforts of the company. Prior to joining Beyond Spots and Dots, Beck served as an assistant portfolio manager for the Income Equity funds in the Investment Research department at Federated Investors, Inc.

Beck also serves as the company’s creative director, utilizing his expertise in digital branding, including complex website development, as well as online optimization and targeted search engine marketing. Most recently, Beck led the company to achieve Google AdWords Certification, one of only nine companies in Western Pennsylvania with this accreditation.

The preconference workshop is a value-added session for those registered for the conference and is included in the cost of the registration fee. However, space is limited, and attendees must indicate their intent to intend this session when registering. Registration is available online now. The full conference fee is $200 if you register on or before Tuesday, April 30. On May 1, the fee will increase to $240 per person. One-day only registrations are also available. The deadline for reserving a room at the conference hotel, the Holiday Inn of Indiana, is May 5.

In his numerous speaking engagements, Astin reflects on his vast experiences and observations throughout his life in the world of arts. He will look at the “big picture” as he encourages artists, agents, presenters, and patrons to continue to strive toward a culture where arts are recognized as a central component to life. Astin’s contagious passion will leave you feeling refreshed and excited to be shaping the future of arts.

Born John Allen Astin in Baltimore, he grew up a voracious reader and intellectual, attending nearby Washington and Jefferson College and Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University, where he majored in mathematics. A part in the university’s senior play cemented his desire to act, and in 1952, Astin attended the University of Minnesota to pursue graduate work in drama, where he appeared in 40 plays in and around campus.

Astin’s first New York gig was a role in an off-Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, followed by a role in Charles Laughton’s Major Barbara. Blessed with an elastic voice that never failed to sound bemused, he found work doing voices for animated commercials. Astin went on to receive supporting roles in Studio One in Hollywood, The Twilight Zone, and 77 Sunset Strip. He made his motion picture debut with a tiny role in the forgotten B-drama The Pusher in 1960. In 1961, Astin earned a small but memorable role as a dance chaperone in the Oscar-winning West Side Story and a bit part in That Touch of Mink with Cary Grant and Doris Day.

A year later, Astin was teamed with Marty Ingels on the blue-collar sitcom I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster. Despite the show’s cancellation, Astin had gained notice as a reliable comic and was cast as the macabre but passionate patriarch on The Addams Family. His pop-eyed, relentlessly cheery demeanor as Gomez instantly launched Astin to stardom.

Running from 1964 to 1966, Astin would reprise his role on numerous occasions in the decades following the show’s cancellation, including the TV movie Halloween with the New Addams Family and the voice of Gomez in the animated Addams Family, which earned him a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1992. In 1998, Astin played Grandpapa Addams in a pair of episodes for the syndicated New Addams Family.

The iconic role of Gomez Addams established Astin’s career as a pop personality, and he began touring the country in theatrical productions. It was during this time that Astin’s marriage to Suzanne Hahn ended, he married actress Patty Duke, and raised her son, Sean Astin, who would later become a successful actor in his own right.

John Astin’s many other credits include a brief stint as the Riddler on Batman and as the title character arch-villain in Evil Roy Slade. He also found work in 1974’s Skyway to Death and as the dad in the original version of Freaky Friday. In the 1980s, he landed recurring roles in both Murder, She Wrote and the sitcom Night Court. Astin maintained a busy schedule, appearing in National Lampoon’s European Vacation, Teen Wolf Two, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, and Return of the Killer Tomatoes! He went on to make two more “Killer Tomatoes” movies in the ’90s, appeared on the TV shows Mad About You and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., and earned favorable reviews for his appearance in The Frighteners. 

As a director, Astin’s talents have been seen in Prelude (1968), a comic short for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Live Action Short; Wacky Taxi, in which he also starred; Operation Petticoat, in which he played a submarine commander accompanied by a crew of nurses; and several episodes of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery and Just Our Luck.

His most recent project, An Evening With John Astin: Gomez, Poe, and the Usual Suspects, offers an eclectic evening of excepts from well-known works by Edgar Allen Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Shakespeare, Kurt Weill, Thomas Wolfe, e.e. cummings, Ezra Pound, and others combined with anecdotes and film clips from The Addams Family.

John Astin serves as a visiting professor and director of theater arts and studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he works out of the “Old Barn,” former home of Theater Hopkins, an acclaimed community theater company.

Those wishing to attend the lunch must be registered for the conference. Registration is available online now, and daily as well as full conference rates are available.

For more information, contact PA Presentes administrator Cathy Little at 610-797-3042, or e-mail cathy@papresenters.org.

The website is now up and running with basic information, including showcase applications, sponsorship information, conference hotel, and the preliminary schedule.

In the coming weeks and months, information will be added about registration, final showcase artists selected, professional development workshops, and special guests.

Opportunities range from sponsoring the opening reception at the Jimmy Stewart Museum to the keynote lunch, to professional development, and more. For complete information about the various opportunities and their cost, download the Sponsorship Packet (pdf).

Individual performing artists and performance groups may apply to PA Presenters to showcase during the conference. Those selected by a jury, consisting of the organizations board and conference committee, will perform during the conference for up to 150 presenters, artists, managers, and agents. The general public will also be invited.

Each showcase will be a maximum of 15 minutes with some technical support provided. They will be presented in both Fisher Auditorium and Gorell Recital Hall on the IUP campus.

For complete information and fees, download the showcase application (pdf).

For more information about PA Presenters and its activities, visit the PA Presenters website.