Kristina Wong (2006 Performing Arts) presented her new play Cat Lady at the NPN Conference in Tampa.

Despite living in Tallahassee over two decades ago, I only recently learned that Tampa is considered Gulf Coast Florida not Central Florida!  On my first visit to the city, I spent three days at the National Performance Network’s inspiring, informative and fun Annual Meeting.

Since Creative Capital is headed into a Performing Arts grant year, NPN’s gathering easily shot to the top of our annual conference attendance list this year and I served as the official Creative Capital representative. NPN is a national organization supporting artists in the creation and touring of contemporary performing and visual arts, and its annual meeting brings together over 300 performing artists, presenters and funders to discuss pressing issues in the field. One “idea forum” I attended outlined lessons learned by the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s important initiative on the issue of legacy planning among artists, while another looked at the challenges of supporting performing arts residencies. Continue reading →