The Arts Lead the way at Juice 2009

Artists in Maine will have a golden opportunity to connect and communicate with their colleagues, and colleagues in other sectors, at the 2009 Juice Conference. With 400 participants already signed up, this promises to be an exciting opportunity to learn, network and share ideas.

The Juice conference will take place this weekend, November 13 and 14 in Camden, and there is still time to register. There are still a limited number of scholarships available for artist at a rate less than half price; this is at $85 for the two days. For details and the code to enter for this reduced admission, email Darrell Bulmer at darrell.bulmer@maine.gov.

The arts figure prominently at the Juice Conference, as the Maine Arts Commission has collaborated with conference organizers to develop arts-related sessions that include:

• Funders and the Funded—A Symbiotic Relationship. This panel will operate in a “carousel” style. It will focus on communication between funders and grantseekers, and strategies for each to meet the others’ needs.

• Building the Local Creative Economy: Achieving Quality of Place Through Community Action. This session will assist participants in understanding the economic impact of art and culture on the community, and provide an update on the Mobilize Maine effort

• Boomers and Beyond: Creating a Multigenerational Audience. This session will focus on strategies for creating audiences across generations.

• Dude! You’re on You Tube! Arts Programs for Teens. The first half of this session will include a discussion of four success stories involving arts programs for teens. The second half will include demonstrations.

• From Away: The Richness of Multicultural Programming. This session will encourage participants to formulate action plans using progressive notions about multi-culturalism for their organizations.

The conference also highlights nationally and internationally known speakers and performers. Among the headliners will be Liz Lerman, of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. Lerman is renown for creating dance pieces in innovative settings, including the Portsmouth Bridge; and groundbreaking dance works performed by a cross-generational company. “Artistic practices,” says Lerman “are essential not just to innovation, but to the way communities live and thrive.” Lerman plans to perform excerpts from dances “Ferocious Beauty,” about the human genome, and “Drift,” about the evolution of a plot of land from farmland to strip mall to supermarket, and finally to a house of worship; and a brand new work about physics and the origin of matter. Lerman will address the conference in addition to performing.

Participants will also be treated to a dance performance by East Indian dancer Anirhudda Knight. The conference will be emceed by NPR’s Nick Spitzer.