Mike Daisey Show Free for Conference Attendees

It's official, the Collins Center for the Arts are including free tickets to Friday night's performance of Mike Daisey -- THE SECRET WAR for registrants of the Maine International Conference on the Arts.

Mike Daisey is an American monologist, author, actor and raconteur best known for his monologue "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" about the life of Steve Jobs, our enchantment with technology, and the story of how those devices are made in China. This transcript was downloaded over 100,000 times in the first week it was made available. Under a revolutionary open license it has seen more than forty productions around the world and been translated into six languages.

In this controversial new work, Mike Daisey is telling the most important story we're not allowed to talk about: the story of secrets. Why we make things secret, how we keep secrets, and the power that secrecy has over our world. From the personal to the political, Daisey talks about three men who were driven to reveal secrets: Edward Snowden, an NSA contractor who exposed how America spies on its citizens, Bradley Manning, imprisoned for years after revealing war crimes and atrocities, and Daniel Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon Papers that changed the course of the Vietnam War. These men are polarizing figures, all have been called traitors and heroes, whistleblowers and villains, as many struggle to define them. By focusing on the human, Daisey provides a startling look at how we all keep secrets and the price we pay for them.

This show will be at the Collins Center for the Arts during the Maine International Conference on the Arts, and it will be free to conference attendees. Tickets will be provided when registrants collect their materials from the registration desk. Register today to take advantage of this, and all the other amazing things on offer at the Maine International Conference on the Arts.

DoYou Need Help With Finances or Protecting Your Work?

Dare I say it, tax season is coming up fast, and there is never a season where you do not need to protect your work from those who seek to use it against your wishes. So whether you need help with accounting, taxes or copyright protecting your work, the Maine Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts are here to save the day.

Adam Hobson, CPA, MBA is the founder and President of Hobson and Company, a Certified Public Accounting firm located in Saco. Rook Thomas Hine is an attorney licensed in New York State specializing in intellectual property transactions, particularly performance and publication contracts, labor regulation, and the law of not-for-profit corporations.

Adam and Rook, through their affiliation with Maine Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, have each agreed to provide separate hour-long workshops at the Maine International Conference on the Arts at the end of October. These workshops: Figures and Finance and Intellectual Property Protection are part of a selection of 27 aimed at supporting the arts. They will take place on Friday, October 25 between 4:00 and 6:00 pm.

These workshops will begin with overviews of these important topics, and will then turn to the audience for questions and answers. This is your chance to get your questions answered by professionals in the field. You can also take advantage of the many other workshops, keynotes and performances available throughout the conference.

We look forward to seeing there soon, click here to register.

Affordable Healthcare Options for Artists Highlighted at the MICA Conference

Just one of the many amazing workshops at the Maine International Conference on the Arts (MICA) is one which introduces affordable health insurance options for artists and employees of cultural institutions. It is not enough to visit a website, so why not come to this workshop, learn what is available and then ask your questions. One-on-one assistance is just another benefit of the MICA conference, and if a workshop and Q&A session is not enough, then how about two days to speak with these experts on your own schedule. We are facilitating the exchange room where you can discuss the issues of your choice with experts, such as the ones presenting the workshop on affordable health care options. Read their introduction below and register today. The conference is only $90 for two days of professional development, and it includes your meals.

Anyone paying the escalating costs of insurance premiums knows the challenge of affording health insurance coverage. To maintain affordability, many Mainers have resorted to increasingly limited coverage – or no coverage at all. Fortunately, new health insurance options are available in Maine, thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its creation of a new type of non-profit health insurer called a Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP). Maine Community Health Options, Maine’s new nonprofit CO-OP health insurance company, will have a booth in the Exchange Room throughout MICA. There will be information available and staff on hand to answer your questions about the health plans available for individuals and businesses on the new Health Insurance Marketplace. You can get specific guidance on the plans that are best for you.

As a new health care payer that is nonprofit, Maine-based and member-led, Maine Community Health Options (MCHO) operates with the conviction that we must do things differently to achieve different results than what we’ve experienced over the last decade: a doubling of health care costs in Maine and reduced access to many. Our newly-created, Value Based Insurance Design model for both individual and small group plans reflects this conviction. Value Based Insurance Design boils down to paying for what matters, and tending to fundamental health concerns before they cause more problematic and expensive conditions. This is hard to do in our stress-filled and busy lives, and so we’re taking out some of the financial barriers to timely care in the hope that it will allow for better and earlier access to intervention and better health outcomes. In order to help make coverage possible for all people, those with incomes up to four times the poverty level ($45,960 for an individual and $94,200 for a family of four, currently) can get reduced premiums for coverage purchased through the Marketplace. Additional cost sharing reductions are available for those with incomes less than two-and-a-half times the poverty level.

So come and talk with MCHO staff and find out what will work for your lifestyle, your budget or your business. There will be MCHO staff that can answer both individual or small business questions. You can actually sign up for the new plans at the MCHO table or get the information you need to do it on your own at home. Enrollment opened on October 1, 2013 and the plans begin on January 1, 2014.

To register for the Maine International Conference on the Arts, visit MaineArts.com today!