The most comprehensive annual celebration of the performing arts around the globe, encompassing a convergence of 14major performing arts industry forums and public festivals, is about to take place once again in New York City with the 2019 edition of JanArtsNYC. With the broad menu of cultural events including American Realness (Jan. 4-13; americanrelaness.com), Chamber Music of America Conference (Jan. 17-20l chamber-music.org), Drama League DirectorFest (Jan. 28; directorfest.org), National Sawdust’s FERUS Festival (Jan. 4-8; nationalsawdust.org/festivals-and-series/ferus), globalFEST (Jan. 6; globalfest.org), ISPA Congress (Jan. 8-10; ispa.org), Jazz Congress (Jan. 7-8; jazzcongress.org), NYC Winter Jazzfest (Jan. 4-12; winterjazzfest.com), The Joyce Theater’s American Dance Platform (Jan. 3-7; joyce.org), Performance Space New York (Jan. 5-31; performancespacenewyork.org), PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now (Jan. 5-13; prototypefestival.org), and The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival (Jan. 3-13; undertheradarfestival.com), perhaps the most important of these will be the 62ndannual Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) Conference. Taking place at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel from January 4-8, the APAP Conference in 2019 will host more than 3,600 performing arts professionals (including persons who represent leading performing arts centers, municipal and university performing arts facilities, culturally specific organizations, foreign governments, artist agencies, managers, touring companies, consultants and self-represented artists) as they experience some 1,000 performance showcases, network at a 370-booth EXPO Hall, and attend professional development and plenary sessions addressing issues impacting their industry.
Category: Live Performances
APAP 2018 WRAP UP
January is quite possibly the busiest of months for the performing arts in New York City – a place already busier than just about anywhere with options for audiences of music, dance, theater and related disciplines – and so it is fitting that the annual conclave where arts presenters from around the US gather to meet, to see live acts, and discuss the issues surrounding their industry is at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals [APAP] Conference, which took place from January 12-16. Timed to take place in a partnership that includes 11 performing arts industry events throughout the month, under the mantle JanArtsNYC, APAP has as part of its history of programming incubated such events as the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival and globalFEST, and thus has occupied a leadership role in the field. As usual, the NY Hilton Hotel was the hub of activity for 2018, with various showcases and other events timed to coincide with the conference going on all over the city.
APAP 2018 – JANUARY IN NYC 2018
What’s new for APAP as the 2018 annual conference approaches starts with the name of the organization, which as of September has changed (and meanwhile in a way stayed the same). While the acronym APAP remains, it now stands for Association of Performing Arts Professionals – whereas previously it denoted Association of Performing Arts Presenters – and the switch reflects a desire on the part of membership, consequent to a vote held at the 2017 conference last January, to convey an expansion of the mission of APAP as well as a new initiative to include more arts professionals in its membership. This has been the third name change in the 60-plus year history of APAP – it began as the Association of College and University Concert Managers (ACUCM) in 1957, became the Association of College, University and Community Arts Administrators (ACUCAA) in 1973, and since 1988 has been known as the Association of Performing Arts Presenters.
APAP 2016 – JANUARY IN NYC 2016 – REVIEW
For 2016 the APAP (Association of Performing Arts Presenters) Conference offered a broad array of performers and entertainment to behold, not only for those members of the organization looking to fill out their calendars for the upcoming year – at arts facilities, festivals, colleges and universities and the like – but for aficionados of the performing arts in general. As the world’s largest networking forum and marketplace for performing arts professionals, APAP features more than 3,600 presenters, artists, managers, agents and emerging arts leaders from all 50 US states and more than 30 countries convening in one place at one time to both celebrate the disciplines they have dedicated their professional lives to, as well as discuss in many forums and panels the issues which impact the production and presentation of culture, both in the US and globally. While the Conference program unfolded over January 15-19 at the New York Hilton Hotel, the showcase performances which energize and thrill both members and general audiences alike took place over a longer period, from January 12-21 (with some showcasing performers in residencies extending for a week or more beyond), and could be seen at a great number of sites around New York in addition to the Hilton.
APAP 2016 – JANUARY IN NYC 2016
While New York is justly celebrated as a center of culture year-round, in January this distinction is magnified by the confluence of several events concentrated not only on the presentation of diverse practitioners of the performing arts, but equally dedicated to the business, aesthetics, logistics and issues involved with the realm of live performance. Given New York’s situation as a gateway to the US and its distinction as a global city, this entails both national and international aspects.
TARTAN WEEK 2015
While so many aspects of Scottish heritage have influenced North American culture that it’s easy to take them for granted, it’s always a grand occasion to celebrate them during Tartan Week, which will be unfolding from April 6-11. The expanding slate of events, featuring daily concerts, parties, and of course capped off by the 17th Annual Tartan Day Parade down Sixth Avenue on Saturday, April 11th, was announced at St. Andrews restaurant, at 140 West 46 Street – a site of a number of the events in store.
APAP 2014
While it seems for those who’ve lived in Manhattan for a while that the imperative of real estate development in Manhattan was exacerbated in the 12 years of the Bloomberg Imperium to the point that the arts have been pushed further and further out into neighboring boroughs, it’s still possible to see and listen to a diverse array of performers here. One great example of this is the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference, which takes place in January every year. While the primary focus of the confab is to unite in one place folks whose business it is to manage theaters, festivals and other venues all over the nation where live performances are staged, and accordingly there are many panels and presentations which address issues in that arena, the undeniable highlight of the occasion is the showcase performances by the musicians, actors, dancers, magicians and other live acts which give the arts presenters an opportunity to see which acts they may wish to book for their upcoming year. Many of these take place at the conference headquarters at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan, but for the duration of the event many other venues host performers as part of it (both in Manhattan and elsewhere in the city), and one need not be an arts presenter to enjoy some of the acts.
NEW YORK FRINGE FESTIVAL 2013
Fringe Fests have always been a place to discover new voices, whether it be playwrights, performers or troupes. Established in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1947, the concept spread worldwide to Adelaide, Australia; Grahamstown, South Africa and Edmonton, Canada among many others,…
THE DESIGNATED PESSIMIST
For the second time I have tried to see Wally Shawn’s hit revival at the Public, “The Designated Mourner,” and twice I have gotten just thisclose to winning one of the prized twenty-dollar tickets. But always, I’m one or two souls away from the Golden Fleece when they announce they have no more seats.
JOHNNY RIVERS – RIVERS STILL ROCKS
A favorite, and justifiable, pastime among many pop music aficionados is to grouse about who has not yet been enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. You’ll frequently hear such worthy names as Chicago, the Moody Blues, Heart, KISS, and Hall & Oates on that list. What is truly a crime is that you rarely hear anyone lament why Johnny Rivers, who placed 17 singles on Billboard’s Top 40 charts and sold over 30 million records in his career, has not yet received rock music’s ultimate honor. “Johnny Rivers is a talented guy,” admitted Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, the person most responsible for determining who makes it through the hallowed doors of the Cleveland shrine, when I spoke to him at a media event for the ill-fated Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in SoHo a few years ago.