CODA 2003 Conference Coming in April
Keynote speaker is social entrepreneur Bill Strickland. by Mary E. Petzak
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his
year’s annual Craft Organization Directors Association’s conference
to be held in Pittsburgh, Pa., already promises to be one of their best.
Starting Thursday, April 3, and running through Sunday, April 6, attendees
will enjoy presentations, panel discussions and visits to galleries and studios
featuring the many roles of craft in economic and artist development.
Linda Van Trump, CODA’s chair and managing director, says the conference agenda reflects CODA’s current concentration on updating its organizational infrastructure. “The industry seems to need leadership in building collaborations and public understanding and appreciation for craft … ,” she says.
Keynote speaker for this year’s event is Bill Strickland, president and CEO of the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and Bidwell Training Center Inc. An acknowledged leader in education, public policy, and economic and workforce development related to the arts, Strickland is a past chairman of the expansion arts panel of the National Endowment for the Arts and also served a six-year Presidential appointment as a Council Member to the NEA.
Using the arts as a springboard to boost disadvantaged young people as well as laid-off steelworkers into profitable careers, Strickland’s 30-year-old training center in the Manchester neighborhood of Pittsburgh’s Northside has become a model for similar vocational and arts efforts around the United States.
While still in college, he founded the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild to teach pottery skills to at-risk children after school. Today, more than 350 Pittsburgh students participate annually in the after-school arts programs and staff artists reach a thousand more students by going into the schools.
Among his many awards is the coveted MacArthur Genius Award bestowed on him in 1996 for leadership and ingenuity in the arts. Conference organizers believe Strickland’s keynote presentation and his participation in a panel discussion on arts funding will provide valuable insight into the economic possibilities associated with craft education and development.
Other conference highlights include panel discussions on: the multiple ways art can be a catalyst of community revitalization efforts; some of the best practices to come out of artists-in-residence programs; how to attract and retain younger craft professionals to the “graying” craft field; common misconceptions and ways to stabilize financial management for non-profits; and lessons in advertising and branding learned from museums.
The Society for Contemporary Craft will host a Welcome Reception on Thursday evening for CODA attendees. A HOT JAM Reception with artist demos at the Pittsburgh Glass Center on Friday evening will be followed by three First Friday receptions hosted by the Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, the Gallerie Chiz and The Clay Place, all in downtown Pittsburgh.
 Bill Strickland |
The conference fee includes the above receptions as well as Friday’s lunch at the Wood Street Gallery, Saturday’s luncheon in the hotel, and a slide show and reception at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild on Saturday evening.
Conference attendees are encouraged to visit Pittsburgh museums on their own on Thursday and to sign up for a post-conference day-trip on Sunday to Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece in Mill Run, Pa. Following the tour and a stop for lunch, one chartered bus will go to the airport and one will return to the hotel.
The conference takes place at the Omni William Penn Hotel, a Pittsburgh landmark recently restored to its 1916 condition. A special room rate of $89 a night is available to those making reservations before Feb. 14 by calling (412) 281-7100 or (800) 843-6664. Remember to inform the hotel that you are with CODA.
Conference organizers suggest that attendees arrive in Pittsburgh by noon on Thursday and depart after 3 p.m. on Sunday. Pittsburgh is within a day’s drive of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati and other metropolitan centers. Pittsburgh International Airport is located 16 miles from the downtown and served by most major airlines. Taxicabs, buses and rental cars are available.
Sponsors for the CODA 2003 Conference include the American Craft Council, George Little Management LLC, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and