Strathmore Hosts Cultural Alliance's Annual Meeting

Nov/Dec 2006

The Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington's Annual Meeting was held at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland on October 17, 2006. The Embassy of Canada sponsored the networking reception and keynote speaker, Heather Moore, producer and executive director of Quebec Scene at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. William Tartikoff, senior vice president and general counsel of Calvert Group, LTD and the CAGW's newly elected Board chair, presided over the meeting.

Arts Leaders new to their positions received an official welcome by Board member Terre Jones, president and CEO of Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. "The production of work in arts and culture depends on the ingenuity and creativity of people like you," he said.

Life Pieces to Masterpieces (LPTM) was presented with The Tony Taylor Award from Board member Tony Pierce, partner with Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. The award, given annually, recognizes an individual or organization that has made significant impact on the arts in the Washington region. LPTM's mission is to provide African American males between the ages of three and 21 living in low-income and public housing east of the Anacostia River with opportunities to discover their ability to turn challenges into possibilities. "We hope you will discover that your life pieces can become masterpieces too," said LPTM executive director Mary Brown to the audience. Fifteen young men from LPTM filled the concert hall with poetry, art and song as they performed "A Mile in My Shoes".

Vice Chair Barbara Arm Funk recognized retiring board members Sam Sweet, managing director of Signature Theatre; Debra Kraft, executive director of the Choral Arts Society; and Anne Delaney, former cultural counsellor of the Embassy or Canada. Governance Committee Chair Jim Akers, senior vice present, general counsel, Marriott International Inc., introduced the new Board members and announced Board members whose terms were renewed.

Keynote speaker Heather Moore's talk, "The Power of Collaboration", presented the best practices of collaborations, citing examples from her work at the National Arts Centre. "Collaborations are about trust," she discovered. "The best ones are the custom-made ones, in which each organization involved brings its individuality into the project." Heather stated that some of the National Arts Centre's most successful and interesting partnerships have been with artists from small organizations.

Jennifer Cover Payne, Cultural Alliance president, concluded the meeting, noting that in recent years the arts in the Washington region have expanded with more new venues than anyone could have predicted. “Strathmore's grand 2,000-seat Concert Hall is just one example,” she said. She thanked the Cultural Alliance's Board members and staff for their dedication and encouraged the members to keep working, hoping and dreaming.

- Rebecca Mills