Are You Getting the Most Out of Twitter? - November Webinar

Getting the Most Out of Twitter

Thursday, November 18, 2010 2:00pm-3:30pm Eastern Register today for $25 Presenter: David Dombrosky

As the ninth most popular website in the world, Twitter has quickly grown into a formidable communications platform. But what can you really do with 140 characters or less? How can arts managers make the most of this increasingly useful tool?

In this webinar, you'll learn:

• Who uses Twitter, and why they want to engage your organization.
• What aspects of Twitter distinguish it from other social sites, how your organization can use these aspects to communicate more effectively.
• The 70-20-10 rule for engagement, and how you can use it to your advantage.
• Best practices for arts organizations using Twitter
• What third party applications can arts managers use to share media, expand your reach, and much more.
• What analytic tools exist to help you chart your Twitter success

David Dombrosky is the Executive Director of the Center for Arts Management and Technology (CAMT), an applied research center at Carnegie Mellon University investigating ways in which arts organizations can use online technology to more effectively meet their goals. He frequently presents technology and social media workshops for arts conferences – most recently for The Association of American Cultures, Performing Arts Exchange, Chorus America, Opera America, College Art Association, and Grantmakers in the Arts.

Future Focus: The Public Art Archive

Sharing information and digital media about public art has never been an easy task for arts administrators. The Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) seeks to change that when they launch the Public Art Archive - an online, searchable database for public art in the United States. A tool for both arts administrators and the general public, WESTAF’s vision is for the Archive to serve as an easy to use, central source of information about public art. I recently had a chance to speak with the creators of the Public Art Archive and take a guided tour through the site.

The Public Art Archive has a straightforward, user-friendly interface.  Entry to the Archive takes place through a simple search bar on the front page, powered by Solr, an open-source search platform from by the Apache Lucene project.  You may already be familiar with Solr, as it is the search engine used by both Etsy.com and FoodNetwork.com.

Solr allows you to refine simple searches on the Archive through multiple filters with a variety of search criteria such as artist, location, materials, collections and even nicknames. The search criteria and vocabulary for the site was built from the same standards as those used by reference websites like ARTstor and the digital library projects at Harvard.

Once they’ve found the artwork they are searching for, users are presented with a variety of information and media about the work. In addition to the artwork’s basic info, users can view pictures and video, download PDFs about the artwork, and listen to audio describing the piece.

While the capability for all this content is built in, individual administrators must submit all information and media for each artwork. The Archive has no limit on the amount of content that can be submitted for each work and submission of the content is free. At a minimum, the site requires a full description for each work, as well as its location, and one high quality image.

To enable use of the Archive when an individual is physically in front of a work of public art,  the Archive will be accessible from any web-enabled mobile device. No specific apps will be required, users just plug the main url for the Archive into their phone's web browser to access the full functionality of the site.

The Public Art Archive will also be fully integrated with Google Maps.  By clicking the site’s “Map This” icon, users will be able to view exactly where the artworks are located and build custom maps of artworks that can be shared with others or saved for later use.   Administrators can use the mapping function to create custom maps for use in tours of their collection, maintenance tasks, and advocacy initiatives.

The ability for organizations to create personalized pages so they can maintain their identity will be added as the Archive progresses. WESTAF also plans to have licenses available to give organizations access to the more administrative functions of the Archive.

The Public Art Archive will be launching in the near future, but until then visit westaf.org to check out some of WESTAF's other projects that offer technological solutions for arts administrators.

October webinar - Making the Most of Your Facebook Page

How to Make the Most of Your Facebook PageTuesday, October 19, 2010 2:00pm-3:30pm Eastern Register today for $25 Presenters: Maryann Devine and Jacquelyn Kittredge

You've probably heard a lot about Facebook in the media this past year, and you may have a lot of unanswered questions. You may be hesitating taking the plunge, for a variety of reasons -- it takes too much time or loss of brand control, for example.

In this webinar, you'll learn:

Why you should consider creating a Facebook presence for your arts organization, even you've already got a great web site or blog, even if you're using other social media tools like Twitter.

Why it DOES make a difference whether you create a personal profile, a group, or a page on Facebook.

Why your organization may be invisible even to fans of your Facebook page, and what to do about it.

Why it's important to engage with your Facebook fans -- beyond the usual clichés about 'conversation' -- and how to do it.

What is a 'landing tab' and why it gives you an advantage.

How it's possible for even the smallest organizations to use Facebook applications like contests and advertising without breaking the bank.

Participants in this webinar will also receive $25 off registration for the online course "Facebook Contests for Arts Organizations."

Maryann Devine is a teacher, blogger, and consultant who helps arts people and connect with their biggest fans. She was director of marketing and public relations at The Academy of Vocal Arts before starting her own company, smArts & Culture. There she has worked with arts organizations large and small, as well as individual artists, and created classes and e-courses especially for people in the arts who have little time to spare, but a passion to learn. She has taught audience development and technology courses for Drexel University's graduate program in arts administration.

Facebook maven Jacquelyn Kittredge created her company, e-bakery, to help small businesses mix social media into their marketing strategies. A consultant with a checkered past, Jacquelyn has been a programmer, corporate trainer, user documentation specialist, middle school teacher, and fundraising organizer (as well as a gift-wrapper and surf-shop chick!). Her teaching and training experience helps her keep the technical information people-friendly and easy to learn. To that end, she recently created the online course, "Facebook Contests for Arts Organizations." Formerly the Director of Marketing and the Chief Evangelist for a healthcare start-up company, VoiceCode.net, Jacquelyn lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, one dog and their three (wild) boys.

Help Us Help You

Last year around this time, we launched our Technology in the Arts webinar series.  To keep this service relevant to the needs of our online community in the coming year, please share with us the topics and types of webinars you would like for us to offer. Type your ideas directly into the box below and click on "Finish Survey" - it's that easy. Thank you in advance for your thoughtful responses!

Technology Needs Assessment Survey

The Center for Arts Management and Technology, the group that brings you the Technology in the Arts blog and podcast, is considering offering a new service to help arts  organizations with technology challenges.  If you work at at arts organization in any capacity, we would like to learn more about how you use technology in your organizations and how you find help when you need it. Please take a few moments to fill out our survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/techhelp

Please feel free to share this link with any other arts managers or administrators who you know. If we get enough responses, we'll try and share some of the results with everyone on the blog. Thanks in advance!

Is this thing on?? Important news for performance spaces that use wireless microphones

The FCC officially decided in January to clear the "white space" that exists at the 700 MHZ frequency for particularly designated usage. While the FCC fielded arguments from big cellular and broadcasters in determining white space authorization, "unauthorized users" of microphones operating on a 700 MHZ frequency were depicted as "squatters" and intruders, since many have, technically operated in this space illegally for years. Unfortunately, this may have a serious impact on venues that use wireless microphones. Theaters, concert halls, stadiums, and others, will no longer be able to use technology that uses the 700 MHZ frequency. The FCC is giving organizations that use mics on the 700 MHZ frequency until June 12 to transition to another frequency.

This means that you need to know if this is something you need to know. This could be hugely expensive to organizations that have equipment that operates at this frequency. If nobody in your organization knows this, or knows where the equipment manuals are, you can check the FCC's website.

If you find that your equipment will have to be replaced, try contacting the manufacturer and/or the retailer where it was purchased. Some companies are being very good about offering discounts on new equipment or switching out the old free of charge, according to sources at a conversation at Arts Advocacy Day.

For a complete story and many additional, helpful links, see The Future of Music Coalition's blog.

Tweet the Arts on National Arts Advocacy Day

Next Tuesday, April 13th, is National Arts Advocacy Day, when more than 500 arts advocates will be talking to their government officials in Washington, D.C. about the power of the arts and the need for arts education and arts funding. Whether or not you can make it to DC on April 13, please take the time to create a tweet featuring the hashtag #arts on your Twitter accounts and tell you friends to do the same.   If we get enough tweets with #arts we’ll push “arts” into Twitter trending topics for the day.

More information can be found at http://www.tweetartsday.org

Anonymous input, please!

We're putting together a webinar on digitizing art, and want to know what YOU want to know.  Please help us make this an experience that benefits you by filling out this 3-question survey. I promise you--it will take less time than it took you to fill out the Census. Even if you are the only person living in your household.

Thanks!

Upcoming Webinar - Putting Social Media Strategy Into Action

March 23, 2010The Arts & Social Media, Part II: Turning Strategy Into Results 2:00pm-3:30pm Eastern Presenter: Rebecca Krause-Hardie Registration: $25.00

You've dabbled with social media; you've got a general sense of how to think strategically; now what? In this session, we'll go beyond the jargon into the nitty-gritty and practical details of executing a successful social media plan. This is a highly interactive session. As the starting point, we'll explore your goals, questions and your projects and clarify the steps needed to turn them into reality.

In this engaging 90-minute session, you will:

Learn how to create a step by step action plan to get you going

Look at some great case studies from other arts organizations

Identify and define 5 practical steps you can take now to have your project soar

Rebecca Krause-Hardie is a project manager, facilitator/trainer, social media strategist, & arts blogger, helping arts and non-profits use the web and social media effectively. Rebecca has over 20 yrs experience in new media, business, marketing, finance and project management. She developed and has been the Executive Producer of the award winning New York Philharmonic's Kidzone website, now in its 10th year. Representative clients include the Boston Symphony, NY Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, MAPP International, Canadian Museum of Nature, NYS/Arts, Caring.com and the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Dance/USA.

Please Note: While this session builds upon ideas discussed in The Arts & Social Media, Part I: From Experiment to Strategy, this webinar is a stand-alone session appropriate for all artists and arts administrators.

Tech Planning for Arts Managers: A Nuts and Bolts Webinar on Implementing Technology at Your Organization

On September 2nd Brad Stephenson, host of the popular monthly Technology in the Arts podcast, will lead a new webinar entitled ”Technology Planning for Arts Managers”. Designed to meet the needs of today’s arts managers, this workshop will focus on ways in which arts managers can use technology to best meet their missions and goals. Stephenson, the former Director of Projects and Marketing for the Center of Arts Management and Technology, worked closely with numerous organizations who wanted to find the best technological tools to improve their efficiency.  He "helped these organizations with a number of things, including the evaluation of technology vendors, the design and development of web-based marketing and development tools and the selection of software and hardware products."

Organizations commonly make some mistakes that actually impede the organization/technology synergy.  Too often Stephenson witnessed organizations either failing to align their technology with strategic plan, or worse, failing to develop a strategic plan at all.  Without a plan, there is no way to guide technological decisions in a way that will best serve an organization.  Additionally, organizations often failed to do research--such as calling similar organizations to get thoughts on the tech tools that were of most use to them.

Stephenson strongly believes that an organization that fails to plan for technology is "committing a major arts management sin," one which may compromise the organization's mission and unwisely drain resources: "Everyone on staff doesn't get an iPhone just because they're cool."  Stephenson has designed this workshop to coach organizations through the process of integrating technology into an organization's operations.  "Tech projects are really no different from other projects within an organization.  You still use the same basic project management approach to building a new website as you would producing a new play.  One of the best ways to start any new tech planning process or technology project is to ensure that you have buy-in from everyone on your staff."  Meeting resistance?  Stephenson will discuss ways to address such resistance during the September 2 webinar.

In today’s climate it is necessary for arts managers to understand technology and its application within their organizations. While it’s easy to say “integrate technology into your organization,” in practice it can be overwhelming. This workshop provides a step-by-step examination of an effective technology planning process, coupled with an overview of the major technology concepts with which arts managers should be comfortable. Participants will gain an understanding of three key concepts:

1. Creating a technology plan for your organization or project 2. Analyzing your current environment to make efficient use of existing technology and effectively target resources 3. Making the right technology choices through proven evaluation methods

To register for the webinar, and for more information, please visit the link below. Technology Planning for Arts Managers September 2, 2009 2:00pm – 3:30pm Eastern Register today for $25.00

Rally in Harrisburg to Save Arts

There was a rally in Harrisburg yesterday in response to the Pennsylvania state legislature proposal to cut all state funding of the arts. If passed, it would close down the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts--and have far-reaching affects for arts organizations throughout the state. The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council breaks down the risk to arts organizations as follows:

What's at Stake Funding for grants through the the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA). > Listed at $14 million in the Governor's initial budget proposal. > Eliminated by the Senate's proposed budget bill (SB 850). > Kept at $14 million in the Governor's revised budget proposal.

Funding for museum grants through the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). > Eliminated in the Governor's initial budget proposal. > Remained eliminated in the Senate's proposed budget bill (SB 850). > Remained absent in the Governor's revised budget proposal. The Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC), which makes tax credits to eligible businesses contributing to a Scholarship Organization, an Educational Improvement Organization, and/or a Pre-Kindergarten Scholarship Organization. Learn more. > Eliminated by the Senate's proposed budget bill (SB 850).

Though I was sadly unable to attend, Save the Arts in PA's page links media coverage of the event, and I encourage you to check out the first link and take action to get the word to PA legislators about the importance of arts funding.

We're on Twitter!

Technology in the Arts is now on Twitter. We love to share articles and tidbits of interest in 140 characters (or less!). We're also on Facebook and LinkedIn!

Facebook for Arts Organizations - Webinar Series

Due to the high level of interest in all things Facebook, Patron Technology has announced a webinar series designed to take you beyond the basics, with detailed instructions, tips and examples of what other organizations and brands are doing successfully. Patron Technology clients: Free registration (click here to register) Non-clients: Session 1 is free.  Session 2, 3 and 4 are $45 per session or $99 for all three (click here to register)

Session descriptions:

Fans Are Better Than Friends (Encore Presentation) Thursday, June 4 | 2:00-2:45PM EDT

This session will give you a broad overview of the options for arts organizations (and other businesses) on Facebook, and some essential tips about what you should be doing.  This is an "encore" presentation of a session originally presented in April.

Are You Content with Your Content? Tuesday, June 16 | 2:00-2:45PM EDT

The most important part of maintaining a Facebook Page is making sure to update it frequently, with new and interesting content. But, that doesn't mean you have to spend all your time taking photos and writing new blog posts! There's plenty of shareable content on the web already, all you need to do is gather it and share it with your Fans. In this session you'll learn:

• What makes an engaging status update
• How to share photos and links
• How to "listen" and find content to share on your Page

Apply Yourself! Tuesday, June 30 | 2:00-2:45PM EDT

Not all Facebook Applications are just for playing Scrabble and throwing sheep. There are some really useful apps that have been designed specifically for Facebook Pages. In this session you'll learn:

• How to find and add useful Facebook apps
• How to direct new visitors to a specific section of your Page
• How to add your own content to your Page using a "blank slate" HTML app

Fan-ning the Flames Tuesday, July 14 | 2:00-2:45PM EDT

Once you've put all this time and effort into getting your Page set up, how can you aggressively attract more fans? We'll look at some ideas that work, and I'll share one case study of an org that went from having 600 fans to eight THOUSAND fans-in one week! In this session you'll learn:

• How to link to your Page from your Web site and e-mails
• How to create Facebook Ads to attract more fans
• How to understand the stats and analytics that Facebook provides

Introducing Corwin Christie

While I realize that summer does not officially start until June 21st, I have always viewed Memorial Day as the advent of the summer season.  Maybe its the warm weather, maybe its finally being able to wear white pants and shoes again - who knows?

In honor of this summer jumpstart, it is my pleasure to introduce Corwin Christie as our new Social Media Assistant.  A recent addition to Carnegie Mellon's Master of Arts Management program, Corwin comes to us from Denver, Colorado where she founded Uncorked Productions Theater Company in an effort to "redefine theater for a generation that is more comfortable with television and at-home-dvd delivery than with what is too often perceived as the unpredictable and inaccessible act of theatergoing."

In her new role as Social Media Assistant, Corwin will be responsible for maintaining our social media presence and engaging the arts administration field in a tech-related discussions through this blog and other online channels - including our Facebook page and LinkedIn group.  Please, join us in welcoming Corwin to Technology in the Arts!

TITA's Back With New Blood

Okay, okay...I have to start by apologizing.  Brad transitioned into his new position at the end of January, and Technology in the Arts went silent for many weeks. What happened?  I think if we are honest with ourselves, then we have to admit that we had come to rely on Brad to carry the social media torch for TITA - blogging, podcasting, Twitter, Facebook, etc.  During his transition, many of his responsibilities were re-distributed to other staff members (oh, the joys of a hiring freeze) - but the social media fell by the wayside.

No more!  We're back, and we've brought new blood with us. Starting tomorrow, Social Media Assistant Thomas Vannatter will be coming at you twice a week with bloggy insights. Apparently, he has a major hate-on for Twitter, so this could get interesting!

Thomas will also be working with us to manage and refine our content strategies for the various social media tools we use. We will be working through questions like:

• Should we be discussing/sharing different content on our Facebook Page than we do with our LinkedIn Group?  If so, what factors should influence the decision regarding where to share which types of content?
• If we share an RSS feed that grabs the best articles on the net regarding technology in the arts, then what content should we be sharing through our Twitter feeds?
• How should the social media strategies for service organizations differ from producing, presenting and other types of arts organizations?

So over the next two months, you will see a new, evolving strategy for Technology in the Arts.  Please, let us know what you think as we move forward.

By the way, Brad is not dead to us.  He and Jason Hansen will continue to produce the Technology in the Arts podcast on a monthly basis - so stay tuned!

2009 MUSE Awards Call for Entries

The AAM Media and Technology Committee announces the 20th annual MUSE awards competition. Presented to institutions or independent producers which use digital media to enhance the museum experience and engage new audiences, the MUSE awards celebrate scholarship, innovation, creativity and inclusivity. Projects must be produced by or for a museum, including websites, podcasts, multimedia installations, interactive kiosks in the museum, cell phone audio tours in a garden, etc. Winning projects for each category are chosen by an international group of museum media professionals and the awards will be presented at the AAM annual conference in Philadelphia, PA from April 30-May 4, 2009.

• Categories and criteria
• Deadlines and procedures
• Previous award recipients

Online applications must be submitted January 31, 2009.  If you have any questions please contact Sarah Marcotte, MUSE Awards Chair.

Leaving CAMT

After three years with CAMT, I will be stepping down as director of projects and marketing to begin the next phase of my career. On January 19, 2009, I will become the Web Content Manager for Carnegie Mellon's Heinz College. I'll be in the same building as CAMT, but it saddens me deeply that I will no longer be working with our many great clients and partners. Connecting with so many amazing people is just one of the numerous reasons I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience with CAMT.

Through January 9, 2009, I will continue to be the CAMT contact for new projects. After January 9, 2009, Josh Futrell will be your contact for both project and support issues. You can reach him at support@camt-hosting.org (support items) and camt@artsnet.org (project items).

For the time being, I will continue to post on the Technology in the Arts blog and host our bi-weekly podcast. So please continue to contact me at podcast@technologyinthearts.org with questions and tech updates.

(NOTE: The image above is from the late 70s TV version of The Incredible Hulk. To add to the sad departure atmosphere, click below to listen to the walking away song from the show.)

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Call for Session Proposals - 2009 Technology in the Arts: Canada

Proposals for sessions and workshops are currently being accepted for the 2009 Technology in the Arts: Canada Conference to be held in Waterloo & Stratford, Ontario from May 10-12, 2009. This year's conference is being held in conjunction with the Canada 3.0: Defining Canada's Digital Future Conference. The deadline for submitting your proposal is Monday, January 19, 2009.

The conference has two primary types of programming - Hands-On Training Workshops and Breakout Sessions.

Hands-On Training Workshops: Sunday, May 10th: Held in a computer lab environment on the University of Waterloo campus, Waterloo, Ontario, these workshops will provide "nuts & bolts" instruction to guide participants through technical processes toward concrete solutions to work-place challenges. Each hands-on workshop will last 2 hours and 30 minutes. Workshop leaders should anticipate using 25% of the time for informational lecture and the remaining 75% of the time for hands-on instruction.

Breakout Sessions: Monday, May 11th & Tuesday, May 12th: Held in breakout rooms at the Stratford Rotary Complex, Stratford, Ontario, conference sessions may use a number of possible formats to cover relevant issues relating to the use (or potential use) of technology in arts, heritage or cultural management and/or production. Breakout sessions will last 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Proposal Criteria: A panel of arts and technology practitioners will review all submitted proposals to select the final program in late January.  Sessions will be selected based on the following criteria:

Exploration of new or compelling ideas, technologies or practices

Speakers' expertise and/or experience with the topic

Session's relevance to the conference

In addition to the above criteria, the panel will be charged with selecting workshops and sessions with an eye toward providing a well-rounded program of topics and ideas for conference attendees that will include managers, staff and artistic/curatorial personnel from the arts, heritage and cultural sector, as well as individual artists.

SUBMIT YOUR SESSION PROPOSAL ONLINE HERE

Benefits for Presenters: Presenters will receive complimentary access to the conference for the day on which they present, and discounted registration for other days they wish to attend.  All session participants will be responsible for their own travel and hotel expenses.

Proposal Components: To be considered, proposals must include the following information:

Session title

Session type - Hands-On Training Workshop or Breakout Session

Session format - For Breakout Session proposals only

Description of proposed session

Explanation of relevance to the conference

Contact information for session leader

Other potential presenters and what expertise they would add to the session

Not an expert? You don't have to be!  Here are some tips for putting together a session.

Questions? Contact us.

The 2009 Technology in the Arts: Canada Conference is a partnership between the Centre for Cultural Management at the University of Waterloo and the Center for Arts Management and Technology at Carnegie Mellon University.

Holiday Downtime? Brush Up on Tech

While the holidays can sometimes seem very busy (especially if you're a dance company producing 'The Nutcracker'), there is typically a great deal of office downtime. Therefore, I'm issuing a challenge this holiday season: Pick one tech-related skill you'd like to learn and use any downtime to get cracking. It doesn't have to be anything particularly difficult. Maybe you work with Excel for budgeting, and you'd like to know more about advanced filtering options. Perhaps you'd like to learn some basic HTML so you can tackle your own Web updates rather than passing them off to sit in a queue.

Whatever the skill you'd like to learn or refine, I'm here to help. Contact me with your holiday tech education wishes, and I'll send you some information and links to steer you in the right direction.

Don't just sit around drinking eggnog and making garland hats this holiday season. Brush up on your tech skills!

(Photo Credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

Technology in the Arts 2008 - Award Winners and Updates

It's been almost a week since the kick-off of the 2008 Technology in the Arts Conference, and we have been busy:

• Gathering feedback from our attendees on how we did this year. Emails were sent out with links to our post-conference survey. Please take a few minutes and let us know what you thought of the conference.
• Putting together content from the conference for the blog. Our next podcast installment, loaded with interviews and insights from conference attendees and presenters, will be posted on Friday.
• Traveling to a fair number of other arts conferences ourselves in the days following Technology in the Arts (blog posts on these conferences will be coming soon).

In the meantime, we'd like to take this opportunity to recognize and congratulate the winners of the 2008 ArtsTech Awards.

Dan Trueman - 2008 ArtsTech Award for Artists Dan Trueman's approach to working with technology reflects both a sensitivity to the native artistic capabilities of new technologies and a fierce drive to invent and reinvent that technology as needed. The Princeton Laptop Orchestra, for instance, relies on an unusual hemispherical speaker, designed by Trueman, that emulates the way acoustic instruments fill rooms with sound. These speakers profoundly affect not only the sound that is generated, but also the social context within which the performers play; this is a fundamental reimagination of how we as listeners, performers, and composers might live with electronic sound. His work seeks to preserve and transform traditional ways of making music - living-room jam sessions, chamber music rehearsals, orchestral performances - reflecting a belief that these are crucial and powerful ways that music lives within our culture.

Minnesota Shubert Performing Arts and Education Center - 2008 ArtsTech Award for Arts Organizations Six years ago, in the initial phases of its development, the Minnesota Shubert Performing Arts and Education Center determined that a key piece of its mission would be to provide high-quality, accessible arts education resources through the use of technology prior to opening (scheduled for 2010). Their adapted/reinvented use of Internet videoconferencing technology to teach arts education - specifically dance education - to public school children enables artists at the Center to connect with K-12 classrooms throughout Minnesota and beyond. Now social studies classes are studying swing dancing and dance marathons as a way of understanding the depression era while physical education students learn about the history and culture of hip hop dancing while getting a great work out.

TechSoup Global - 2008 ArtsTech Awards for Benefactors Founded in 1987 as CompuMentor, TechSoup Global is one of the most comprehensive nonprofit technology assistance providers in the world. In addition to providing educational resources and a vibrant online community, TechSoup Global provides nonprofit organizations with donations of the latest software and refurbished Green hardware for free with an administrative fee as little as 5% of retail cost. Since its founding, TechSoup Global has donated to 13,248 arts organizations from around the world, providing a total technology savings to the arts community of over 100 million dollars.

Congratulations also go out to our Rock Band 2 rock-off contest winners. These folks kicked it with a tasty groove during our afternoon energizers.

• Gregg Johnson - Young Audiences Woodruff Art Center
• Adrienne Lloyd - Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir
• Michael Moss - National Black Arts Festival
• Sara Schnadt - Chicago Artist Resource

And, thank you to all of our conference attendees, presenters, and sponsors who helped make this year's conference possible.