JOIN THE COMMUNITY
Chicago Theater (anti) Conference 2010
August 20th through 22nd

Like so many of you, we miss the days of the League retreats.  While our community has grown so much that a drunken weekend together in the mountains may not be so feasible, we do want to provide a home so that theaters of every size can come together to share knowledge, make connections and renew ourselves for the upcoming production season. A ton of Chicago Theatres got to participate in the TCG conference; it was fantastic to feel like we were a part of a national theater movement, but a lot of us there felt that Chicago's theaters still had a ton to learn from each other. As part of Theater Wit's mission to provide a forum for a wide variety of Chicago's best theatre groups, we are happy to announce our first Chicago Theatre Conference.  We'll be opening all three spaces at Theater Wit for us to meet and learn from each other in a series of community-driven presentations. Download the full schedule of events!

The conference is designed to create communication, not be a traditional teaching / education conference.  As such, each session will be structured to allow the maximum possible communication and as much back and forth discussion as possible. Sessions are 50 minutes long, with the speaker presentation limited to 12 minutes.  The balance is reserved for group discussion, Q/A, etc.  In addition, we'll be offering time for everyone to gather for food and some evening parties at various venues throughout the weekend.  

We believe that theaters in this city have tremendous opportunity to learn from each other, but not just theaters.  We invite dance companies, performance artists, independent artists (designer, production crew, performers and directors, and choreographers, video artists, and don't forget music ensembles, orchestras, opera, etc). We would like to provide opportunities for discussions of artistic pursuits, business challenges, legal issues, whatever our community of speakers can provide.  We rise and fall together here in Chicago. And we encourage presentations on any aspect of the performing arts you are interested in: new work development, fundraising, audience building, online strategies, selling your work outside Chicago, grant applications, local government interactions, season programming, venue management, rental challenges, etc.  If you've experienced it, and have something to share, you'll want to be a part of the conference.  

Attendee Registration

Registration is limited to 250.  You can register for the entire weekend for $32.  The registration fee includes lunch both days, and our catered evening parties, including the kickoff party on the 20th. We will be posting the schedule this week, but it'll be chock full o' goodness, we promise.