Chronology
1956 College presenters meet to discuss an organization for college and university concert managers.
1957 The Association of College and University Concert Managers is founded at a meeting in New York. Willard Sistare is elected president. Wilson Paul, Jack Trevithick and C.G. White are elected vice presidents. Fannie Taylor is elected secretary-treasurer. The initial membership is approximately 35 presenters.
1958 Fan Taylor write, publishes and circulates the first bulletin in March. By-laws are adopted at the annual conference.
1959 The first exhibitors participate in the annual conference. Impresario Sol Hurok receives the inaugural Award of Merit.
1961 ACUCM institutes its first membership drive.
1964 ACUCM Summer Workshops take place at Michigan State University and Lake Arrowhead, CA.
1965 Profile of the Membership is published.
1966 Fan Taylor goes to work for the National Endowment for the Arts, but continues to serve as ACUCM chief administrator.
1968 The Handbook (then called the ACUCM Workbook) is published.
1969 Wingspread Conference takes place in the spring; the topic is the future direction of the Association.
1970 The University of Wisconsin Office for Arts Programs, under whose aegis ACUCM is handled, moves from the Wisconsin Union Theater to the Keystone House and hires a half-time administrative assistant. The ACUCM Southeastern Regional Conference – “the first regional concert managers meeting to be planned and executed under the direct authorization of the ACUCM board” – takes place.
1971 Fan Taylor becomes Executive Director. Joan Lounsbery becomes the first full-time assistant director. Fan Taylor returns to Washington to work for the NEA; Bill Dawson takes over as half-time executive director at ACUCM.
1972 The Concert Environment Study is undertaken. The monthly Event Report is initiated. The annual conference is held in Houston, the first location outside of New York City. The inaugural Fan Taylor Award goes to Fannie Taylor.
1973 The annual conference moves back to New York. The organization changes from the Association of College and University Concert Managers to the Association of College, University and Community Arts Administrators. ACUCAA holds a second Wingspread meeting.
1975 ACUCAA publishes and distributes the first Programming Calendar.
1977 ACUCAA participates in a third Wingspread meeting. Topics include the relationship of ACUCAA to national, state and community arts agencies, and the ACUCAA role as intermediary between touring performing arts and community audiences.
1978 The Executive Director’s position is changed from part-time to full-time. Management workshops increase. Membership approves a Code of Conduct. ACUCAA launches a marketing initiative.
1979 Members receive guidelines for management-presenter relations. The Association institutes the Management Achievement Awards. Marketing the Arts seminars take place, and a marketing bibliography is published.
1980 Marketing the Arts is published.
1981 Technical Assistance and Travel Assistance Program is instituted. (Program is discontinued in 1993)
1982 ACUCAA office moves to new location in Madison.
1983 ACUCAA hosts fourth Wingspread meeting, The Role of the Arts in a Changing Society, which lays the groundwork for the Consumer Behavior Project. The same year, the first workshop on consumer behavior and the arts is held, and a study on the topic is commissioned from SRI, International.
1984 ACUCAA launches an arts advocacy project and the ACUCAA office is computerized. Results of the consumer behavior study are published as The Professional Performing Arts: Attendance Patterns, Preferences and Motives.
1985 The ACUCAA data base is established. The second phase of the SRI consumer behavior study is published.
1986 ACUCAA launches creative design workshops as the next step in the long-range marketing project. Bill Dawson resigns and is succeeded by Susie Farr. William Dawson Award is inaugurated.
1987 The association launches a formal long-range planning process, which is completed the following year.
1988 The ACUCAA national office moves to Washington, D.C. The association becomes a full member of the American Arts Alliance.
1989 Inside Arts magazine launches. The first Leadership Institute is held. The association administers The National Task Force on Presenting and Touring the Performing Arts. The first artistic development seminar on modern dance takes place at Jacob’s Pillow. Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest fund administers a major re-granting program aimed at audience and community development. By vote of the membership at the annual conference, the organization’s name becomes the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. The first business member is elected to the board of directors.
1990 An American Dialogue, the report from The National Task Force, and 21 Voices, a book profiling exemplary presenting organizations, are published. The Presenters’ Reports questionnaire includes expanded information about artistic quality, outreach and audience development.
1991 With the American Council for the Arts, Arts Presenters publishes publishes an updated version of Tom Wolf's book Presenting Performances.
1992 Presenting Performances replaces the old ACUCAA Handbook as a benefit of membership. The organization's second planning process begins. The Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund commits $10 million over five years to the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Arts Partners Program
1993 Profile of Member Organizations, the results of the 1991-92 survey of presenting organizations, is published. The planning process culminates in the publication of a planning document Securing Our Future. The Arts Presenters Bulletin is incorporated into Inside Arts magazine, which increases its publication schedule from four times a year to six times a year. By vote of the membership, Business members are granted voting status as members of the association.
1994 Audience Development is published.
1995 An $80,000 grant is received from the Mellon Foundation to implement the Dance Travel Assistance Program. William Dawson Education Endowment is established. Adult Arts Education project begins as a partnership with the Kennedy Center
1996 The first round of grants is awarded through the Dance Travel Assistance Program. A joint staff and board retreat is held and reaffirms association priorities of service, continuing education, and cultural diversity. Martin and Associates conducts Inclusive Leadership Development workshops for Arts Presenters staff and board. The 40th Annual Conference is held in December in New York City. The association’s web page is premiered at the Annual Conference. A $315,000 grant is received from the Helen F. Whitaker Fund to implement the Classical Connections project. The Young Performers Support Initiative premieres at the annual conference. Audience Development for the New Millennium training course launches. Pew Charitable Trusts awards a $300,000 grant to support a continuing education program. First Congressional Award given at the Annual Business meeting.
1997 Classical Connections seminar in Aspen premieres. Arts Presenters Vote Watch debuts on home page to inform members on arts-related votes in Congress. Adult Arts Education Project concludes with the publication of Learning Audiences. Presenters’ Reports become available in the members’ area on the Arts Presenters website.
1998 Annual conference dates are moved to January. The annual conference format is changed to accommodate a festival of events. Learning Audiences continuing education course premiered. Doris Duke Charitable Foundation awards $3 million for the Arts Partners program. The Wallace Foundation turns over the administration of the Arts Partners program fully to Arts Presenters.
1999 Susie Farr resigns and Jon Durnford becomes Interim Executive Director. The Annual Conference becomes members only. For the Record, the publication on documentation and the continuing education course, premieres at the Winter Institute. A Leadership Think Tank Forum assesses the Long-Term Impact of the Arts Partners Program. Crossing Paths, a conference for education staff working across the performing arts disciplines, is co-hosted by Arts Presenters and six other national service organizations. Jacob's Pillow Dance Presenters Forum takes place in partnership with NEFA and the Pillow. Membership directory and Artists Roster directory become available in the members’ area of the Arts Presenters website.
2000 Sandra Gibson comes on as President and CEO in July. Arts Presenters helps secure the first funding increase for the NEA in six years. Spanish language version of Audience Development is published. Idea Zone is established on the website. Participatory Evaluation continuing education course premieres at Winter Institute. Presenting the Performing Arts continuing education course is substantially revised. The NEA awards Arts Presenters $40,000 by to continue Classical Connections.
2001 Arts Presenters launches a year-long assessment of the presenting field with a research study and a series of national and regional issues forums funded with a $260,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The Board and staff enter into a strategic planning process. Arts Presenters becomes part of a national research study funded by Pew Charitable Trusts (the Performing Arts Research Coalition) that looks at the value and meaning of performing arts organizations to communities. Partnership is launched with five national arts organizations and Information Arts to create Xplore USA, a national database for cultural heritage and the performing arts. Presenting Performances in the 21st Century, an update of Tom Wolf’s book, is published. Arts Presenters takes the lead in working on INS regulations regarding non-immigrant visas for artists from abroad and develop legislative solutions. Presenting in a Changing World continuing education course is premiered at the Winter Institute. Arts Presenters launches a partnership with Arts International and receives $100,000 to start the Explorations Fund for international travel among presenters and managers. The Helen F. Whitaker Fund awards $75,000 by to continue Classical Connections and Young Performers Career Advancement Program. NEA awards $40,000 to implement the Emerging Leadership Institute. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation awards $150,000 to support general programs over three years. NEA Leadership Initiatives awards $50,000 for the national field assessment.
2002 The Sidney R. Yates Advocacy Award is inaugurated. Arts Presenters’ leads the process to identify and contract a new leadership for the American Arts Alliance. The Mellon Foundation awards $75,000 for Dance Presenting Leadership Initiative, including continuation of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Presenters Forum. Arts International grants $60,000 to continue the Explorations Fund. Whitaker awards $60,000 for the support of Young Performers Career Advancement and Classical Connections Seminar. The membership adopts the vision, values and mission, and the position paper at the annual meeting. The Board adopts the new Integrated Strategic Plan for the next four years. Arts Presenters receives $40,000 from the NEA to support expanded professional development activities at the conference and Winter Institute. NEA awards $60,000 to support the development of an online information system and $40,000 for the Visas Toolbox, a handbook and guide for non–immigrant visas for artists from abroad.
2003 Hewlett grants $300,000 for the Whitaker Endowment Challenge match for classical music. Classical Connections Endowment is established. Arts Presenters launches the Gateway to the America’s project in New York City and Mexico City. Arts Presenters begins rollout of the initial findings from the PARC in five cities.
2004 Arts Presenters participates in American Assembly convening The Creative Campus: The Role of Higher Education in Training, Sustaining and Presenting the Performing Arts and develops a new Creative Campus Initiative to explore assembly recommendations.
2005 The Dawson Research Internship is begins in partnership with the Bolz Center at the University of Wisconsin and with support from the Dawson Endowment Fund.
The 50th Anniversary Committee is formed with Fan Taylor serving as honorary chair. During the conference, the Under the Radar Festival and Symposium launches at St. Ann’s Warehouse in New York. The program ss developed and curated by Mark Russell, with funding by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The festival and symposium formed part of a larger, two-year Ensemble Theatres Collaborations Grant and Travel Subsidy Program administered by Arts Presenters and funded with a $1.33 million grant from the Duke Foundation. Arts Presenters convenes a Classical Music Think Tank in San Francisco, and members receive a white paper reporting the event. The MetLife Awards for Excellence in Access are established for the presenting field.
2006 Terre Jones and Mikki Shepard become co-chairs of the 50th Anniversary committee. Arts Presenters undertakes a 15-month strategic review. Arts Presenters receives a $1.5 million grant to launch the Creative Campus Innovations Grant Program.
2007 50th Anniversary Conference is held in New York City. The findings and recommendations from the Strategic Review are presented to members. In April 2007 the final Strategic Review report is presented to the Board of Directors by consultants from the Roan Group. In February 2007 Arts Presenters holds a second Classical Music Think Tank in Detroit in conjunction with the 10th anniversary celebration of the Sphinx Competition. In June, Arts Presenters convenes an intergenerational Leadership Summit in Madison, Wisconsin on the future of leadership. Arts Presenters launches a series of meetings and a partnership to establish Under the Radar West Festival and Symposium in Los Angeles. Arts Presenters receives an additional grant from the Duke Foundation and funding from the Ford Foundation for one final round of Ensemble Theatres Collaborations Grants. The Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation award grants to support Under the Radar and travel subsidies for ensemble theatre collaborations. Arts Presenters receives a four-year $1.12 million general operating grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as part of the foundation’s new National Service Organization Initiative.
2008 The Board of Directors holds a weekend retreat with a board coach and consultant on board governance. Arts Presenters receives renewed support for Under the Radar Festival and Symposium from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
2009 Arts Presenters adopts a three-year Strategic Plan framework for the fiscal years 2010-2012. A review of internet technology systems results in initiative to develop a new CRM and interactive website redesign. A three-year professional development plan is introduced for 2010-2012.
2011 Sandra Gibson steps down, and the board of directors appoints Mario Garcia Durham as the association's fifth President & CEO.