Download information about all performances here: NPNPerformances.pdf
Once a year NPN staff members wear their presenter hats and organize three performance showcases, as well as a number of ArtBursts that are interspersed throughout the Annual Meeting. The following is the process NPN staff uses to make the final decisions about who is selected to perform. All artists are paid a fee for their public performances and are included as full registrants of the Annual Meeting.
National Showcase Selections
NPN Creation Fund recipients are selected to present their complete commissioned work or a significant excerpt of that work for each of the National Showcases.
The process by which the National Showcase artists are selected continues to be examined and refined each year. The process begins by reviewing the list of artists from the previous three years of NPN Creation Fund Subsidy Awards. This list is then narrowed; eliminating artists whose commissioned work had not premiered by the end of the fiscal year preceding the annual meeting, and artists who had previously been presented in an Annual Meeting National Showcase. NPN staff then receives follow-up communication from NPN Partners and/or the Lead Commissioners to assess:
- The tour-ability of the work; can the work successfully tour under the NPN contract?
- The appropriateness of the Annual Meeting Showcase venue for presenting the work; will the space accommodate the work?
- The readiness of the work; is the work at performance level?
Artists carried forward for consideration are then contacted regarding their availability. For those available artists NPN staff reviews media samples of their work and considers geographic, cultural, and discipline diversity before making their final selection.
Local Showcase Selections
During every Annual Meeting the Saturday evening showcase is reserved for highlighting the artists living in and around the host city. These artists are selected by the Host Committee and/or by the NPN Partner(s) in the host community.
Special Showcase Opportunities
In an effort to “walk our talk” of cultural equity, the NPN staff has designed a process by which NPN may extend showcase opportunities beyond the above listed criteria in order to include artists whose work is stylistically, geographically, culturally, or socially underrepresented. This opportunity is being put into place this year in order to highlight the work of contemporary Native American artists. The three artists selected, each to present work in one of the evening showcases, were culled from a group of names gathered from NPN Partners, colleagues, and Native American organizations.
ArtBurst Selections
ArtBursts are presented throughout the Annual Meeting when the general assembly of attendees is convening. They are short performance “bursts” that require little or no tech. ArtBurst performers include artists local to the host city as well as artists from the pool of subsidized national artists.
NPN staff selects ArtBurst performers from the list of artists subsidized to attend the Annual Meeting. Artists interested in performing an Artburst are considered if they have not previously been presented in an ArtBursts or a Showcase at an Annual Meeting. Additionally geographic, cultural and discipline diversity is a consideration in the final selection.
