A few weeks ago I was given a great opportunity to travel Indianapolis for the annual Arts Midwest conference. Thanks to John Bracey, Executive Director (soon to be retiring – congrats again!) from Michigan Council of Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) for encouraging me to attend as both a council member and an artist. Fabulous experience!

Not only was I am able to get to know some of our fellow council members better, but the awesome MCACA team that clearly demonstrate their passion for the arts and culture community. Thanks guys – I had a blast! 🙂

First off, what a city! Indianapolis is practically all connected – buildings, roads, etc. Beautiful city, clean and well connected to the arts.

The conference itself included performers, agencies representing those artists, state arts

Alash, the acknowledged masters of traditional Tuvan instruments and the ancient art of throat singing team up with beat-boxer extraordinaire Shodekeh to perform an ultra groovy fusion of classic world music and the sophisticated sounds of one of the countries coolest beat boxers.

councils and art organizations. Seemed like close to a few thousand attendees. Well organized and thanks to the MCACA team, I met a lot of people. You can clearly see the power of all of these groups and the dedication many of these organizations have in presenting art to the community.

Great to run into Ron Malley, oudist and producer that was exhibiting at Arts Midwest this year.

In the evening, performances had an opportunity to “showcase” their talents. Some were spoken word speakers, musicians and even…wait for it….magicians. Clearly I had more interest in the musicians and I was pleasantly surprised to see that whenever world music artists performed – the room was filled. That says much for international music and very encouraging!

I want to thank all the organizers of Arts Midwest and for the city of Indianapolis for being such a great host venue.

For more information on this conference and the organization, click here.