Today I attended the annual MSAC Arts in Education Selection Conference. This year it was held again at the Howard County Arts Council in Ellicott City. The conference is held to give schools and artists a chance to network and plan for the upcoming AIE grant cycle.
I was surprised to see handful of schools that were represented. In fact the whole event was pretty well empty in relationship to past year's events. Usually I have 15-20 new contacts when I leave the place and today, 5 new folks!
It was also good to meet the new MSAC AIE program director, a writer whose name is Christina Stewart. Thanks for the pic Chris! After she welcomed everyone to the conference, she announced that there have been a few changes to the program for next year. Most amazing, is the fact that all artists now MUST have a certificate of insurance on file at the MSAC office proving that we carry liability coverage of 1 million dollars.
I love these unfunded mandates. I remember when the Bush administration passed nclb and the schools were crying about this sort of thing. Now they are doing the same to the artists who offer residencies in the communities.
