“Presenting America: New Ground” was the theme of The Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ 51st Annual Member Conference, Jan. 11-15.   The conference drew several thousand professionals engaged in the performing arts community to New York City and featured daily plenary sessions and a wide array of professional development workshops and forums.  Notable among these were an early morning session hosted by the Future of Music Coalition on why radio consolidation matters and other issues (in which this writer opined on the efforts to save Internet radio) and another on The Role of Global Music in Geo-Political Diplomacy that included the screening of excerpts from a PBS special featuring Israeli folk-rocker David Broza at Masada.  Some 1,000 showcases also took place, both at the New York Hilton, the conference’s host hotel, and at venues throughout Manhattan and several in other boroughs of NYC.  An exhibition hall was teeming with booking agents and presenters eager to speak with them.  And, of course, there was a whole lot of networking going on.

Among the showcasing artists were dozens of performers from the folk, roots and singer-songwriter communities in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Scotland, the northern realm (Norway, Sweden) and several Latin American countries. In addition to a large number of 15-30-minute sets at the Hilton, APAP attendees had opportunities to enjoy some tasty barbecue and Texas and Americana music performed by Gretchen Peters, Elana James, Bruce Robison, Guy Forsyth, and the South Austin Jug Band at Manhattan’s Hill Country BBQ; the wonderful genre-defying Texas outfit, Asylum Street Spankers. in a thoroughly enjoyable off-Broadway musical “What? And Give Up Showbiz” at the Barrow Street Theatre; An Acoustic Evening with Howard Jones, the British singer-songwriter best known for his electric rock anthems during the 1980s, at Florence Gould Hall; Folk icon Richie Havens at the Hiro Ballroom, and genre-bending singer-songwriter extraordinaire Susan Werner at the Rubin Museum.  Other off-site acoustic music showcases of note included the uber-talented Abigail Washburn with the Sparrow Quartet (featuring Bela Fleck and Casey Driessen) sharing a bill with the rockin’ Bacon Brothers at BB King’s; the funny Canadian trio known as The Arrogant Worms at the Warwick Hotel; Northern Realms Showcases featuring a number of talented world and traditional musicians from Norway, Sweden, Finland and elsewhere at Scandinavia House; bluesman Eric Bibb, The Lovell Sisters (a gifted, harmonic young Georgia-based acoustic/folk-bluegrass trio), the Grammy Award-winning The Klezmatics and talented Cape Verdean singer-songwriter and guitarist Tcheka at Connolly’s, and Newfoundland’s rollicking and melodic trad popsters Great Big Sea at the Bowery Ballroom.

[Editor’s Note: An article focusing on the Celtic music showcases that were a part of this year’s APAP Conference will be posted in the Celtic Corner section].

Besides enjoying performances and checking out new artists during daytime and evening showcases, conference delegates spoke with booking agents and others who purchased booths in three exhibit halls, inquired about their talent rosters and even did some booking on site.   Among the hundreds of exhibitors representing artists from various musical genres and other facets of the performing arts, were a number whose client rosters prominently feature acoustic artists.  These included Auburn Moon agency, Baylin Artists Management, Cadence Arts Network, Inc., Denn/Fly/McLarty Group (three separate Austin, Texas-based booking agents who teamed up for the conference), Eye For Talent, Fleming Artists, Folklore Productions, Golden Land Concerts & Connections, Herschel Freeman Agency Inc., International Music Network, Ixtlan Artists Group, Jane Mathers Management, Keith Case & Associates, Marilyn Gilbert Artists Management Inc., Mike Green & Associates, Monterey International, Monterey Peninsula Artists/Paradigm, Motema Music, Music Tree Artist Management, Nancy Carlin Associates, On Queue Performing Artists, Paquin Entertainment, Ritmo Artists, Skyline Music, SMG Artists, SRO Artists, Inc., The Agency Group, The Billions Corporation, The Road Company, The Roots Agency, The Rosebud Agency, VNI, William Morris Agency, LLC, and Wooden Ship Productions. 

Several individual artists also had booths, including guitarist Keith Knight, renowned fiddler Mark O’Connor, soulful singer and accordionist Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, and Alaska’s fiddling poet, Ken Waldman.