BizArt 5th Annual Conference!

The Business of Being an Artist for Written, Visual, Performing and Media Artists!

BizArt 2-Day Conference

Friday and Saturday March, 26 & 27

8am – 5pm

In Brier Hall, at Edmonds Community College, Edmonds, WA

BizArt is designed to help artists develop the business acumen they need to pursue their career dreams. Artists in all disciplines, musicians, dancers, designers, photographers, actors, sculptors, painters - from students to professional artists - have much to gain in this artist friendly, business based, learning environment.

Registration Cost *Please register by Friday, March 19th

$99 Pre-Registration participants

$59 Currently Enrolled College Students

$129 Registrations at the Door

Fee includes two full days of workshops and presentation, along with a breakfast and lunch each day.

BizArt’s Schedule for Friday and Saturday has been posted to the webpage but is subject to change.  For more information please go to BizArtinfo.com.

Keynote Speaker  Skye Burn

Executive Director – Flow Project

“Allowing the Wisdom of Art to Change the World”

The Flow Project brings the wisdom of art to leaders by providing art-based principles and practices they can apply in creating businesses, organizations, and communities.

Rocker missing its occupant - Smoky Mountains

2010 has not been kind to the literary world – we’ve lost luminary JD Salinger, poet extraordinaire Lucille Clifton, and two of the most popular mystery writers to ever dance their pen across a page – Robert Parker and Dick Francis.

I’ve mourned as eulogies have riddled the TV and radio waves, printed pages, and cyberspace. Many of my friends have written about one, or more, of these writers in their blogs and I shared their grief, finding camaraderie with others suffering the same punch to the gut.

Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye changed the landscape of fiction forever. Holden Caulfield, narrator with a casual, irreverent, tone, takes his readers on an adolescent ride. Written in 1951, it remains a staple for most high school reading lists – one students almost inhale.

Lucille Clifton’s poetry – so accessible! – is to be savored. If you haven’t had an opportunity to enjoy her work, check out this video clip of her reading “won’t you celebrate with me.”

Dick Francis, with his jockey  background took us into the world of horses as never done before. I picked up my first Francis novel when my son was taking hunter/jump riding lessons. After that first one, I scoured the shelves for older publications and followed his publication history with enthusiasm.

But my reader’s heart is truly shaken at the passing of Robert Parker. Yes, most people know him as the creator of the Spenser novels (remember the TV series with Robert Urich?) – and my pure, lover-of-all-things- mystery heart relished these compact jewels. He created the quintessential “buddy” story – his best scenes, in my opinion, were the ones with the Boston PI Spenser and the street-smart, colorful Hawk (played by Avery Brooks in the TV series) – a favorite quote describing Hawk is, “He’s big, he’s black and he’s mean.” That leaves off smart.

As a writer, I strive to create dialogue as snappy and pace-flying as Parker. He is, I’m sorry, was, the master of flying dialogue.

But to sign off here without mentioning Parker’s other works is a disservice. Check out some of his meatier texts – like All Our Yesterdays. The man could write!

So it is with a sad heart at the passing of these great writers that I post today – but I am celebrating and rejoicing in their lives. In their art. In their words.

Today’s post is going to be very short – I am currently mired in thesis work. My deadline of March 1^st looms large in front of me; so much so, I almost skipped today’s post. But I realized there is something I wanted to write about…

Recently, I had a conversation with a writer friend – I asked if she was attending an author reading at a local bookstore. She said no, her favorite television show was on that night.

WHAT?!

With the publishing climate, changing, it seems, almost second by second and many of us uncertain as to the future of publication, can any of us afford not to support fellow writers? There are many ways to support – giving reviews and posting them, giving interviews and posting them are just a few ways.

One of the easiest is to attend an author reading. And author readings abound! Just a quick search showed me that in my area, the independent book store Third Place Books is having eleven author events before the end of the month. My public library is offering not only author readings, but writer workshops!

If any of us is fortunate enough to have a book published, we’re all going to want a full house when we have our readings and events.

Someone I greatly admire told me that this writing and publishing business is all one village. Let’s get out there and support one another so our village can thrive…