Since 2005, the Bolz Center for Arts Administration has been working in partnership with the Association of Performing Arts Presenters to connect our students and performing arts professionals to emerging research relevant to the field. The initiative honors and celebrates the life and work of former Arts Presenters president and arts management pioneer Bill Dawson.

Each year, a team of Bolz Center students is commissioned through the William Dawson Research Internship Fund to define and explore an emerging issue in performing arts management, and present their findings at the Arts Presenters National Conference in New York each January.

Past topics have included ''How We Make Meaning,'' an exploration of emerging insights in consumer behavior, brain science, audience research, and sociology, and ''Professional Presenters and the Amateur Arts,'' defining the promise and challenge of engaging non-professionals in the life and work of professional presenting organizations.

Our topic for the 2008 annual conference is professional learning in the performing arts -- where it happens, how it happens, and how it might be enhanced and advanced in our increasingly dynamic industry.

Full details on the Dawson Research Initiative are available on the project home page.

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