Dane County Arts & Cultural Affairs (Dane Arts) Announces the Dane Arts Buy Local Business of Art Conference II March 30 - April 1

February 14, 2023
Mark J. Fraire, (608) 266-5915
County Executive, County Executive

In partnership with Arts + Literature Laboratory, Dane Arts is again pleased to announce the Dane Arts Buy Local 2023 Business of Arts Conference II taking place March 30 through April 1.

Thursday, March 30 will feature an interactive grant-writing workshop with Madison Community Foundation’s Vice President of Community Impact Tom Linfield. The workshop will take place from 9am to 12pm. Friday, March 31 starts with an opening welcome from County Executive Joe Parisi, followed by CEO/President of Arts Midwest Torrie Allen. The lunchtime keynote is Amy Gilman, Director of the Chazen Museum of Art.

“Dane County has a unique community or artists who contribute to our local economy, and we are excited to celebrate and support their careers with these upcoming workshops,” said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi.

Workshops include accounting/QuickBooks training, legal issues around intellectual property/copyright, setting up shop, social media, telling your story, workplace ergonomics, public speaking, and more. There will be plenty of time for networking and an opportunity to get a professional headshot. An evening reception with music and heavy appetizers will immediately follow the Friday workshops.

The workshops are intended for independent working artists and arts administrators across disciplines. The “Early Adapter Special” cost for the full conference is $100 until March 3. Then the price increases to $125. The day-of cost is $150. Registration is limited. Five scholarships are available in return for assisting at the conference.

Registration is now open at www.dablmarket.com. All workshops will be held at Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston, Suite 100 in Madison, WI. For more information on how to sponsor the event or to ask questions, please contact Mark J. Fraire at fraire@countyofdane.com. Biographies for the speakers can be found below.

 

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Speaker Biographies

Joe Parisi

Dane County Executive 

Joe Parisi has called Dane County home his entire life. He sought out public service as a way to give back to a community that has given so much to him. Joe was first elected as County Executive, the chief elected leader of Dane County, in 2011 after 6 years in the State Assembly and 8 years as Dane County Clerk. Joe’s priority is to ensure that everyone in our community has access to the opportunity to succeed. He believes investing in people pays big dividends. Joe knows this can work because he experienced it.

Now, Joe believes it is his turn to give back to ensure that our children’s generation has access to the same opportunities that were available to him. Joe and his wife, Erin Thornley Parisi, raised their two daughters on Madison’s east side. With a population of more than 500,000 and an annual county budget of $600 million, Dane is Wisconsin’s second largest county. Dane County has the highest private sector job and population growth in Wisconsin.

 

Torrie Allen

President & CEO, Arts Midwest

Torrie Allen (he/him) stepped into the role of President and CEO at Arts Midwest in 2019. Prior to this, he presided over all philanthropic activity at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 2016 to 2019 and served as the chief officer of development and marketing at Alaska Public Media from 2012 to 2016. He also led the Anchorage Opera as the executive and artistic director from 2006 to 2012, after directing the National Patrons Council at Americans for the Arts.

At Arts Midwest, Torrie leads the organization in strategic planning, fundraising, and programming, working in collaboration with staff, local, regional, and national partners, Arts Midwest’s Board of Directors, funders, and constituents. In 2022, Torrie was named co-chair of the United States Regional Arts Organization Collective.

He has appeared as a keynote speaker for international, national, and regional conferences, and a guest lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, Yale, the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota, and other schools. Torrie has served as a grants panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wallace Foundation. He currently serves on the boards of National Arts Strategies, Americans for the Arts, NIV Foundation, and on the Advisory Council for the University of Minnesota Master of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Leadership Program.

He has provided commissioned and volunteer service for the National Endowment for the Arts, Americans for the Arts, World Affairs Council, University of Alaska Advisory Board, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Community Commander Program, Arts & Business Council of New York, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Alaska State Council on the Arts. He is a Fellow of the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program through Harvard Business School, the University of Michigan, and the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Amy Gilman 

Director, Chazen Museum of Art

Dr. Amy Gilman joined the Chazen in September 2017. As director of the Chazen, Dr. Gilman oversees all administrative, financial, and curatorial duties for the museum, and has spent her first few years focusing on capacity-building and access. Since Dr. Gilman’s arrival at the Chazen, the staff has grown by 30 percent, unpaid internships have been replaced with paid positions for students, and the museum has revamped its visitor services model and lobby space to be more welcoming to visitors. Dr. Gilman is a progressive leader in the field, and an advocate for the role of the university art museum on campus and in the community.

Prior to the Chazen, Dr. Gilman spent twelve years at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio. During this time, she served as the associate curator of modern and contemporary art, the assistant director for collections and exhibitions and curator of modern and contemporary art, associate director, and deputy director. Dr. Gilman oversaw the development of an innovative artist-in-residency program, brought diverse and thought-provoking acquisitions and programming to the museum, and led a year-long process of developing a master plan for the museum’s 40-acre campus—the first comprehensive plan in the museum’s over 100-year history.

Dr. Gilman is an alumna of the Getty Leadership Institute. She earned a doctorate in art history at Case Western Reserve University, a Master of Fine Arts in photography from Columbia College, and a bachelor’s in performance studies from Northwestern University. 

In August 2022, President Joe Biden named Dr. Gilman to the National Museum and Libraries Board.

 

George Tzougros

Executive Director, Wisconsin Arts Board

George Tzougros is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Arts Board, the state agency that nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic development, and serves as a resource for people of every culture and heritage. Tzougros works with the creative industries, Wisconsin Arts Board members and staff, the Governor, and state legislature to create funding programs and services to meet the needs of the people of Wisconsin. Tzougros is a member of the Governor’s Council on Tourism and the Cultural Coalition of Wisconsin. He is also the chair of the National Creativity Network; a co-founder of the Wisconsin Science Festival; a board member of Arts Midwest and the Robert E. Gard Wisconsin Idea Foundation; and past president of both Wisconsin/Chiba Incorporated and Film Wisconsin.

He was the 2019 recipient of the Michael Newton Award from Americans for the Arts. 

Tzougros has served as Executive Director of the Arts Board since 1996. Prior to that date, he served four years as the Arts Board’s Assistant Director and was responsible for arts education, community arts development, and presenting and touring.

 

Roderick Ritcherson

President, The Ritcherson Companies | Chair, Dane Arts Commission

The Ritcherson Companies is an “uncommon communications”® company. Roderick Ritcherson is the President and has over 40 years of experience in providing corporate services and over 20 years of experience providing services to non-profits.

Before forming The Ritcherson Companies in 1993, Ritcherson held positions in the creative department of Stephan and Brady, Inc. advertising agency; Home Savings Bank, as vice president and director of marketing; Development Services, Inc., a national franchising company, as vice president, marketing, and WPLH Holdings/Wisconsin Power and Light (now Alliant Energy), a $3 billion global corporation, as manager of corporate communications. Ritcherson also held the position of Special Assistant to the President and Director of Corporate Relations with UMOS, Inc.

Ritcherson has served on the boards of the following non-profits: Madison Development Corporation (past chairman of the board), Dane County Development Corporation, Friends of WHA-TV public television (past vice president), American Advertising Federation-Madison (past president), the Henry Vilas Zoological Society, The African American Ethnic Academy, and the Wisconsin Community Action Program (WISCAP).  Ritcherson currently serves as chair of the Dane County Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission (Dane Arts).