Conversation with Doug Sonntag
Posted By admin on November 9, 2010
| December 6, 2010 | ||
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
Dear Minnesota Dance Colleague,
We live in interesting, challenging, and changing times. As part of our efforts to cope with these times, we have met together for a number of extended conversations over the past several months. While we have many ideas about the nature of and solutions to our challenges, we have determined no concrete courses of action.
We have realized that individually and collectively we do not operate in a vacuum – nor does our Minnesota dance community.
For that reason, we have invited Douglas Sonntag, the NEA’s Director of Dance, to visit the Twin Cities on Monday, December 6, to provide our community with his knowledge and perspective about the state of dance throughout the U.S. and some of the efforts that others have been making to thrive and survive in these times.
We invite you to join us to hear from Doug and to have conversation with him. Please mark your calendar for Monday, December 6, 6:30pm-8pm, at the Ritz Theatre, 345 – 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis (two blocks north of the intersection of University and Broadway avenues). This event is free.
With best wishes,
Myron Johnson, Ritz Theater
Mike Romens, Ritz Theater
Michele Steinwald, Walker Art Center
Laurie Van Wieren, Southern Theater
Gary Peterson, Southern Theater
Mary McColl, Cowles Center for Dance
Douglas Sonntag serves as the Director of Dance for the National Endowment for the Arts, a position he has held since 1997, and was recently appointed the Performing Arts Division Team Leader. From 2004 to 2008, he was also the Director of the Office of National Initiatives where he supervised work on several signature Endowment programs including Shakespeare in American Communities, Save America’s Treasures, American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius, and the NEA Arts Journalism Institutes.
Previously, Doug served as program administrator and senior program specialist for the Arts Endowment’s Dance Program where he supervised grants to dance companies, dance presenters, dance media grants, and dance preservation projects. From 1981-86, he was general manager of the Repertory Dance Theatre in Salt Lake City. In addition, he was an associate instructor for the University of Utah’s Institute of Arts Administration and a staff specialist for the Department of Ballet. From 1980-81, Doug was the project director of the Utah Playwriting Conference, a joint project of the Sundance Institute and the Utah Arts Council.
Doug attended the American College in Paris and the University of Utah, graduating with a BFA in Ballet and an MFA in Theater with an emphasis in arts administration.
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