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Reflections on the 2018 TN Arts and Arts Education Conference

From Ann Brown, Suzanne Lynch and Nieya Murray, Conference Co-Chairs –

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2018 Tennessee Arts and Arts Education Conference. Artists, educators, arts leaders, arts administrators and arts advocates from across the state joined us at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville for two full days of learning and sharing around the theme of Design Thinking: A Pathway to Innovation in the Arts.

Design Thinking was the focus of two workshops held over the two days. The first day, we were introduced to the process by implementing the steps to solve a universal problem or address an opportunity. The second day we applied the process to areas of interest in our industries and communities. We hope that everyone who attended walked away with an understanding of how to use this process in their own work. We were so fortunate to have the expertise of Bridge Innovate to lead us in our design thinking workshops as well as other sessions. Thank you to Tamara Gatchell, Tabitha Kapic and Mary Kim for your leadership.

We were graciously hosted by the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts and we would like to give heartfelt thanks to Dr. Janice Crews, director of the center, for her hard work as well as the many sessions she prepared and presented for attendees. We would also like to thank Andy Keen, director of facilities. We so appreciate all of his help and the help of his staff for making the conference an enjoyable experience. Additionally, we would like to thank Austin Peay’s Interim Dean of the College of Arts & Letters, Barry Jones as well as all the other faculty who either opened their doors to us and/or presented sessions.

The conference would not have been possible without the support and partnerships with the Clarksville community and beyond. We would like to thank the following:

We hope you will agree that the plenary speakers were terrific. Dr. Natalie Nixon and Dan Goods both delivered amazing presentations. Be sure to follow them on social media. Dr. Nixon just wrote a great piece for Inc. based on her talk at the conference. Lastly, we would like to thank all of the presenters and artists who delivered incredible sessions and entertainment. We hope the experience was as rewarding for you as it was for our attendees.

Click here to see a slide-show of photos from the event.

We sent a survey via email to all who attended to get your feedback about the conference. We hope you will take just a few minutes to provide input for continuous improvement and future conference planning. See you next time!