Coffee Klatch

“Coffee Klatch" (/ˈkaf-fee-klach/) offers an opportunity to engage in an intimate and informal discussion with up to 10 other delegates. Discussion topics were submitted by delegates, and conversations will be all delegate-led! What’s on your mind?

  Thursday, January 16, 2025

  Tea and coffee provided!

The sign-up for Coffee Klatch is now closed. If you have not signed up, you may attend the session to check for availability. The session sign-up is for the CONGRESS DELEGATES ONLY. Please register for the NY25 Congress before you sign-up!

Coffee Klatch Topic Listing

Coffee Klatch 1 | Curation and Freedom of Expression (Fully booked)
In our current, highly charged social reality, many of us have experienced some pushback or criticism from our communities with respect to certain artists or elements of our work. How do we navigate these hot button and often polarizing issues in our programming?
Host: Johann Zietsman (Adrienne Arsht Center, United States)

Coffee Klatch 2 | Sustaining Culture During Conflict (Fully booked)
Does the artistic community have the power and passion to broker change in attitudes through a deeper understanding of disparate views? What role does our community play in engendering peace?
Host: Jacqueline Z. Davis (Consultant, United States)

Coffee Klatch 3 | Emerging Networks in the Global South (Fully booked)
Historically the global south and north have connected in predominantly asymmetrical relationships. How are emerging networks challenging and changing cultural exchange in search of long-term impact?
Host: Denisse Flores Somarriba (Performing Arts Coordinator / Cultura UDG, Mexico)

Coffee Klatch 4 | Understanding the Fallout from COVID
A structured sharing of people's personal and organizational change legacies from COVID, both good and bad, as well as banal and significant.
Host: Anthony Sargent (Consultant, United Kingdom)

Coffee Klatch 5 | The Landscape of Immersive Arts (Fully booked)
Explore our collective experiences in touring, producing, and presenting immersive content in communities across the globe. We'll delve into audience reception, content formats, and unique learnings of the trends in immersive art globally.
Host: Jon Faris (AMS Planning & Research, United States)

Coffee Klatch 6 | Artists at Risk
Artists are often in the nexus, either by intention or circumstance. The roles artists play in regions of conflict or protest are critical but they themselves are often at great risk. How do we weigh the risk against the gain? Is there a way that we can reduce the real danger faced?
Host: Hazem Header (Breaking Walls Festival, Egypt)

Coffee Klatch 7 | Labelling Queerness
The terms “queer art” or “queer artist” may be used to refer to the art work or the people who make it, but is it really a generic concept that does not necessarily reflect the work itself? Many “queer” artists create work outside of the commodified “queer” category. How do we keep queering the queer whilst remaining apart from labels? Share your experience.
Host: Israel Aloni (ilDance, Sweden)

Coffee Klatch 8 | Forming a Global Producing Network (Fully booked)
A discussion led by members of CIPA (Creative & Independent Producers Alliance) will explore the significance and practicalities of producing networks. This far-reaching conversation will build on discussions held at the ISPA’s New York 2023 & 2024 Congress as we work to form a truly global producing network.
Host: Tommy Kriegsmann (Arktype, United States)

Coffee Klatch 9 | Disability Leadership: The Real Deal
A chance to look at all sides of disabled leadership in the arts, from the innovatively brilliant to the highly complex and thorny.
Host: Jonathan Harper (Paraorchestra, United Kingdom)

Coffee Klatch 10 | AI: The Research (and everything else) Assistant (Fully booked)
While there is some apprehension about the role AI may be playing in the arts, there are also opportunities. Can we use AI to seek out rarely performed works or explore tour routing options or even identify combinations of complementary performances or artists to create a program? Let’s explore how we can capitalize on AI as a new tool for the arts.
Host: Ted Ohl (Schuler Shook, United States)

Coffee Klatch 11 | Developing and Producing Non-traditional Work and Productions in Alternative Spaces (Fully booked)
Be in dialogue with the Creative & Independent Producers Alliance (CIPA) staff and members to share and learn from experiences developing, producing, and presenting new non-traditional work and work in alternative or non-proscenium spaces. Explore how this programming can expand and diversify audiences, uplift narratives, attract people who don't typically attend performing arts events, and build a sustainable ecosystem for the arts in the U.S. and globally.
Host: Courtney Ozaki (CIPA, United States)

Coffee Klatch 12 | The Customer Experience (Fully booked)
Patrons, stakeholders, ticket buyers...whatever the noun, they are ultimately arts organizations’ customers. How much time do we really spend cultivating their experience with us? Explore and discuss ways that we can create the best customer experience strategy. Gain insightful ideas and discuss best practices from around the globe.
Host: Courtenay Casey (Advisory Board for the Arts, United States)

Coffee Klatch 13 | Go Green! (Fully booked)
Arts and cultural organizations can play a leading role towards affecting change and creating awareness. In this discussion we hope to explore how the cultural sector can make efforts to be and act more sustainably.
Host: Natália Oszkó-Jakab (Valley of Arts, Hungary)

Additional Coffee Klatch Tables | Open Discussion
Take this opportunity to raise an issue or opportunity that you’ve been thinking about. A non-facilitated opportunity and open to all!