I-DOC Project 2008
(Interview, Document, Observe and Clarify)
National Performing Arts Convention
Denver, Colorado
June 10 - 14, 2008
The I-DOC Project is a collaborative initiative to explore the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, Colorado. Designed by a cross-disciplinary leadership group, and supported by a team of graduate students in arts administration, sociology, and cultural policy, the I-DOC project will be on-site and in action in Denver, interviewing, documenting, observing, and clarifying throughout the historic event.
What is the National Performing Arts Convention (NPAC)?
From June 10 to June 14, 2008, the National Performing Arts Convention brings together many of the country's major performing arts service organizations. From across the arts spectrum, the Convention will include several thousand arts managers, practitioners, cultural professionals, artists, media professionals, foundation officers, and government and private sector leaders. More details on the convention and its partners is available on-line here.
The 2008 convention in Denver is the second such convening, following on the first-ever National Performing Arts Convention in 2004. Details on the 2004 I-DOC project for that convention are available on-line.
What is the I-DOC project?
The Denver meeting will be historic, offering the performing arts field an opportunity to explore, discuss, and advance common issues and to develop an agenda for the future of the performing arts. To take full advantage of the opportunity, a cross-disciplinary team of scholars and graduate students (16 in all) will be working in advance, during, and after the convention to Interview, Document, Observe, and Clarify (I-DOC) the capacity of the sector to identify and advance collective goals.
The project was commissioned by the National Performing Arts Convention, and coordinated by the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, in partnership with the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Who is serving on the I-DOC team?
The I-DOC team is led by Elizabeth Long Lingo of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, and Andrew Taylor, Director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The leadership team also includes Caroline Lee, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at Lafayette College, with advisory support from Bill Ivey and Steven Tepper of the Curb Center and independent arts consultant Alberta Arthurs.
In addition, the project has enlisted graduate students from arts administration, arts management, sociology, and cultural policy programs and centers from across the U.S. to be the "eyes and ears" of the process. By involving these future scholars, policy makers, and practitioners as the principal researchers, interviewers, and documentarians, the I-DOC process also provides an intensive and immersive learning opportunity for a next generation of leaders.
What research methods will I-DOC 2008 employ?
The I-DOC team will utilize a multi-method research strategy that includes pre- and post-convention surveys, interviews, focus groups and observation:
- Surveys. We will survey participants online prior to arriving in Denver and 1-3 weeks after the convention. We will likely send links to a survey via email to a stratified random sample of approximately 600 individuals.
- Interviews. In our interviews, we will probe more deeply for the narratives underlying participants' survey responses. We will also ask leaders to reflect on their prior challenges and successes in advancing new ideas and practices, and their more specific experiences and conversations at the convention. Given the more intensive nature of this method, we expect to conduct approximately 50 interviews.
- Observations. We will attempt to identify the narratives at play in the field by observing how participants engage each other and ideas in public forums. In particular, we will pay close attention to moments when discussions become heated, when provocative ideas ripen into broader conversations, and when ideas and issues fail to take hold.
- Focus groups. Finally, we will hold focus groups with American Speaks theme team members to examine interactions among participants during this innovative process? What types of issues generated the most debate? How did participants' negotiate compromise?
