2012 Biennial Convention “Branching Out”
April 19-22, 2012, Washington, D.C.
Hotel Registration Information:
Please make your reservation
as soon as possible!
L’Enfant Plaza Hotel
480 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC 20024
202-484-1000;
www.lenfantplazahotel.com
Go to Reservations, then go to “Group Code” and put “NLA412”
Contact the 2012 Biennial Roommate Chair to coordinate hotel roommates: Suellen Zima, Laguna Beach Branch, CA
We look forward to seeing you there!
2012 Biennial Convention Committee.
Scroll down for a description by classification (Art, Letters or Music) of events, workshops, and concerts.
Click here for information about transportation to the hotel, airport, and around Washington, D.C.
Click here for Letters Events.
Click here for more biennial highlights, including tours and exhibits.
For a chronological schedule of events by time and day, please see our Biennial Schedule page.
Biennial Convention Letters Workshops
Letters Luncheon
Speaker–Claire Crawford Mason, Senior Producer, Author
12:00-1:00 pm Thursday, April 19, 2012
Renoir Room
Clare Crawford-Mason collaborated with Dr. W. Edwards Deming to produce the authoritative rendering of his management philosophy in videocassette format. She is co-author of two best-selling books about the developing global market and the life and ideas of Dr. Deming: Quality Or Else: The Revolution in World Business, Times Books, 1994; and Thinking About Quality: Joy, Meaning, and Profit in the Workplace, Houghton Mifflin, 1991. Both are still in print. Most recently she co-authored The Nun and the Bureaucrat…How They Found an Unlikely Cure for America’s Sick Hospitals. It is a companion to Good News: How Hospitals Heal Themselves, 2006 for PBS.
A former NBC senior producer, Ms. Crawford-Mason is most noted as the producer of If Japan Can Why Can’t We? the NBC white paper, which introduced Dr. Deming and his ideas to the West, set off the quality revolution and brought about the market for management training videocassettes. She produced Quality…Or Else! a PBS documentary series on problems of globalization and American ingenuity in the workplace, school, and government. (The series is used in junior college and college classes to explain the new workplace and world economic order.) She was a founding editor and for nine years Washington Bureau Chief of People Magazine. She produced the first television documentaries and national magazine reports on spouse abuse, child sexual abuse, and abortion as a political issue. (Source: www.managementwisdom.com)
Healing and the Word
Speaker – Certified Health Coach Trish Wootten
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM, Saturday, April 21, 2012
Nourish your creative state, and enhance your inner muse. Healing and the Word with Trish Wootten, CHHC, delves into our psyche and asks the potent question – what sparks our creative fire, and how can we best cultivate the courage needed to enable our light to shine? Living with passion takes courage, and the need to bolster and strengthen within becomes not simply a responsibility, but an obligation. Come and discuss how our world’s earliest means of communications have impacted how the word is used today. Can we really eradicate non-language – the first language system our world knew? Participate with attendees and cultivate ways of nourishing the artistic journey for a creative expression that is more sustainable. Come and explore your own truth, and find healing in words…and many other forms of language.
Panel on Publishing and New Media
The Very Word is Change
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM, Saturday, April 21, 2012
Panel Chair: Dr. Sue Walker, Stokes Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at the University of South Alabama, Mobile, Ala, has published poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama. She has been the publisher of Negative Capability Press since 1981.
Treanor Baring, 1st Vice President and Web Content Editor, will speak on the role social networking plays in promoting and marketing member books, art and music. She will give specific instructions on creating social media accounts, specifically Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, their uses and advantages, and how the NLAPW uses social media at the national level and how branches can benefit from the internet.
Other Panelists information forthcoming.
Topics to be Covered:
Book Publishing:
Small Presses vs. large Publishers, e-books, print-on-demand
A Bird in Hand: The Chapbook en route to the big deal.
What to Expect From Your Publisher
The Book Contract
Book Promotion, marketing, and Distribution
Literary Agents
What can a Literary Agent Do For You?
Finding the Right Agent
Fee-Charging Agents
The Media
Contexts and Technotexts
How the contemporary arts interact with technology
Biennial Convention Music Workshops and Concerts
Making Music
April 20th, Friday at 8:00 PM
At least 10 composers have signed up to perform
their original work in a concert at the L’Enfant
Plaza Hotel, Free and open to the public
April 21st, Saturday at 10:00 AM
Candace Long, music director and producer will host
“Branching Out”, a panel discussion of the gulfs and rifts between classical composing and contemporary music in this age of technology and how they can come together. Her panel will include Elizabeth Lauer, classical composer, Nancy Deussen, contemporary and popular composer, Barbara Thompson, music teacher and Peter Fraize, classical/jazz saxophonist and improv composer.
April 21st, Saturday at 11:00 AM
Elizabeth Lauer, a long-time member of the NLAPW, has produced musical theatre recordings, composed an opera, a ballet and a large work for solo piano, string ensemble and timpani. She will discuss the progression and revisions necessary to develop an award winning composition. At the end of her workshop and the beginning of the Music Luncheon she will perform her work, “Carousel”, with Margaret Mills, a wonderful
piano performer. Click here to see a profile of Ms. Lauer on our Music Gallery page.
April 21st, Music Luncheon
A WORLD OF WOMEN
(We Shall Overcome)
By Bette Miller, Composer/Pianist
By Gail Dimitroff, Editor/Advisor
With poetry by Lois Howard and published Southern California poets. Accompanied by Patricia Daly-Lipe.
A WORLD OF WOMEN is the story of women in developing countries, told in a unique way, through a blend of newly composed piano music (based on We Shall Overcome), poetry (based on the events of 9-11), and the New York Times publication, “Saving the World’s Women” (2009). It tells how, from the ashes of nine-eleven there ascended an expanded view of both the needs and achievements of women outside the United States. International peacemakers are highlighted. This presentation is 25 minutes long, plus a short introduction. It concludes on a note of hope and optimism.
Dr. Miller is a concert pianist (retired) and she has a PhD in Music from Boston University. She has recently presented 2 original Arts in Concert programs with sister member, Anne Hoiberg, highlighting art, piano and poetry.
Biennial Convention Art Workshops
2012 Biennial Arts Luncheon
Cheryl McClenney-Brooker, Philadelphia Museum of Art ~ Director of External Affairs
“From Barriers to Thresholds: Lessons of a Cultural Worker”
Friday, April 20, 2012 12:00pm
With 40 years in the cultural field and museum profession, Mrs. McClenney-Brooker brings a lot of knowledge and experience to the table. She taught in the public school system in New York before serving as Curatorial Coordinator for the Guggenheim Museum from 1970-74.
From 78-83, she served as Director of Humanities Projects in Museums and Historical Organizations at the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal funding agency in Washington, D.C.
She has been at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for 28 years where she is Director of External Affairs. Her noteworthy accomplishments are many and the list of awards and recognitions is long. She has devoted her life to furthering awareness of the arts in her community, literally taking it to the streets, and all while maintaining a home for her husband, artist and professor Moe Brooker, and their children in Philadelphia.
She will speak to our art members and all other interested attendees of the Arts Luncheon on Friday, April 20, 2012 on Branching Out ~ outreach and community engagement, a topic that is both timely and pertinent for NLAPW as we move forward with our own development of these programs both nationally and at the local level.
Branching out with Fabric Collage Workshop
Lauren Kingsland
April 21, 2012 2-4pm
Create your own souvenir of the NLAPW convention in DC in this hands-on workshop with fiber artist Lauren Kingsland. The Fabric Postcard** is a popular fiber art format for capturing an quick impression of a place. We’ll use fabric and stitching/ fusing to put our own images and words onto our 4×6” creations.
Through a drop-in format, Lauren will repeat the basic instructions for the project every half hour (2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 3:30). Come when you wish, stay and work as long as you want. Lucious materials, threads, and embellishments and a variety of tools will be available for your use. There is not a set kit fee, but a donation toward the cost of materials is requested.
** Note: Unlike their paper counterparts, these are not actually for mailing unless protected by an envelope.
Lauren Kingsland has been making quilts professionally since 1988. Her work is in public and private collections in the USA and internationally. Visitors to her studio in the historic Arts Barn in Gaithersburg, MD can learn first-hand how quilts are made today by watching Lauren and her staff create commission pieces for clients.
Her popular book, “The Extraordinary T-shirt Quilt – A Scrapbook You Can Sleep Under”, is a clear, practical guide to creating this contemporary style of memory quilt.
Lauren is a visiting artist with the Arts and Humanities program of Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington , D.C. She designs and leads fiberart projects with groups of hospital staff and patients foster community and relieve stress and provide outlets for creative expression.
Artist statement: The quilt is like a well-lived life. Every day a choice is made to use whatever is at hand to create something of beauty. We say, “putting the pieces together” as a way of understanding how things are and how they can be, whether making a quilt or in another aspect of life.
More Programs, Tours and Exhibits
Tour at the Library of Congress Office of Copyright
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM, Thursday, April 19, 2012
This provides our membership an opportunity to discuss the legalese of copyrights and related topics with appointed legal representatives while experiencing the unique architecture at our National Library of Congress. Poetry readings by prominent authors, including Poet Laureates. Please arrive early to provide time to go through security.
Monument’s Cruise and Talk Shop Program
6:30 PM to 7:15 PM, Friday, April 20, 2012
Cruise will be offered by the Potomac Riverboat Company. This program features specialists speaking informally about their trade. Speakers: Kinnard Wright, Professional Fundraiser and Development Specialist, and Austin Camacho, Social Media and Public Affairs Specialist.
Contact Trish Wootten about how the program’s fishbowl of services seeks to bring our membership’s talents to the community.
Silent Auction
This biennial convention fundraiser seeks to highlight our membership, and introduce both, potential Pen Women and other arts groups, to our fine organization. Send all questions to: Silent Auction Co-Chair Judy Woods-Knight, Tacoma (WA) Branch.Email Silent Auction Chair.
Boutique
10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Friday, April 20 – Saturday April 21, 2012
This League tradition seeks to celebrate the artistry of our membership and to provide a retail forum for display and advertising. We are seeking to make this event unique and special. Contact: Cathy Rayburn, Cape Canaveral Branch.
Sunday Brunch
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Make plans to debrief, continue networking and getting to know sister Pen Women after the close of the Biennial on Sunday, April 22. Trish Wootten, Biennial Chair, is organizing an informal get together for both those leaving early, and those staying on at the fabulous Cantina Marina on the waterfront in S.W. D.C. a stone’s throw from L’Enfant Plaza. Contact Trish Wootten for more details.
Juried Art Show
Awards Presentation, 2:30 PM, Friday, April 20, 2012
Juried and judged works of NLAPW Art members, women artists from across the United States, will be on exhibit at the Charles Sumner School, 1201 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036, April 20 – June 1, 2012.
News from the Biennial Committee
–10% Discount for NLAPW attendees dining in the hotel’s restaurants during the life of the conference.
–Select restaurants in the hotel’s promenade are offering discounts and other promotions to our members. Five Guys Burgers offering a restaurant gift card for the live silent auction.
–Please scroll down for detailed public transportation information on how to get to the Biennial hotel!
Raffle Grand-Prize:
Christina Laurie, 3rd National Vice President, has solicited a grand prize of a Weekend Stay in Cape Cod for our 2012 Raffle. Thank you, Christina, for your time and efforts in making this happen.
Katie Witek, Member at Large and 2nd National Vice President, is stepping up to serve as the 2012 Biennial Treasurer. She also aims to help Sandy Huff out at the Registration Table. Thank you, Katie, for bringing your expertise and experience to this convention.
Charlene Hampton-Holloway, Member at Large / DC Branch Member, will be stepping up to assist Sandy Huff at the Registration Table. Notably, Charlene will be speaking to the DC Branch in February of next year. Thank you, Charlene, for your enthusiasm and dedication to our organization.
Sandy Huff from Clearwater, FL, joins us as the 2012 Biennial Registration Chair. She comes to us with experience from the NLAPW Little Rock Biennial, and offers a wealth of knowledge, input and insight.
Julia Hayes comes to us from the Pioneer Branch in CT, and is stepping up to serve as the Printing Chair for this 2012 Biennial Convention. In addition, we gladly pay tribute to Argian Press (www.argianpress.net), owned by David Hayes, for being willing to provide our biennial program with design and layout expertise.
Judy Woods-Knight from the Tacoma, WA Branch aims to provide delightful centerpiece arrangements for the Installation Dinner. True to her energetic nature, she is also going to step up and serve as the Silent Auction Co-Chair for the NLAPW 2012 Biennial Silent Auction. We are also pleased to welcome two other voices from the Tacoma, WA Branch. Gail Ferguson and Marjorie Mankin will serve alongside Judy as 2012 NLAPW Biennial Silent Auction Co-Chairs. Notably, Gail is also currently serving on the National Outreach Committee. Please send all communications to Judy Woods-Knight.
Judy Bingman from the Santa Clara (CA) Branch shall serve as the 2012 Biennial Photographer. Visit her blog, and appreciate the quality of her fine photographic expertise: http://judybingmanphotography.blogspot.com
Public Transit Information
Washington, DC Metropolitan Region
For the Budget-Minded Traveler
From Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport:
• The Washington, DC, Metrorail System sits directly outside of Reagan National Airport. Be careful and board the yellow line train marked Fort Totten.
• Take the Fort Totten train to the L’Enfant Plaza stop.
Side note: If you choose a seat on the left side of the train facing forward, you will have an opportunity to appreciate a lovely view of our national monuments on the way. Have your cameras ready.
• At L’Enfant Plaza, exit the trains and follow the signs along the corridor to L’Enfant Plaza. This will lead you to the elevators, which will take you upstairs into the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel.
From Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI):
• Consult the Metrorail Office in Washington, DC, for an updated B30 bus schedule. This bus route leaves from BWI regularly for a $6.00 charge. The ride lasts about 35 minutes.
• Take the B30 metrobus to Greenbelt metro station.
• Take the green line Metrorail train marked Branch Avenue to L’Enfant Plaza.
• At L’Enfant Plaza, exit the trains and follow the signs along the corridor to L’Enfant Plaza. (Look for the exit featuring the astronaut photo with the light background.) This will lead you to the elevators, which will take you upstairs into the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel.
• Here’s a link to a schedule on the 2011 website:
• http://www.wmata.com/bus/timetables/md/b30.pdf.
From Dulles International Airport:
• Take the 5A metrobus to the L’Enfant Plaza metrorail. This ride lasts about 45 minutes. The charge is $6.00 for a one-way trip.
• Here’s a link to the 2011 5A bus schedule:
• http://www.wmata.com/bus/timetables/dc/05a.pdf.
• Once you arrive at L’Enfant Plaza, seek out the hotel. Understand that the hotel sits directly on top of the L’Enfant Plaza metro station.
The hotel’s address is 480 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC 20024.
Hotel phone: 202-484-1000
• The Metrorail Website is: www.metroopensdoors.com; phone: 202-637-7000.
Other Transit Options
From Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI):
• Take the MARC (Maryland Area Regional Commuter) train from BWI to Union Station in Washington, DC.
• This fare runs about $14.00 one-way.
• An advantage of this travel method: travelers can bring their own food on the train and have a snack during the ride.
• Peruse their website for more details: http://mta.maryland.gov/services/marc/;
• 866-RIDE-MTA (phone).
• Options for those needing special accommodation:
• http://mta.maryland.gov/resources/contactmta/
• When you arrive at Union Station, simply exit the MARC platform and find the Metrorail platform.
• Take the Metrorail red line train marked Grosvenor or Shady Grove.
• When you arrive at the Gallery Place metro – only two stops away, exit the train.
• Transfer to the yellow line train marked Huntington.
• Take the yellow line train marked Huntington to the L’Enfant Plaza metro.
**Please note: MARC is a commuter train and only runs during the weekday.
OR
• Take the Amtrak Train from BWI to Union Station in Washington, DC
• This fare runs about $14.00 – $26.00 one-way. Peruse the website for info: www.amtrak.com. This ride lasts about 35 minutes.
• Most of you will know that food can be purchased and consumed on the train.
• Arrive at Union Station and exit the Amtrak platform.
• Go to the Metrorail Platform and take the red line train marked Grosvenor or Shady Grove.
• When you arrive at the Gallery Place metro – only two stops away, exit the train.
• Transfer to the yellow line train marked Huntington.
• Take the yellow line train marked Huntington to the L’Enfant Plaza metro – two stops away.
*I’ will make special arrangements for a 10% Conference Discount, assuming I receive adequate feedback from NLAPW membership. Please provide this number (TBD) when making a reservation. The earlier you make a reservation, the lower your fare will be. Allow at least 14 days prior to departure for making your reservation.
From Dulles International Airport:
The Washington Flyer provides taxi service from Dulles to the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel for about $50.00 one-way. Website: http://www.washfly.com/Taxi_rate.htm.
A word about riding the Metrorail:
Buy a SmartTrip Card. In the long-run, it will save you money and you get a discounted fare by using SmartTrip each time you use the area’s transit systems.
Not Quite a DC Local?
Metro 7-day pass:
(These fares are subject to increase by next spring.)
Subway only: $32.35 for 7 days of subway rides.
One-day pass: $9.00
The website has more details:
http://www.wmata.com/fares/purchase/passes.cfm
For those driving in from nearby western states – ie, WV, OH, KY, southwestern VA, etc:
VRE – Virginia Railway Express
City of Manassas
Treasurer’s Office
9027 Center Street
Room 103
Manassas, VA 20110
703-257-8242
will issue free temporary permit -
white permit for VRE parking lot
(not a guarantee you will get a spot!)
This is a cheaper option to driving into DC!
For those driving up from nearby southern states – ie, NC, SC, TN, etc.
VRE – Virginia Railway Express
City of Fredericksburg
Important Instructions for Overnight Parking:
http://www.vre.org/service/stations/fbgparking.htm
Note: some lots are not designated for overnight parking!
Great link on savings via VRE and affiliated regional transit systems:
http://www.vre.org/service/connections.htm; phone: 703-684-1001; gotrains@vre.org.
