Closing Plenary and Reporting Out
Sunday, March 29, 1998, 11:00 - 12:00 p.m.

OBSERVERS: James Bower, Head of Institutional Relations for the Getty Information Institute; Carol Kinne, interdisciplinary artist and Colgate University faculty member; Susie Nam, Deputy Editor of the New York Times on America Online; and Charlie Baisney Rivera, photographer and executive director of En Foco. Moderated by Debby Silverfine.

Debby Silverfine briefly welcomed conference attendees to the final session of the Governor's Conference on Arts & Technology before turning over the floor to the three Conference observers.

Artist, Colgate University faculty member, and Sculpture Space board member Carol Kinne spoke first. Her observations touched on issues of access to technology for artists and successful examples of business/government partnerships, while advising vigilance against excesses of corporate power or any amelioration of first amendment rights. She also stressed the importance of citizen action and voting. "If we give over that power," she asked, "how long will it be before there is a corporate logo on your work or mine? a corporate logo on your work or mine?" [For full report of Kinne's remarks]

James M. Bower, Head of Institutional Relations at the Getty Information Institute in Los Angeles, spoke next. He offered five definitions of 'circuits' as metaphors for the activities of the conference and the context in which it was convened, and as jumping-off places for thinking about the issues raised over the weekend. He advised attendees to "Put yourself in the path of the dialogue that's already underway every day" on the arts and technology. He also suggested that NYSCA avoid rushing to repeat the success of circuits@nys for a few years, but to consider putting together a "road show" on arts and technology that could give state arts organizations a real taste of the potential of technology to transform the arts. [For full report of Bower's remarks]

The last observer to report was Charlie Rivera, the executive director of En Foco. He touched upon networking and ways in which we all fit into a common effort while acting independently as artist, but stressed the necessity for sharing the enormous potential of technologies. He reminded attendees that excitement about new tools must be translated into access for traditionally underserved individuals and communities. "Obviously, we are at a threshold," he said. "But how does it reach us? Do we get a sense that we're not a part of it?"

Nicki Clarke, Executive Director of NYSCA, reported on the Town Meetings, held on Saturday the 28th at 1:30 p.m. She focused on eight points of direction and areas of concern that emerged as recurrent themes from the four Town Meetings:

• Issues of barriers and opportunities, and NYSCA's role in helping technology planning move ahead, on both a community and an institutional level;
• Issues of training and education, with both a regional and a disciplinary focus, and how NYSCA's pre-conference training workshops were helpful in this regard;
• Issues in allocating funds for art-making, including investment in places for artists to work and tools for them to work with;
• NYSCA's role as information broker in terms of resources and how to locate them;
• NYSCA's role in fostering and strengthening links to the private sector, in which corporations are driving the technologies forward, and their role in making the case for businesses helping artists and arts organizations;
• NYSCA's role as the convener of such events as this one, regionally, and at a cross-disciplinary level. A subset of this issue is ensuring that the NYSCA leadership is at the table with larger policy issues both at the state and federal levels;
• NYSCA's need to get its own "technology house" in order. Less than two years ago, NYSCA did not have a local network or email; Clarke reaffirmed NYSCA's commitment to ongoing work in this regard;
• In terms of the potential $500,000 budget surplus, different meetings highlighted different possible uses, without prioritizing.