GREENWOOD VILLAGE – There was some doubt as to what this year’s NFHS Performing Arts Conference would look like amidst an ongoing pandemic, but the Colorado-hosted event turned out to be quite impressive.
 
At the Sheraton Tech Center from Monday through Wednesday, the three-day feast of professional development sessions for performing arts administrators, coaches and the like was attended by more people than ever before. James Weaver, Director of Performing Arts and Sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations, was delighted with the turnout.

“What’s great is that it’s the biggest one we’ve had in terms of attendance,” Weaver said. “We were worried about that because of the pandemic, but I think people are really thirsty for professional development in the state associations.”
 
Most of the attendants at this year’s meeting are state association administrators.
 
Keynote speaker Ron Minatrea spoke about “filling your cup” as a metaphor for recharging and fostering relationships that assist in one’s self-care and professional effectiveness. Other presentations included working with state government agencies, aerosol research and what it means for the future of performing arts, increasing engagement from rural/inner city communities, protecting students and judges in a virtual environment, and many others.
 
Colorado High School Activities Association assistant commissioners Rashaan Davis and Bethany Brookens both presented on recruitment of adjudicators and the current state of music adjudicators in schools.
 
Permeating the many and wide-ranging conversations being had at this week’s three-day clinic, the focus remained on how to develop relationships. That could be with an association’s membership or state agencies that may not be state activities associations, as well as building relationships with partners in order to help accomplish an association’s goals in terms of providing opportunities for students.
 
“That’s really important because the pandemic definitely did one thing, and that was to destroy a lot of relationships,” Weaver said. “We’re focusing on rebuilding those and creating new ones. We’re really hoping to re-engage the membership with networking and really provide tools for them to go back with to their home states. Things like knowing what to do in this next pandemic that we’re still in and how to access all the states across the board so if someone has an issue in a speech tournament, they know that this other state is doing something similar so they can connect and hammer that stuff out.
 
“And we really want to let them know that the NFHS is here as a resource because that’s really our big role in this.”