Getting in on the Ground Floor

I am in my hometown (Pittsburgh PA) attending Craft Congress, a conference of indie arts and crafts events organizers, distro activists, and group organizers. There is this great article about it in the Pittsburgh paper. A lot of really great conversations and information are coming out of the conference: ideas about sponsorship, marketing, current and future practices. The attendees are from all over and we are spending a lot of time comparing things that we do differently and things that we do the same. These comparisons are really valuable although we are finding that there's lots and lots and lots of things that simply don't overlap between events from various regions and subcultures. This is the second industry conference I've ever been to and it's drastically different - only fifty attendees, lots and lots of group discussion. I attended a technical theatre conference when i was in college, very much as a student. Now I feel like a bit of a leader; I've been sitting in the front of the room and have been very vocal. I am putting faces behind a lot of organizations that I've heard of and dealt with, and strengthening some pre-existing ties. I'm also seeing a side of Pittsburgh I never saw much of before: little independent arts organizations that I didn't have the resources or time to seek out when I was living here. There's some really interesting flavor in this city; we've spent some time, too, talking this weekend about why it never seems to quite percolate to the top. I'm still convinced it can.