BB

Hey Everyone! Last week I went to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for the Winter Meetings of the United States Urban Arts Federation. The Arts Federation is made up of Executive Directors from the 50 largest U.S. cities. The first day there we went on a water taxi ride down the intercoastal waterway. It was absolutely amazing to see the amount of wealth--$45 million dollar homes, huge yachts, etc. We had our first day of meetings at the Broward County Performing Arts Center. Each director made an oral report about what was happening in their respective city. That night we had a reception at the hotel with a great jazz band playing in the background.

The next day we walked over to the Bonnet House--one of the oldest homes in the Ft. Lauderdale area. The house was owned by the artist Frederic Clay Bartlett. Frederic was married three times (the first two died young and the third lived to be 109). The house was incredible and featured carpentry and art by Mr Barlett throughout the house. They were very wealthy and at one point in time they donated 12 important paintings to the Art Institute of Chicago. Included among the paintings they donated was Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on La Island of Grande Jatte.

They bought this originally for $20,000--amazing!! After the tour of the house, we went to a little wooden building called the "Island Theatre". We continued our city reports until it was time to head back to the hotel for lunch and meetings with staff members from the Americans for the Arts and the Americans for the Arts Board of Directors. There was then a presentation by a company called ArtSpace that reburishes old buildings into artist living and work spaces.

That evening we went to the Broward County Museum of Art for another reception and we saw an exhibit of Chicano artists sponsored by Cheech Marin. After the reception, the group divided into small groups and went to different restaurants.

Saturday, all our meetings were in the hotel. We had a formal presentation regarding a new arts financial program developed in Pennsylvania, we finished up the city reports and then had a brief business meeting.

I flew out of the Ft. Lauderdale airport early Sunday morning but stranded in Houston due to the terrible ice storms in Oklahoma City. I ended up having to spend the night at an Econolodge Hotel near the airport. I watched a couple of football playoff games and then watched the premiere of season 6 of "24", which was great!

I was finally able to get a flight out on Monday around noon and after a couple of delays, finally got home around 3 pm on Monday. Janae & I watched the second two-hour part of "24". We closed the office on Tuesday because of the ice and treacherous road condtions. I finally was able to return to work today (Wednesday) and was swamped after having been out of the office for almost a week.

While I was in Ft. Lauderdale, I thought alot about my work. I tend to be a pleaser and try to avoid conflict, but it seems you can never make everyone happy. I think you have to be true to your heart and not worry about what everyone thinks. Ultimately, they will either accept you or they won't.