Successful Meetings - December 2007 - (Page 18)

Planner Spotlight > John Ferguson Iraqi National Unity Performing Arts Academy Between Iraq and a Hard Place For 10 days last July, the streets of an Iraqi city were filled with sound—not of explosions or airraid alarms, but of music. Hundreds of Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish youths from across the country gathered to study and perform Gershwin, Ellington, and Jackson (as in Janet), as well as Bach, Vivaldi, and traditional Iraqi music and dance. It was the Iraqi National Unity Performing Arts Acadturned to the rumor mill. “I got my Iraqi staff to call their friends and say, ‘There’s going to be a music academy; if you want to participate, you have to come to the cultural center to audition for this American guy.’ So people showed up, told others, and more showed up.” RHYTHM NATION The academy culminated in two days of performances before standing-room- IRAQI SUMMER ARTS ACADEMY Time spent planning: 5 months Number of U.S. teachers: 10 Number of Iraqi students: 300 Concerts broadcast: Live throughout Iraq and on ABC Nightly News Corporate sponsors: Austrian Airlines, AT&T emy, organized by John Ferguson, executive director of the U.S. nonprofit American Voices. The idea of the event originated with the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, says Ferguson: “We do culturalexchange programs all over the world so foreignservice people know us.” In fact, American Voices had done a similar program in Baghdad in February, but as matters had deteriorated there they opted this time for Erbil, in the Kurdish region. DESERT OASIS Ferguson’s biggest obstacles weren’t violence or anti-Americanism. “The Kurdish region is hermetically sealed off from the problems elsewhere,” he explains. “We never felt threatened.” Instead, he faced logistical frustrations—from equipment shortages to power failures to obstinate bureaucrats. With no dependable domestic flights, he had to charter a Lebanese airline to pick up his American teachers in Baghdad and fly them north. Even communication had to be roundabout. Iraq has no reliable postal system and a patchwork cell-phone system whereby calls from city to city must be placed internationally. So Ferguson only crowds. But the day prior, the performance venue still lacked water and electricity, and Ferguson had to shame the Iraqis into buying the power generator they’d promised for months. “I said, ‘Kurdistan is trying to brand itself as the other Iraq—a place where you can do business—and the whole world will see you can’t even put on a summer music festival with air conditioning!’ ” The generator arrived six hours into the first day, by which time the show had started—in natural light and sweltering heat. “It was chaos for the first half-hour,” says Ferguson, “but everything fell into place.” Not that he ever doubted it would: “I had enough experience in the region that I knew while planning this that all we had to do was get the supplies there and the students and teachers under one roof, and everything would come through in the end. And it did.” —Sara J. Welch Does your meeting deserve to be in the Spotlight? Write us at vince.alonzo@nielsen.com, and you could be profiled in SM. PHOTOS: STEVE GANOE 18 mimegasite.com DECEMBER 2007 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS http://mimegasite.com

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Successful Meetings - December 2007 Contents Editor's Note Special Report Research Industry Trends 2008 Meeting Events Planner Spotlight Websites of the Month Mouth for Sale Technology Talk Food & Beverage Pre-Event On Site Pre-Event Tools of the Trade Goodbye, Booth Babes Five Tips to Improve Your Golf Events When Crime Pays Office for Hire More Miles for Your Money Places & Spaces South Florida Biloxi / Mississippi Gulf Coast Fort Worth Monterey Beijing Gurus Special Supplement: Hawaii Island-by-Island Guide

Successful Meetings - December 2007

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