P.O. Box 4203 New York, NY 10163 212- 933-0688 Summer 2008. Greetings all Performing Arts members. We have now come to the end of another very active summer for the division. The National convention was held in Dallas TX this year, and the biannual division elections took place on July 1. Officers were elected for the next two years. President Dennis Holston and Vice President Brooke Fox both won reelection to a second term. Board member Beth Allred became our new secretary. The division elected three new board members. Anthony Evans, Gary Kammerer, and Lori Hunter. They have joined Mindy Jacobsen, Adrian Snow, and Seria Chatters, our three appointed board members. The division will begin the 2008-2010 term in September. At our division meeting, Lisa Ostrow, our scholarship coordinator, and Romeo Edmead, the assistant coordinator officially unveiled the Mary Anne Parks Performing Arts Division scholarship to the membership. The division is razing money for this scholarship. The proceeds from the annual talent show will now go to the scholarship fund. Lisa Ostrow also served as the speaker at this year's division meeting. Ostrow, along with her business partner, Patrick Dreier, spoke about building and owning a record company. They answered a wide range of questions about the music business. One of the highlights of the meeting was when President Dennis Holston announced the news that Governor David Paterson of New York declared the first week in July as Blind and Visually Impaired Entertainer's Week in the state. President Holston, in collaboration with CSB Management group, sent the proclamation proposal to Governor Paterson in May, and in June, the proclamation was granted. A cameraman was on hand to film the announcement, and it ran on a local New York City news station. This year's talent show was dedicated to the memory of Mary Anne Parks, and Beth Allred opened the show by singing a slightly different version of the song called "On the Other Shore", a song that appeared on the 2007 Sound in Sight album. She dedicated the song to Mary Anne, and you can download the live version of the song from the performing arts website, WWW.PADNFB.org Most of the talent show was recorded, and the division may release other songs from that night. On August 1, the division released the first song from the Music of the Movement album. Music of the Movement is an album of NFB related songs. The album has gone through many delays, and the division is doing what they can to try and finish the album. The Library song is the first single, and you can download the song by going to the performing arts website. In July, president Holston created the media relations office, and he appointed Donna Hill to the post. Donna Hill, from Pennsylvania, is a country singer, and she has a song on the Sound in Sight album. She has some media background. One of the first acts that Hill did when she took office was to create a survey that is targeted to blind entertainers. This blind entertainer survey will assess the needs and the experiences of blind entertainers. The results of the survey will help the division serve the blind entertainment community. Please take time to fill out the survey by going to the division website. The State convention season is quickly approaching, and the division will have representatives in New York, Maryland, Louisiana, and Minnesota to speak and fund raze at their respective state conventions. If you would like to help the division by doing things in your state convention, please contact the president's office at 917 903-5650 or DHolston@nyc.rr.com If you Have any ideas, or things that you would like the division to address, please contact the division, we are here to serve the blind community in the performing arts. If you would like to help us fund raze, we have some programs in place. Please contact the division. If you know blind entertainers with a MySpace account, please tell them to request the division. Myspace.com/nfbpad Secretary: Beth Allred. President: Dennis Holston. Performing Arts Division of the NFB