Participants work from a model, left, during the Costume Drawing & Rendering Techniques two-day session held prior to the official start of the 46th Annual Conference.

Photo/Tom Thatcher

by John S. Uthoff
USITT President

As I write this paragraph we are only two weeks from the start of our Conference in Louisville. By the time you see this, the week will be almost complete. For the first time, we will deploy Sightlines while we are still at the Conference. This issue contains current information from a Conference that is still unfolding.

As I write, however, everything is still in process to finish all the last minute preparations necessary to make this Conference a success. Final purchases are being made, final agendas are being drafted, finishing touches are in progress for all the programming sessions and the awards, and the office is madly packing to move operations to Louisville. The display boards are being prepared and assembled. The indicators are we will have another blockbuster year. More people have pre-registered this year than ever before, and Stage Expo is surpassing previous records.

What this means to me is that the Louisville Conference is another chance to visit with friends and catch up with the activities of the last year. I am looking forward to another Opening Night party, another Keynote, another time to present well earned awards, and another chance to work with friends. I hope all of you who are enjoying or have enjoyed the Conference had the chance to talk to friends in the business and get recharged and refreshed. I hope you all have had another wonderful year at USITT.

If I missed you at the Conference, I want to give you all a big USITT "HELLO." I hope you were one who stopped me in the halls of the convention center, just to talk. Or look for me next year in Phoenix, if you missed me this year.

If you are ever in Manhattan, Kansas stop by and say "hello!" I'd enjoy the visit. That is one of the main things that USITT is all about.

To Top