A national committee whose goal is to plan for permanent space for African dance and drum in the major US cities. The Cultural Beat challenges those in the community who have similar beliefs to come forward. We would be happy to help organize a conference for us to discuss these ideas. If travel money is an issue in these tight economic times, the conference can be done online.Contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if interested.

A coherent schedule of dance conferences and workshops. Let us stop cannibalizing each other this year. Why not have a national calendar for scheduling conferences?

More training in staging and producing dance concerts. While everyone wants to perform for their friends and family, not all companies are ready to put on a show with a $25 ticket price. Staging a show is a skill of its own. Perhaps we can start offering classes to smaller regional markets to improve the quality of concert performances.

Transparency in artist pricing for workshops and conferences. We have called for this in the past. Artists need to paid properly so they can feed their families. At the same time, there has to be some sanity in the prices that are set so that the smaller markets can bring artists in for workshops. It shouldn't matter where you were born or who you know to be able to book an artist.

A dance and drum community that is technologically competent. As the closing of Djoniba's showed, few artists had workable web sites where information about them could be obtained or messages left. Our dance organizations, over all have not kept pace with technological advances. In today's world this is unacceptable. Technology can be daunting but knowledge tames it.Technology is an essential component for a successful business.

A healthy, safe and prosperous year for all of our teachers, drummers, dancers and family members!