An Upper Peninsula Arts & Culture Alliance annual conference from a previous year is pictured. (Courtesy photo)

ESCANABA – The Upper Peninsula Arts & Culture Alliance, a regional nonprofit dedicated to strengthening arts and culture across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, has opened registration for its third annual regional conference, taking place Saturday, Sept. 27 at Bay College in Escanaba.

The event will kick off with a public reception on Friday evening, Sept. 26. This year’s theme, Creative Capacity: Cultivating Capability in Arts and Culture, explores how artists, educators, cultural leaders, and organizations can build their ability to create meaningful impact and long-term growth.

Through interactive sessions, attendees will dive into topics that connect the arts with education, heritage and community development, all aligned with The Alliance’s mission to strengthen sustainability, visibility, and collaboration across the U.P. Building on last year’s theme of advocacy, the 2025 conference will once again offer inspiration and practical tools. As one 2024 attendee noted, the event offered “ways to connect with others, share ideas, and demonstrate how arts and culture drive economic impact in our communities.”

“After last year’s response and engagement from the community, we knew folks were interested in learning more about how to grow and develop in their fields,” said Philip Rice, executive director of the alliance. “This goes for individual artists looking to build their brand and become more capable businesspeople and also organizations and nonprofits like historic venues, community theatres, museums and arts agencies looking to figure out how to fundraise better, how to do strategic planning, and how to engage with and collaborate with others in their communities,” he noted. “We wanted to develop a conference agenda that specifically addressed some of these needs, so we’ve included topics like strategic planning and equitable access in this year’s offerings.”

Key elements of the theme include exploring how history and heritage anchor contemporary creativity, how artists and cultural workers can amplify impact through partnerships with museums, libraries, and historic societies, and how shared learning drives institutional resilience. Historic theaters will be a touchstone topic as an example of multi-use venues rooted in community identity that often feature as the centers for creative activity in small towns across Michigan and the Midwest. A major highlight of the day will be the keynote address by Christine Delaney, Executive Director of the Tibbits Opera House in Coldwater, Michigan. A leader in historic theater preservation and revitalization, Delaney has spearheaded extensive restoration projects at Tibbits, transforming the 19th-century venue into a thriving cultural hub. Her insights on bridging restoration, community engagement, and regional arts programming will set an inspiring tone for capacity-building in U.P. communities.

Throughout the day participants will join moderated panel discussions on topics such as historic theater preservation where they’ll hear firsthand from community leaders how to breathe new life into local arts and culture scenes. Lunch will include guided conversations with table topics focused on history, tourism, and fundraising, where everyone from visual artists to museum staff, librarians, and members of local historical societies can share challenges and successes, building practical networks grounded in shared experience. In the afternoon, breakout sessions will offer tools in areas such as nonprofit development, marketing, rural access to arts education, community music initiatives, and equitable distribution of supplies, all supporting the creative capacity of participants.

Sessions will also address key challenges many arts and culture projects face, including trust-building and collaboration with Native American tribes in cultural programming, and the logistics of starting or expanding a nonprofit. The conference culminates with closing reflections and networking, leaving participants equipped with strategies, contacts, and renewed energy.

The Alliance is proud to extend a registration discount to current members of the Creative Connections Directory, which is free to join at upacalliance.com for individual artists or arts and culture organizations (nonprofits or businesses). To encourage collaborative learning, organizations may register up to three participants under a single registration, providing flexibility and value for teams. The conference is open to all, including artists, performers, nonprofit leaders, educators, museum and library workers, historical societies, and anyone who shares a vision of nurturing arts and culture across the Upper Peninsula. The alliance is also currently seeking sponsors who want to support this regional gathering and help strengthen the creative sector across the U.P.

Visit www.upacalliance.com to explore the full conference agenda, sponsorship opportunities and to register, become a member and more. Questions can be directed to philip@upacalliance.com.