Online registration required
June 5, 2026
12:00pm - 1:00pm PT

A brief webinar for those exhibiting at this year's conference. This specialized webinar is about the timeline for utilizing decorator services, WAA exhibitor restrictions and guidelines, as well as information on drayage and materials handling.
Register for the Zoom now!

Online registration required
May 15, 2026
12:00pm - 1:15pm PT

The World of WAA is our annual session with insider information about how members do business and connect at the conference. Hosted by WAA staff as well as both a Presenter and an Agent/Manager. If you have any questions or want the scoop on making the most of your conference, you won't want to miss it.
Register for the Zoom now!

Registrations for Members is now open!

Earlier this year, we lost a dear friend and colleague in Marcelo Avilés. In his memory, WAA has established the Marcelo Avilés Scholarship Fund to support talented young arts professionals in attending the WAA Annual Conference. It is a fitting tribute because Marcelo’s career was shaped in part by this community. He was also a WAA scholarship recipient, which helped bring him to our 2022 conference in Calgary. Afterward, he wrote to us:

“Thank you for creating an event that brings the industry together in a thoughtful way that leaves us inspired to go out and make a better world.”

— Marcelo Avilés

Recorded Friday, March 20
A brief informational webinar about exhibiting at this year's conference! Including the exhibitor's agreement, schedule, and meeting space options.

Applications are NOW OPEN for Discovery and Peer Learning

This fall, we tried something new! A salon series to reflect about the state of the field to connect us and understand the current ground we’re standing on. Our conversations revealed a field at an inflection point, grappling with fundamental questions about risk, sustainability, and what it means to build an authentic performing arts ecosystem, not only beyond WAA, but nationally.

Applications are NOW OPEN for WAA OAK 2026!

We're doing what the performing arts community does best: gathering close, sharing resources, and building collective solutions together. Whether you're an artist ready to showcase your work, a producer wanting to provide more opportunities onsite, or an industry professional with insights to share, this is your moment!

Find out more about the field and what your colleagues are up to in NYC!

The performing arts field is a highly rhizomatic ecosystem supporting a wide array of convenings for presenters, artists, agents, managers, producers, and more. Each year, a high concentration of professionals (nearing 45,000, if not more) intersect in New York City for a wide array of convenings, independently sprouting around the anchor of the APAP (Association of Performing Arts Professionals) conference in Midtown New York City.  

The recent government shutdown and current continuing resolution (funding the government only through year-end) have created significant uncertainty around our Performing Arts Discovery (PAD) Program funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce. 

TICKETS: free
January 9, 2026
11:30am - 12:30pm ET
12:30 - 1:30pm ET

Ray’s Pizza
831 Seventh Avenue, New York, 10019
Space is limited, RSVP required

TICKETS: free
December 9
4:30 - 8pm PT

Portland, Oregon
RSVP required

TICKETS: free
November 4, 13, 18 & 20
11:30am - 1:00pm PT

Online via Zoom
RSVP required

TICKETS: free
Friday, October 13, 2025
12:00-2:00pm PT

Online via Zoom
RSVP required

WAA’s Board of Directors plays a vital role in our capacity to serve you — our members. Our board supports us in fulfilling our mission to advance excellence in the performing arts, through innovative thinking and ground-breaking initiatives, by anticipating the future needs of the field, and through sound governance and stewardship.

6-10:30pm, September 2 at The Novo

7:30-10:30pm, September 3 at USC

7-10pm, September 4 at Grand Performances

U.S. artists on the rise and ready to tour internationally. Catch some of their showcase performances at the WAA conference in LA!

TICKETS: Varying Prices
September 2 - 5
Registration open 8am - 6pm (Sept 2 - 4)
Registration open 8am - 12pm (Sept 5)

JW Marriott at LA Live

900 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Last Change to Register is Onsite in LA!

TICKETS: $75
Thursday, September 4
Doors open at 12pm

JW Marriott at LA Live
Platinum Ballroom

900 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Register by August 22