About PAA - PAA Story
Executive Director Terry Farmer and founder Joan Lettvin
Great Lakes Performing Artist Associates (PAA, a unique non-profit arts organization was founded in 1978. Its mission is to encourage the cultural and artistic development of the Great Lakes region by supporting the performance careers of exceptional regional artists. By offering high caliber artists at affordable fees to regional performing arts presenters, we extend the strength and vitality of cultural enrichment to a greater and more diverse population. These presenters include college, church, and community concert series, regional orchestras, schools, libraries, and “non-traditional” venues such as community centers and nursing homes. PAA’s Artists present concerts, recitals, master classes, workshops, residencies, and educational programs throughout Michigan and the Great Lakes region.
Because of its not-for-profit status, PAA can focus on artists’ talent and promise rather than their ability to finance the cost of managing a performance career. To that end, PAA seeks out and carefully selects talented artists from this region to join its roster and supports them by providing performance-career management services such as:
- Oversight in the development of promotional materials
- A targeted, direct-mailing of artists’ promotional materials to our database of concert presenters
- Representation at the annual Arts Midwest conference, and with touring organizations and/or meetings with presenters on artists’ behalf
- Booking and administration of contracts for concerts, residencies, workshops, master classes, and educational programs
- Assistance with the development of educational and outreach materials, including Study Guides, programs, and follow-up materials
- Performance and repertoire evaluation and counseling
- An annual workshop for artists addressing current issues relevant to a performance career (guest speakers have included specialists on entertainment law, taxes, arts in education, etc.).
- The website www.greatlakespaa.org, which profiles artists on the roster, provides information about PAA, lists concert information and provides contact information.
Former executive director and artist representative, Elizabeth Humes
World-renowned pianist Theodore Lettvin (1927-2003) proposed the idea for PAA during his tenure as professor of piano at the University of Michigan’s School of Music. Professor Lettvin became concerned when his graduating students, discouraged by the lack of performance opportunities available to them in this area, left for New York, California, Europe, or gave up on the idea of performing all together. To address this issue, Professor Lettvin and his wife, Joan, envisioned an organization that would focus on artists’ talent and promise, rather than their ability to generate profits. In 1978, after thorough research and planning, Joan Lettvin established Great Lakes Performing Artist Associates, a regional, not-for-profit artist management organization. It was good for the artists, good for the region, and good for the performing arts. Today PAA celebrates over 30 years of excellence in the arts, and its mission is as vital to regional artists and audiences as it ever was. The National Endowment for the Arts described PAA as “a resource unlike any other.”
