Creative PR

It was fantastic seeing everyone at this year’s PRPD in Cleveland!  We hope that you had a wonderful time at the conference as well.

The opening night reception at Idea Center was a great way to start off the conference.  Great food, drinks, conversation, and reconnecting.  The space at Idea Center was amazing!

The House of Blues After Party was equally as enjoyable.  Acoustic Hot Tuna put on a great show.   Additionally, Kathy won the door prize for 2 Round Trip Tickets from Continental Airlines!  (Email her with suggestions about where to visit!)

Wednesday evening’s event at the City Club of Cleveland was amazing!  PRX presented a live show of The Moth.  The storytellers were Ed Gavigan, Elna Baker, and “DMC” of the legendary Run DMC.

The final evening at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was an exciting adventure.  The entire museum was closed for a private party for all of the people in attendance at the 2009 PRPD.

See you next year in Denver!

With our country mired in its worst economic collapse since the great depression, history can be a guide for what actions our nation should or shouldn’t take to provide for its citizens and whether or not it is time to re-set our priorities.

1993 The Creation of Hilary Clinton’s Taskforce on Healthcare - Is the patient stable, improving, or failing? What are the chances of survival for a nation divided on health reform?  As we enter into what will be the next big stretch of our nation’s effort to reform the health care system, Action Speaks looks back on Hilary Clinton’s 1993 Healthcare Taskforce. What can past failures tech us about the present stakes, struggles, and special interests in the health care arena?  AVAILABLE: October 19th (on PRX and Content Depot) & November 2nd (on CD)

1932 The Highlander Center Opens Its Doors – First door-to-door, now e-mail-to-email, will community organizing have the same power in a virtual community? How will we organize for change in the 21st Century? How has mobilizing the public changed in the world of Web 2.0 from the days of the Highlander Center’s multiracial labor and Civil Rights organizing? Does Internet based organizing mean less or more ‘Bowling Alone’? AVAILABLE: October 26th (on PRX and Content Depot) & November 9th (on CD)

1972 Nixon Visits People’s Republic of China – What began as a Ping Pong match is now a game of ‘Chicken’…the US and China; partners or enablers? In the past 30 years, China has transformed from agricultural superpower to manufacturing giant, from capitalist enemy to the biggest U.S. lender. To understand the impact of the relationship between the U.S. and China on the future of our economy and its foreign relations, Action Speaks is heading back in time to follow President Nixon on his historic visit to China. AVAILABLE: November 2nd (on PRX and Content Depot) & November 16th (on CD)

1951 The Birth of Levittown – Can the suburbs be fixed? What does sustainability look like in a land of 3 car garages, shopping malls, single use zoning and houses on steroids? Action Speaks takes a look at the birthplace of suburban utopia, Levittown. In just over 50 years, the American suburbs have physically transformed the landscape of our country and redefined the middle class. Will the suburbs be able to turn ‘green’? Can bastions of ‘white flight’ and individualism reflect our nation’s demographic diversity and the need for community? AVAILABLE: November 9th (on PRX and Content Depot) & November 23rd (on CD)

Bill Rudman, who lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio, is an educator, a broadcaster, a producer and the founder of The Musical Theater Project. His weekly radio program Footlight Parade has aired locally for 25 years and in national syndication for 10 years. Since 2005, XM Satellite Radio has carried TMTP’s program On the Aisle on its Broadway channel.

Bill’s interviews for broadcast have included such leading figures in musical theater and cabaret as performers Mandy Patinkin, Barbara Cook, Bobby Short and Nanette Fabray; songwriters Stephen Sondheim, Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Sheldon Harnick, Hugh Martin, Burton Lane, Gretchen Cryer and Tom Jones; director-choreographer Tommy Tune; and director George Abbott (one month before his 100th birthday).

Bill has created and hosted numerous musical theater revues and concerts celebrating the song legacy of Broadway and Hollywood, and has taught musical theater history at the college level. In 1983, he and New York author Ken Bloom co-founded Harbinger Records, a label that has won critical praise for albums devoted to the American musical and the Great American Songbook. In 2000, Bill became the first recipient of the Robert P. Bergman Prize honoring his work in arts education.