For years, recent Co-President Dave Francis has been pushing all Board Members traveling abroad to make contact with local artists, galleries, and organizations. In Venice, it all came together. Ray ran into a local organization that not unlike CoCA was experimenting with new ways of presenting contemporary art, crossing media boundaries, encouraging collaboration between not only artists but between artists and musicians and between artist, musicians, and the general public. In fact, in may ways they are ahead of us in those areas. It was a no brainer.

Oddly enough, there was resistance among the CoCA Board to this show, as some Board Members were uncomfortable with the art itself, as represented by the photos of previous shows presented by AIND. They didn't like it. It was uncomfortable. Obviously, that made Ray all the more determined to mount this show, based not on the art itself but on the energy and the objectives of the promoters.

In the end, he made a deal with the AIND curators to curate from within both their own membership and ours, and the resulting show is a truly international collaboration. Our participating members now also have the opportunity to participate in future exhibition put on by AIND in Venice and elsewhere.

We sincerely hope that you join us. Any day of the week. Any time of day. Come on down.