After moving to Atlanta in 1982, she began to expand her roster to include several different artists and ensembles, mostly specializing in World Music and Dance. She began to attend many of the conferences held throughout the country – the Performing Arts Exchange, the Midwest Arts Conference, the Association for Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), the South Carolina Arts Commission Conference, the Ohio Artists Performing Network (OAPN), and North Carolina Presenters' Consortium.

Currently the director of World Artists, Ms. McConnell works with presenters and artists to create tours throughout the country. This includes organizing the tours for the artists, contract negotiations, taking care of promotional material, and attending the conferences.

She has found it very helpful if the artists with which she works are willing to create excellent promotional material – CD’s, color photos, flyers, posters, programs, etc. Also immensely helpful are showcases.

What are showcases? Showcases are 15-20 minutes of a mini-performance that the artists prepare to present at one of the conferences. In return for the time and expense that the artists spend to do a showcase, the results are usually double the amount of bookings for the season. From the presenter’s viewpoint, to see a group perform live makes all the difference, and they tend to book the groups that they see perform at showcases.

"....Our bookings doubled from the showcase that we did at the Arts Presenter’s conference held in New York City." DeDe Vogt, Cowboy Envy.

Ms. McConnell continues to work in the field of Music Management and has developed a large network nationwide - colleges, arts councils, festivals, and school systems – of presenters who trust her integrity and also enjoy working with her.



"...Very pleasant to work with....you can trust her." Joni Kost, Waterfront Park, Beaufort, South Carolina.

"...We have booked every group on her roster and will continue to work with her in the future." Hassell Moores, Emerald Coast Concert Association, Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

"...She sends us entertaining, educational, and reliable artists for our school residencies and concerts...You can count on her." Buddy Greisch, Lake Powell Concert Association, Page, Arizona.