January 6th • 8:30-11 pm Cornelia St. Café, New York City - New Year's Celebration, Amram's 59th Year in Greenwich Village; Amram performs and tells stories about the music he has composed celebrating a half century of collaborations with playwrights, choreographers, authors, poets and musicians from the 1950s through today's innovative young artists; Featuring Amram's Quartet, (Kevin Twigg on drums and glockenspiel, Rene Hart on bass, Adam Amram on congas), actor John Ventimiglia (of HBO's The Sopranos) and special surprise guests

January 13th • Interview with WFUV Radio - Fordham

January 17th • 8 pm Symphony Space, NYC - Woody's Children with Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Holly Near, Tom Chapin, Christine Lavin, Nora Guthrie and others TBA; Celebrating Robert Sherman's ground-breaking, award-winning musical program

February 1st • 8 pm Joe's Pub, NYC - Amram performs with The Amigos, a brilliant young musical ensemble celebrating their new cd release of which Amram was the artistic producer

February 3rd • 8:30-11 pm Cornelia St. Café, New York City - Amram performs and tells stories about the music he has composed celebrating a half century of collaborations with playwrights, choreographers, authors, poets and musicians from the 1950s through today's innovative young artists; Featuring Amram's Quartet, (Kevin Twigg on drums and glockenspiel, Rene Hart on bass, Adam Amram on congas), actor John Ventimiglia (of HBO's The Sopranos) and special surprise guests

February 6-9 • Denver, Co - Amram performs with his Denver based quartet in celebration of Neal Cassady Day, gives seminars and workshops, tapes interviews and begins advanced promotion for his forthcoming cd This Land, Symphonic Variations on a Song by Woody Guthrie, which Amram conducted with the Colorado Symphony in a live recording in 2012

February 16th • Poisson Rouge, Greenwich Village, NY • The first half of the evening will celebrate Amram's 59 years in Greenwich Village with world premiere of Greenwich Village Portraits, dedicated to the memories of Arthur Miller, Odetta and Frank McCourt and commissioned and performed by classical saxophonist Ken Radnofsky, who will also perform two other classical chamber works by Amram celebrating their new recording released on Newport Classic records • The second half of the evening will celebrate the many genres of music performed in Greenwich Village over the last half century; David Amram and his quartet (Kevin Twigg on drums and glockenspiel, Rene Hart on bass, Adam Amram on congas) will be joined by actor John Ventimiglia (of HBO's The Sopranos) reading excerpts of On The Road, Larry Kerwin (leader of the Irish rock band The Black 47) and luminaries from the worlds of Native American, Middle Eastern, Jazz, Folk and Global Roots musics to be announced

February 17th • Jordan Hall, Boston, MA - Boston premiere of Greenwich Village Portraits, dedicated to the memories of Arthur Miller, Odetta and Frank McCourt and commissioned and performed by classical saxophonist Ken Radnofsky • During this week Greenwich Village Portraits will also be performed world-wide by thirty saxophonists under the auspices of World-Wide Concurrent Premieres and Commissioning Fund, founded by Ken Radnofsky

February 19-23 • Kansas City, MO • Amram attends the National Folk Alliance's Annual Meeting presenting seminars, performing with new, young artists and hosting a screening of Lawrence Kraman's new documentary feature film David Amram, The First 80 Years

February 24th • Greenwich House, 46 Barrow St., NYC; David Amram appears as a panelist along with Terri Thal and Matt Umanov for a discussion of the documentary film about the Cafe Au Go Go -- Seven Years Underground, A 60s Tale -- and will discuss his friendship with Richie Havens, Lenny Bruce, Bill Evans and other luminaries who performed there; It will also include a live performance by Steve Cuiffo as Lenny Bruce

February 27th • New York City • Interview with the Australian Broadcast Corporation's for their special about the history the US's oldest folk music venue The Café Lena

February 28th • 8 pm The Iridium, NYC • An Evening With Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder John McEuen and David Amram; McEuen and Amram celebrate their musical friendship and shared love of American roots music from the worlds of jazz, Appalachian, bluegrass, blues and scat.

March 1st • 8 pm Sanctuary Concert Series, Chatham, NJ • An Evening With Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder John McEuen and David Amram; McEuen and Amram celebrate their musical friendship and shared love of American roots music from the worlds of jazz, Appalachian, bluegrass, blues and scat

March 2nd • 7:30 pm The Town Crier, Beacon, NY • A reprise of An Evening With John McEuen and David Amram; McEuen and Amram celebrate their musical friendship and shared love of American roots music from the worlds of jazz, Appalachian, bluegrass, blues and scat • For more information, click here

March 3rd • 8:30-11 pm Cornelia St. Café, New York City = Amram performs and tells stories about the music he has composed celebrating a half century of collaborations with playwrights, choreographers, authors, poets and musicians from the 1950s through today's innovative young artists; Featuring Amram's Quartet, (Kevin Twigg on drums and glockenspiel, Rene Hart on bass, Adam Amram on congas), actor John Ventimiglia (of HBO's The Sopranos) and special surprise guests

March 7th • 11 am Boston, MA • New England Conservatory • O Pioneers, composer Gunther Schuller and David Amram are featured co-hosts at the Eastern Division of College Band Directors National Association and will discuss their lifetime of pioneering the inclusion of jazz and other forms of sophisticated music of our time as a vital influence for today's composers, conductors and musicians

March 8 and 9 • Lowell, MA • Amram gives concerts, seminars and jazz poetry readings in celebration of Jack Kerouac's 92nd Birthday in Kerouac's hometown

March 12th • NYC • Author Doug Ireland's Memorial Service

April 4 and 5 • Louisville, KY • Amram is the featured performer at the Hunter S. Thompson Banner Festival, closing the the final evening concert, as well as giving seminars about his relationship with the author beginning in 1959 • Details TBA

April 6th • Atlantic City, NJ • Amram attends screening of Lawrence Kramen's feature documentary film David Amram, The First 80 Years, Garden State Film Festival

April 7th • 8:30-11 pm Cornelia St. Café, New York City - Amram performs and tells stories about the music he has composed celebrating a half century of collaborations with playwrights, choreographers, authors, poets and musicians from the 1950s through today's innovative young artists; Featuring Amram's Quartet, (Kevin Twigg on drums and glockenspiel, Rene Hart on bass, Adam Amram on congas), actor John Ventimiglia (of HBO's The Sopranos) and special surprise guests

April 17th • Greenwich House, New York City • David Amram Meets The Amigos • An evening with David Amram and the The Amigos perform global folk music to celebrate the Cafe Au Go Go

April 26th • Lincoln Center Library of the Performing Arts - Beginning of the celebration of Amram Week hosted by the Lincoln Center Library's celebration of their acquisition of David Amram's archive • 1 pm, Screening and official DVD release Lawrence Kraman's feature documentary David Amram, The First 80 Years • 3:30 pm, Following the screening of the film, biographer and historian Bill Morgan and sociologist Audrey Sprenger join Amram in an urban hike through the neighborhoods of the West Side where the Lincoln Center is now located, visiting some of the sites where Amram worked since his arrival in NYC in 1955 • With Morgan and Sprenger as co-hosts, Amram will recount some of his adventures as the first composer in residence of the New York Philharmonic, as well as being the first musical director of the Lincoln Center Theatre; He will also visit the site in Central Park where he spent 12 years as the first composer and musical director for 30 productions presented by Joseph Papp's Free Shakespeare In The Park, show some of the Broadway theatres where he composed incidental music for 15 dramatic productions and also revisit the site of the original Birdland and where he performed with jazz luminaries and show Theolonius & Monk's old residence where Monk encouraged Amram to pursue bringing the worlds of European classical music and American classic jazz together • More information about Amram Week follows

April 29th • 6:00 pm Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts • Amram Week hosted by the Lincoln Center Library continues; An evening of Amram's chamber music in a free concert at Bruno Walter Auditorium • The performers will include: violin virtuoso Elmira Darvarova, founder of the NewYork Chamber Music Festival; pianist Linda Hall of the Metropolitan Opera; French Hornist Howard Wall of the New York Philharmonic; classical saxophonist Ken Radnofsky and other outstanding musicians in some of Amram's chamber music compositions • The program will include Trio for Tenor Saxophone, French Horn and Bassoon (1958), Violin Sonata (1960), Blues for Monk For Unaccompanied Horn (1982); the second movement of the flute Concerto Giants of the Night (1999), composed for Sir James Galway, in memory of Jack Kerouac and Greenwich Village Portraits (2014), for Alto Saxophone and Piano - 1. McDougal Street (for Arthur Miller), 2. Bleecker Street (for Odetta), 3. Christopher Street (for Frank McCourt)

May 10th • 9-9:45 pm Brooklyn Fireproof, 119 Ingraham Street, Brooklyn NY • Amram and his quartet perform for the first annual i+u festival, to show the young musicians, singers, actors, composers, DJs and hip hop artists who are attending the event as well as those who are performing in it, the infinite possibilities of ways to create new music by using old roots and then creating words, music, poetry and audience involvement on the spot, through improvisation. The festival's founder, violinist Eugene Feygelson, invited Amram as an acknowledged classical composer of formal fully notated concert music and a pioneer of World Music to show today's young artists how everyone can also create music on the spot by seizing the moment and celebrating that time and place as a one time only experience, and then incorporating your fellow musicians and the audience as part of the composition. For further information about this exciting new festival click here .

May 11th • Philadelphia, PA • Master Class • From Global Folk Music to the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Unlimited Cultural Values of International and Indigenous American Folk Lore; Amram will bring instruments from 30 different countries and describe three compositions of his played by the Philadelphia Orchestra from the Middle East to Native American Indian traditional roots music and will also give a concert with local musicians

May 22nd • Ethical Cultural Center, 2 West 64th Street, New York City • Honoring Pete Seeger's Vision Concert • Amram will join Oscar Brand, Happy Traum, Christine Lavin, Guy Davis, David Bernz and Jacob Bernz, Charlie King, Matt Emmer, and the Walkabout Clearwater Chorus in this tribute to Pete • For more information, click here.

May 31st • Philadelphia Pennsylavania - Mimi Stillman and her ensemble Dolce Suono will perform the Philadelphia Premiere of Amram's Discussion for Flute, Cello, Piano and Percussion at the Curtis Institute of Music; 53 years after it was composed in 1961, "Discussion" will make its debut in the city of Amram's birth; Since the untimely death of jazz bass and cello virtuoso Oscar Pettiford, "Discussion" has been played world wide and is dedicated to the memory of Oscar Pettiford; Amram and Julius Watkins were the improvising french hornists in Pettiford's orchestra, performing and recording with him from 1956-1958; In 2012 Amram was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame and received the Jay McShann Lifetime Achievement Award for his work with Oklahoma native musicians Oscar Pettiford and Woody Guthrie. Mimi Stillman has performed Amram's Giants of the Night, the flute concerto composed for Sir James Galway, and is considered one of the outstanding performers of her generation; Her ensemble Dolce Suono is an award winning group of young musical artists dedicated to bringing chamber music to new audiences

June 2nd • New York City • The Harold Clurman Spirit Award, "for courageous contribution to the culture of the City of New York and beyond," will be presented to David Amram. The Marlon Brando award will be presented to actress Rosie Perez. Both of these awards are highlights of the Stella Adler Adler Studio for Acting's 9th annual Fundraising Gala, at the Players Club in New York City

June 8th • Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville, Texas • David Amram Meets The Amigos • A special concert spanning generations • As David's proteges, The Amigos will back David up on his global folk music classics, while David will also support The Amigos on songs from their new album on which they collaborated

June 10-13 • David will participate in the filming, provide live music and be part of the support team on the safety boat, for a documentary film following environmentalist, author, filmmaker and long distance swimmer, Matthew Mosley, as Matthew swims twenty-six miles across Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain

June 20 + 22 • Croton Point, New York • Amram makes his 12th appearance at Pete Seeger's Clearwater Festival; Various performances, programs and workshops TBA

June 23-24 • Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH • Robert Ocasio Latin Jazz Music Camp • Amram will give Latin and Afro-Cuban lectures, workshops, master classes and perform with students from around the country attending this acclaimed Latin Jazz Music Camp • For more information, click here.

June 27-July 1 • Queens College, Queens NY • Amram will be the Composer The Residence for the third time at the Annual Conductor's Workshop under the direction of Maurice Peress, coaching, as well as conducting his Overture for Chakra, the first movement of his Celebration Suite

July 9-13 • Woody Guthrie Festival, Okemah, Oklahoma • During his annual homage to the birthplace of his old friend Woody Guthrie, David will be found performing day and night throughout the festival with dozens of world class artists in a variety of settings

July 13-14 • Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, Tulsa, Oklahoma * Amram will give a Sunday evening jazz concert and Monday day jazz workshop for students

July 20th • Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park Bandshell, New York City - Memorial Concert for Pete and Toshi Seeger • Amram will join Adira Amram, Tom Chapin & Chapin Sisters, Guy Davis, Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irons, Michael Moore, Kim & Reggie Harris, Holly Near, George Wein, Paul Winter Consort, Peter Yarrow, Dan Zanes and more • For more information click here.

August 4th • 8-11 pm Cornelia St. Cafe Summer Salute Greenwich Village NYC • Amram and his quartet with Kevin Twigg - drums, Rene Hart - bass and Elliot Peper - bongos, play music from around the world with guest artists, celebrating the ninth year of Amram’s monthly appearances there

August 15th • 5-7 pm Manhattan Magazine honors today’s authors • Canio’s Book Store, Sag Harbor NY • Amram reads an excerpt from his forthcoming new book David Amram: The Next 80 Years + performs an unaccompanied solo; Organized by editor and author Taylor Plimpton, who will also read from his work, guest authors include Jonathan Marc Sherman, Holly Peterson and Roger Rosenblatt

August 17th • 3-5 pm Tribute to Duke Ellington, Woodlawn NY • Amram performs with Bobby Sanabria and his orchestra • Guest artists include choreographer and dancer Mercedes Ellington, the director of the Duke Ellington Society + other noted dancers, singers + instrumentalists

August 31st • 3-4 pm Annual Bradstock Festival Center Moriches, Long Island NY • Amram and his quintet with Kevin Twigg - drums, Rene Hart - bass, Robbie WinterHawk - congas + Elliot Peper - bongos play music from around the world with guest artists, celebrating the 12th year of Amram’s annual appearances at the Festival

September 1st • 8:30-11 pm Labor Day Celebration • Cornelia St Cafe, Greenwich Village NY • Amram and his quartet with Kevin Twigg - drums, Rene Hart - bass and Elliot Peper - bongos play music from around the world celebrating the ninth year of Amram’s monthly appearances there; Guest artists performing their poetry with music include poets Jose Pacheco and Lydia Cortes, whose work was the foundation for the Nuyorican literary renaissance in New York.

September 6th • 8:00 pm Final concert of the summer season with Happy Traum Friends • Maverick Concert Hall, Woodstock, NY; Amram joins his old friends Happy Traum + cellist Abby Newton in a celebration of the spirit of collaboration and how creative spontaneity enables him to keep creating new formal classical compositions by being inspired by great musicians like Happy and Ms Newton

September 14th • 6 -12 pm Annual Farm Aid Concert - Raleigh North Carolina • Amram returns as a guest artist in Willie Nelson’s band for the 20th time, performing in the yearly fundraiser to help the cause of America’s family farmers • See the Farm Aid webpage for details

September 15th • 4-7 pm Black Hills Unity Concert Piedmont, South Dakota • Amram joins Buffie Sainte Marie, Arlo Guthrie, Joanne Shenandoah, Paul Winter, Peter Yarrow and others in a program to raise awareness of the return of the Black Hills to the Lakota people, 146 years after the US government signed a treaty to do so • For further information, please access

September 18th • 7-10 pm A musical tribute New York’s master theatrical director Harold Clurman’s 113th Birthday • The Stella Adler Studio for Acting, New York City • Amram and his quartet with Kevin Twigg - drums, Rene Hart -bass and Elliot Peper - bongos play music associated with Amram’s collaborations as the resident composer with Harold Clurman, Arthur Miller + Elia Kazan for the first three seasons of the Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts Repertory Theater; On June 2nd of 2014, Amram was the recipient of The Harold Clurman Spirit Award "for courageous contribution to the culture of the City of New York and beyond"

September 19th • 7-10 pm Opening Series of Collaborative Music Making with the Amigos • Greenwich Music House, Greenwich Village New York • Amram is the featured guest for the first Amigos Family Dinner, an all-ages evening of collaborative music-making hosted by The Amigos, a band of brilliant young musicians • The evening is dedicated to memory and spirit of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Odetta • Everyone is invited to bring an instrument

September 28th • 4-7 p.m Water Coalition Fundraiser Rockland County New York Amram joins singer-songwriter Tom Chapin and members of the Sierra Club, The River-Keepers and local politicians to continue the cleanup of the Hudson River and avoid further contamination emanating from the nuclear power plant at Indian Point

September 28th • 9-11:30 pm Jack Kerouac: The Florida/New York Connection Joe’s Pub, East Village New York City • The 2nd Annual Celebration of the Jack Kerouac Writer-In-Residence Project will be an evening of readings of Kerouac’s words with Amram’s music, as they first did together in 1957 for New York City’s first-ever public jazz-poetry readings • Actors Mike Shannon. John Ventimiglia and Adira Amram, poet Frank Messina, award-winning author Joyce Johnson, author Maya Sloan and singer Trisha O'Brien are featured guests and Amram’s quintet with Kevin Twigg - drums, Rene Hart - bass, Adam Amram - congas and Elliot Peper - bongos will play music of the era as well as some of the global music which Kerouac was fond of; For further information, please access.

October 1st • Sub Culture Arts Underground - 45 Bleeker St NYC 8 pm - Multi-instrumentalist + ranconteur John McEuen, founder of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Amram perform classics of American roots music, with guest musicians including John Cable

October 2nd • Tappen Hill 81 Highland Avenue Tarrytown NY 8-1030 pm • Amram joins trumpeter Mark Morganelli, Vic Juris + Tony Jefferson to perform for the annual gala for The Hudson Valley Writers Center. Amram will also speak about the importance of supporting artists in the communities where they live, inviting the arts in schools and discuss his collaboration with author Jack Kerouac and the relationship between improvisation and formal composition in Kerouac’s novels and Amram’s symphonic compositions

October 5th • 8:30-11pm Cornelia Street Cafe Greenwich Village New York 830-11pm Amram and his quintet with Kevin Twigg, Rene Hart,Elliot Peper and Robbie Winterhawk perform classics of jazz and world music as well compositions by Amram celebrating his sixty years of collaborations with playwrights, poets and musicians of all genres

October 9-12 • Day and Night Lowell Massachusetts Annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac - Amram returns for the twenty second time to Lowell Celebrates Kerouac to perform music he created during his twelve years of collaborations with Jack Kerouac as his musical partner. He will accompany poets, playwrights, authors and musicians of all genres, read from his own three books, discuss the relationship of folk lore to his own classical compositions and the importance of literature, music, theater and the visual arts in the twenty first century.

October 18th • 4-5 pm Edith G Read Wildlife Sanctuary Sanctuary Rye New York - Amram joins Texas singer-songwriter Bill Oliver at a free family festival celebrating the preservation of the remaining undeveloped land and unspoiled ecological treasures surrounding Rye, NY

October 20th • 1-3 pm Greenwich Steet Productions • Amram is interviewed by film maker Roger Paridisio for Part Two of his documentary feature film, Searching for Camelot. Amram will recount the legacy he addressed in the first film about the continued social involvement of Jacquiline and robert Kennedy after the death of John F. Kennedy and the effect on the artistic community in the USA to carry on the ideals which the Kennedy’s championed. he will also participate in filmed discussion with college students addressing all of this from their own perspective of how what happened fifty years ago is relevant to their lives today

October 20th • 6-9 pm The Manhattan Club 800 7th Avenue - Author and journalist Pete Hamill will be honored as the 2014 recipient of the Irish American Writer’s Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievemtn Award. Amram joins musician and novelist Larry Kirwin and his Black 47 band in a musical tribute to Pete Hamill who is the mutual friend of both Kirwin and Amram since the 1960s

October 23rd • 7:30-10 pm Towne Crier Beacon New York • 100th birthday celebration of the founder of New York's City’s historic Folk City, the Greenwich Village music venue that brought folk music of all styles as well as jazz and new forms of acoustic music into the American mainstream in the 60s; Amram hosts the event, which will feature veteran performers Tom Chapin, Vince Martin and group of singer-songwriters and musicians together for a rare reunion, organized by Mike Porco’s grandson Bob Porco; There will also be a preview screening of highlights from the new documentary film being made about Mike Porco, with interviews with all the musicians, both world famous and still struggling,all of whom had their lives chanaged by Porco’s kindness and support

October 27th • 2-4 pm WFUV-FM Fordham University Campus Amram joins with the Amigos to tape a special program with live performances recorded for broadcast as a prelude to Amram’s upcoming 84th birthday concert November 20

November 1-2 • Quebec Jazz Festival, Quebec City, Quebec (Canada) • Amram will give two concerts and participate in a panel discussion "From Quebec to New Orleans"

Oct 31-Nov 3 • Quebec Jazz Festival, Quebec City, Canada - Amram returns for the third time to the Quebec Jazz festival, where there is a celebration of 150 years of friendship with Quebec City’s sister city New Orleans. Amram will perform in a concert and a jam session with New Orleans master pianaist Ellis Marsalis and a group of young jazz virtuosi from the Province of Quebec. He will also give seminars, in both French and English, about the infuence of French folkloric music, the music of Canada’s Acadie, the influence of Creole music and these styles combining with African-American and Native-American traditional musical stylings, which formed the fundementals of New Orleans music, which continues to provide inspiration for musicians, composers and llsteners around the world.

November 3rd • Strand Books 12th street and Broadway New York City - Memorial tribute to poet Thomas Weatherly

November 3rd • 8:30-11 pm Cornelia Street Cafe Cornelia Street Greenwich Village New York City • Monthly celebration of Amram’s 59 years in Greenwich Village, performed by his sextette (Kevin Twigg, drums and glockenspiel; Rene Hart, Bass; Adam Amram, congas; Robbie Winterhawk; percussion; Elliot Peper, bongos) • Poets Anbessa Tiwoni and Frank Messina join founder of the Cafe Robin Hirsch in readings from their works with musical accompaniment, as Amram and Kerouac pioneered a few blocks away at the old Circle-in-the Square Theater for the first-ever public jazz/poetry readings done in New York City in 1957; There will also be performances of Amram’s music composed and performed in the Village for films, dramatic productions for Broadway and Hollywood as well as traditional folklore he has learned in the last 60 years of touring the globe.

November 8th • 7-10 pm Sunny Side Church 4803 Skillman Avenue Sunnyside Queens New York Annual concert with The Amigos celebrating the roots of American Music from the Lakota social songs from the Black Hills of South Dakota to dance music from the Louisiana Bayous, el Barrio in Spanish Harlem, Oklahoma ballads by Woody Guthrie, Polkas from New Mexico, Appalachian ballads from the deep south + original compositions by the Amigos + Amram

November 12th • New York Institute of Technology Auditorium 1871 Broadway New York City 46th annual ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor- Virgil Thomson Awards for outstanding print, broadcast and new media coverage of music • Amram participated as a performer and speaker in Joyce Arem’s prize-winning recordings and book documentary feature film about the historic Cafe Lena in Saratoga Springs and has been invited to the awards ceremony

Nov. 13-16 • AcousticMusicScene.com Hosts Showcases at NERFA Conference

Article by MICHAEL KORNFELD

More than 800 performing artists, presenters, promoters, agents and managers, folk DJs and others actively engaged in contemporary and traditional folk music will converge on the Hudson Valley Resort in Kerhonkson, New York, Nov. 13-16, 2014, for the 20th Annual Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference. AcousticMusicScene.com will again have a major presence as it hosts afternoon and late-night song swaps, in addition to its popular Midnight Hoot at the close of the conference’s first day.

The NERFA Conference will feature several jam-packed days and nights of music showcases, open mics, song swaps and informal jam sessions, informative panel discussions and workshops, a keynote by acclaimed composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram, one-on-one and group mentoring sessions, a large trade show-like exhibit hall, tasty communal meals in the dining room, a welcoming party and happy hours, and lots of informal conversation and networking.