The 2012 “Arts and Culture Conference” will focus on the powerful influence of digital media and feature a musician, animators and journalists, such as award-winning hockey and sports writer Greg Wyshyski.

The theme of this year’s conference, which run Oct. 23-25, is "Binary Inventions: Art and Culture in the Digital Age." The conference will use a series of public events to draw attention to how digital technologies are influencing people to create cultural objects and express a sense of self and community.

Organizers have invited nationally-recognized experts to talk about their processes, perform and present their digital works, and discuss the relationship between arts and culture and the digital age, with each other. The events are open to the public.

The conference kicks-off Tuesday with Andy Ihnatko, a noted author and columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times and Macworld, who will discuss his experiences writing about and with new technologies. That night, Keith Kirchoff, lecturer and musician, will perform at the Empire Arts Center. Kirchoff also is set to speak at the conference on Wednesday.

A panel discussion, titled "Binary Inventions: Art and Culture in the Digital Age," also is set for Wednesday. Later, Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter, Tiny Inventions, a team of humorous mix-media animators, will be at the Empire Arts Center to showcase their work.

Thursday will feature an artistic lecture by Erik Beehn, a master print maker and instructor at the College of Southern Nevada, as well as a visit by Wyshyski, an award winning sportswriter and editor, who, because of his unique voice, was named one of The Hockey News’s 100 People of Power and Influence.

The Arts and Culture Conference is sponsored by the Department of Art and Design, the Communication Program, The Department of Music, The College of Arts and Sciences, The Office of the Provost, the Myers Foundations, and the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

A closing reception and exhibition is scheduled for Thursday at the Third Street Gallery in downtown Grand Forks.