Exotic Dancer magazine's parent company has formed an association of exotic nightclub owners for yearly legal symposiums on First Amendment issues - and portions of the conference may open to adult video store owners as well.
The new Association of Club Executives will work in hand with the Free Speech Coalition and the First Amendment Lawyers Association. The symposiums are scheduled for each spring, to be followed six months afterward by an annual Gentlemen's Club Owners Expo in the fall.
"This will give club owners two opportunities a year to meet and confer, face-to-face, with the adult industry's top attorneys," says Exotic Dancer's Don Waitt. "The goal of ACE is to be a resource center for club owners seeking assistance in legal, lobbying, marketing and management, and staff development fields.
"In essence, ACE is charged with providing club owners the tools they need to run their businesses in the most ethical, professional, legal, and profitable ways possible."
Opening conferences to adult video stores doesn't seem obvious on the surface, and Waitt didn't explain why they'd be considered for the conferences, but the popularity of exotic dancers as adult video performers - both in standard adult films and in special presentations featuring them in their regular working habitats - and the number of adult film performers who began their adult careers as exotic dancers, makes the inclusion logical.
ACE also plans state chapters, a national communications network, and professional workshops. Membership is open to any adult nightclub owner or general manager in North America, with no membership fees or annual dues. Waitt says revenues derive from registration fees at ACE-sponsored conferences, seminars, and workshops.
