Between 350 and 500 artists, writers, nonprofit staffers, and cultural leaders are expected at the event, says organizer Diane Wortis. She sees the gathering as an opportunity for networking and community-building — and also as a chance for artists to learn how to get noticed by the media. “I think a lot of artists spend their time earning a living and creating their art,” she says, “and they don’t necessarily have the business skills.... It’s not simply a matter of ‘If I build it, they will come.’ You have to get the word out, and the media is one way to do that.”

The conference features workshops on nuts-and-bolts business skills for artists, including public relations, grant writing, and constructing a Web site. There’s also a morning panel on art and politics, with speakers including Susan Hartnett, the director of the Boston Center for the Arts; Anita Lauricella of the New England Foundation for the Arts; and Edmund Barry Gaither, who directs the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists. The day’s keynote speaker is acclaimed dancer Bill T. Jones, who is known for addressing social issues like racism and homophobia in his choreography.

Wortis hopes the large-scale gathering of artists also sends a message to the media that cover them. “There’s always a push to review the latest show in New York,” she says. But thanks to the growing sense of community and political consciousness among Boston artists, there’s plenty of action right here in the Hub.

“Arts and Media 2001: The Politics of Art” will be held this Saturday, March 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets are $60 for the full day, and $35 for the morning only (which includes a performance by musician Deborah Henson-Conant, Bill T. Jones’s keynote speech, and the arts-and-politics panel). To register, call (617) 547-6789.