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As many as 1,000 arts administrators, artists and teachers from around the country are expected to descend on the Hyatt Regency Chicago Hotel for an April 14-16 conference sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. The conference, “ART-21: Art Reaches into the 21st Century,” was announced months ago but its timetable was set only recently. The endowment’s chairman, Jane Alexander, will host the event, which will explore policy, financial, technological and educational issues affecting the arts and artists. At last week’s meeting of the National Council on the Arts, the 26-member advisory body to the endowment, Alexander bade an unofficial farewell to 10 members expected to retire once their successors are nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate.