cultural tourism initiative (cti)
grant program
2008 Cultural Tourism Initiative Grantees
Grantee: Asian American Arts Alliance
Tourism Partner: Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation
County/Counties Served: New York
Project: Chinatown Arts Marketing Partnership (CAMP): “Explore Chinatown ARTS”
“Explore Chinatown ARTS” (working title) is a collaborative marketing and cultural tourism campaign, in partnership with the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation (CPLDC), Chen Dance Center, C.R.E.A.T.E. (Committee to Revitalize and Enrich the Arts and Tomorrow’s Economy), and Deutsche Bank, to redefine Chinatown as a new arts and cultural destination for local New Yorkers, and to increase attendance/patronage at local cultural events and businesses. A pioneering effort to connect Chinatown's arts and culture to its commercial revitalization and economic development, this project aims to increase foot traffic and generate income from ticket sales to arts and culture events, food/beverage purchases, and retail sales. Economic impact will be assessed via ticket sales, attendance figures at selected venues, online response, and coupon redemptions.
Grantee: Cattaraugus County Arts Council
Tourism Partner: Cattaraugus County Department of Economic Development, Planning, and Tourism
County/Counties Served: Greater Cattaraugus (including all of Cattauraugus and a portion of Erie County)
Project: Routes to Art: Cattaraugus Region Open Studio Tour
Routes to Art (RTA) is a regional collective of fine artists and Native American artisans that forms the keystone of a regional partnerhip with the tourism and business sectors to promote self-guided driving tours to artists' studios in greater Cattaraugus. RTA 2009 will generate new visitor revenue and affect positive economic impact through direct sales by artists, hospitality sector spending (hotels, restaurants), auxiliary spending associated with self-guided driving (gas stations, convenience stores, gift shops, etc.), and increased tourist expenditures at businesses and cultural sites on the Seneca Nation's territories. It will also stimulate the economy of the Seneca Nation by providing peer support and professional development to artists developing the business side of their art, increasing visitor traffic and tourist spending, and by increasing art sales. Income generated by RTA 2009 is projected to be more than $400,000.
Grantee: Columbia County Council on the Arts
Tourism Partner: Columbia County Department of Tourism
County/Counties Served: Columbia, Greene, Dutchess, Ulster, Putnam, Rockland, and Orange
Project: Weekends in the Country: Art, Nature, and History in Columbia County
"Weekends in the Country 2008-2009" expands on "Weekends in the Country 2007-2008." The project will last 20 weeks (up from 10 weeks the previous year), bookended in the fall by two of the County's largest events: Hudson ArtsWalk, which culminates on Columbus Day, and Hudson Opera House's Winter Walk. This year's program will expand to include spring events, take advantage of Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial events, and incorporate newly-pledged support from the Columbia County Board of Supervisors and Chamber of Commerce. Columbia County Council on the Arts projects this program's total economic impact will be in excess of $282,000.
Grantee: George Eastman House
Tourism Partner: Amtrak - National Railroad Passenger Corporation
County/Counties Served: Monroe and Ontario
Project: A series of photograph exhibitions in Greater Rochester focusing on the history of the railroading industry
From October 2008 to January 2009, Eastman House returns to the steam and steel era with railroading exhibitions and programming, exploring the industry and its impact on American life. Eastman House's exhibitions and programming will bring the excitement of boarding a train for a new destination or the lonesome whistle of the locomotive to multigenerational audiences from all corners of New York State, pumping vital revenue into local restaurants, hotels, retail stores, and other businesses. With promotional fares offered by Amtrak and a selection of packages for individuals and groups, there are a variety of marketing opportunities for Eastman House and its partners to promote trips to upstate New York. Eastman House estimates this project will generate approximately $875,000 in economic impact in the Greater Rochester area.
Grantee: Heart of Brooklyn Cultural Institutions Inc.
Tourism Partner: Best of Brooklyn, Inc./Brooklyn Tourism
County/Counties Served: Kings
Project: Experience the Heart of Brooklyn
Experience the Heart of Brooklyn is a comprehensive cultural tourism initiative to attract individuals and groups to Brooklyn's world-class cultural institutions and vibrant neighborhoods, led by a partnership of six cultural institutions located in central Brooklyn: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, Prospect Park, and Prospect Park Zoo. Building on successful products, packages, and relationships developed with industry professionals in prior phases, Heart of Brooklyn works with its partners to increase tourism in Brooklyn. The organization's focus in 2008 will be on continuing the upward trends in visitation to and economic impact in Brooklyn through trolley tours, FAM tours and conversions to sales from those tours, motorcoach and group tours, and sales of the Brooklyn Pass for multiple Brooklyn attractions.
Grantee: Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council
Tourism Partner: The Towns & Villages of the Battenkill Valley
County/Counties Served: Washington and Warren
Project: Crossing Borders Cross Promotion/The Battenkill Carousel
Crossing Borders/Cross Promotion (CBCP) is a cross-promotional effort of a broad geographical area of arts and cultural organizations, expanding their collective reach, growing audiences, and bringing discretionary spending to communities. The project will target members and audiences of cultural organizations along Interstate 87 from the Hudson Valley to the Adirondacks and will tap cultural tourists in Massachusetts and Vermont. Additionally, under the direction of renowned master carver Gerry Holzman, creator of the famed Empire State Carousel, an antique carousel will be brought to life by local artists to capture the history and culture of the Battenkill Valley. Washington County is one of the poorest counties in New York State, with a median income well below the state average. CBCP is designed not only to highlight the area as a cultural destination not only for tourists, but also for employers, whose long-term investment in the community will continue to improve the local economy.
Grantee: Museum of the City of New York
Tourism Partner: NYC & Company
County/Counties Served: New York
Project: History Pass
The Museum of the City of New York will develop and implement a History Pass, a discount pass and self-guided tour that will enable tourists and New Yorkers to gain discounted admission to the Museum, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, and The New York Historical Society. This History Pass will include information on each partner institution, along with a map, directions, and suggested itineraries for unique, day-long “immigrant experiences” in each neighborhood. The program is projected to draw 3,000 new visitors to the three participating institutions, resulting in a total direct and indirect economic impact of more than $900,000.
Grantee: Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts
Tourism Partner: Otsego County Tourism
County/Counties Served: Otsego and Delaware
Project: ArtQuest
ArtQuest is an innovative tourism initiative combining technology, culture, education, and fun. Tourists use geographic coordinates and GPS systems to track and locate 10 original, interactive art installations located at cultural venues across the Upper Catskills. Successful ArtQuest trackers, who locate all the sites, qualify to win two high-end mountain trail bikes. ArtQuest is designed to attract a wide demographic of new tourists who will experience a diverse array of activities, including agriculture, sports, recreation, arts, and culture. This unique, experiential program and its extensive marketing campaign will increase overnight stays and generate tourism-related revenue. The attendance goal for this project is 5,000, and the total projected economic impact is $590,000.
Grantee: Woodstock Guild of Craftsmen, Inc.
Tourism Partner: Ulster County Tourism Agency
County/Counties Served: Ulster and Northern Dutchess
Project: Hudson River 400 Arts Celebration
The Hudson River 400 Arts Celebration, a consortium composed of representatives from 10 communities in Ulster and Dutchess counties, will produce a series of events in conjunction with the Quadricentennial of Henry Hudson's river journey. Each community will host an artist-in-residence, who will create a work of art to be left behind to commemorate this occasion. In addition, nearly 75 organizations, galleries, and museums in those communities will host exhibitions and performances with a variety of themes appropriate to the project from April through September, in the first synergistic approach, in this area, to a historic celebration through the arts. Economic impact for this project will be tracked through attendance and gate receipts at events, fairs, and festivals; hotel room occupancy rates; and Ulster County Bed Tax revenues. Additionally, surveys will be conducted at each event to track demographics and visitor spending, which is expected to exceed $500,000.
The Cultural Tourism Initiative is a program of Arts & Business Council of New York, a division of Americans for the Arts, in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts, a state arts agency.
Click here for a map of counties served by CTI 2008 projects.
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