cultural tourism initiative (cti)
grant program

Grantees

2004 Project Narratives

• Aaron Davis Hall (New York County)
  $24,000 to develop and market a complete visitor’s experience in Upper Manhattan. Working with NYC & Co., Hamilton Heights-West Harlem Community Preservation Association, and the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, the project seeks to develop the Historic Harlem Tour, a bus and guided walking tour, as well as support a new visitors’ center and interactive web site harlemonestop.com. www.aarondavishall.org
• The Antique Boat Museum (Jefferson County)
  $15,000 to create vacation packages in the 1000 Islands region. Working with the 1000 Islands International Tourism Council, these packages will capitalize on various offerings to appeal to the individual leisure and group tour travelers. The packages will feature several annual festivals, key cultural attractions, and local amenities and be targeted to Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, Buffalo and Scranton drive markets. www.abm.org or www.visit1000islands.com
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden Corporation (Kings County)
  $24,000 to enhance the tourism value of the Experience the Heart of Brooklyn campaign. Six major institutions in Brooklyn formed an independent organization to maximize their combined resources to promote central Brooklyn and its cultural treasures as a destination. Themed cultural itineraries and packages, with transportation, overnight accommodations, attractions shopping, and meals will allow tourists easy access to the Heart of Brooklyn. www.heartofbrooklyn.org
• Columbia County Council on the Arts (Columbia, Dutchess, Orange , Queens Counties, NY and Berkshire County, MA)
  $24,000 to continue the 2003 project, Sculpture & Nature: A Contemporary Tour, which link the Hudson Valley sculpture collections of ArtOmi, Storm King, MassMOCA, and Dia: Beacon. Packaged tours and a web site have been developed to attract the group tour market. This year, the project expands to include smaller scale arts venues and a passport program for individual travelers. New passport partners include Chesterwood in Massachusetts and Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, NY. www.sculptureandnature.org
• Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts (Bronx, Kings, Queens, and Richmond Counties)
  $24,000 to continue the successful efforts of a four-borough tour bus marketing campaign, MORE: NYC, which co-markets and cross-promotes borough tours in Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. This year, guided walking tour itineraries will be added and marketed to the international leisure traveler, enticing individual visitors to experience the “other New York.” Motorcoach packages are being promoted and sold at industry trade shows and through the American Bus Association convention, held earlier this year. www.discoverqueens.info  or www.nycvisit.com
• Genesee Country Village  & Museum (Monroe County)
  $24,000 to implement family-friendly overnight packages in anticipation of the new fast ferry service from Toronto to Rochester. Family Thrills: Toys and Time Travel packages include round-trip ferry passage, overnight accommodations, admission to the Genesee Country Village, the Strong Museum, and Seabreeze Amusement Park. Project partners also include the Greater Rochester Visitors Association, the Canadian American Transportation System, and the Holiday Inn Rochester South. www.geneseecountryvillage.org
• New York State Historical Association (Delaware, Otsego, and Schoharie Counties)
  $24,000 in support of a new collaborative effort across three counties to offer a series of eight weekend festivals during the fall season. Changing Colors: Fall Festivals of Central New York will bring together the talents of Ostego County Tourism and the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce with the Fenimore Art Museum, Farmer’s Museum, Handford Mills Museum, Howe Caverns, and others. www.nysha.org
• Image Out: the Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film/Video Festival (Monroe County)
  $12,000 to market the festival to Toronto audiences by promoting the fast ferry service from Toronto to Rochester. The annual October video/film festival boasts 12 years of continued success and now wants to capitalize on the large gay/lesbian population in Toronto while shoring up the visitor experience in the Rochester area. Partnering with the Greater Rochester Visitor’s Association, the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley, local businesses and attractions, the project wants to turn festival-goers into repeat visitors to the Rochester area. www.imageout.org
• Museum of Modern Art (New York)
  $24,000 to create a targeted package for the Japanese market in anticipation of the re-opening of MoMA’s Manhattan site. Partnering with the Hilton New York, NYC & Co, and neighborhood cultural attractions such as the American Folk Art Museum and Museum of Television and Radio, MoMA will offer group and individual packages including overnight accommodation, VIP museum admission, store discounts, and multi-lingual guides. Renowned Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi designed the new MoMA building which, along with a partnership with the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, where several pieces of MoMA’s permanent collection will be on loan, is being promoted to bolster potential visitors’ interest in the package. www.moma.org