press releases

For Immediate Release

All of the winning entries are innovative partnerships that bolster the bottom lines of various arts organizations, as well as help support all the partners and the regions they serve. They include a wide range of experiences, from programs aimed at Japanese visitors to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to Family Thrills: Toys and Time Travel, offered by the Genesee Country Village & Museum in Monroe County. A complete list of the award-winning projects is attached.

In anticipation of the re-opening of its Manhattan site, MoMA will offer promotional packages targeted at Japanese tourists in partnership with the Hilton New York, NYC & Co, and neighborhood cultural attractions such as the American Folk Art Museum and Museum of Television and Radio. The grant to the Genesee Country Village & Museum anticipates the new fast ferry service from Toronto to Rochester and builds on partnerships with the Greater Rochester Visitors Association, the Canadian American Transportation System, and the Holiday Inn Rochester South.

The winning projects were selected from 27 proposals submitted from throughout the state to the Arts & Business Council’s New York State Cultural Tourism Initiative Grant Program, which is funded by the New York State Council on the Arts. Now in its fifth year, the Cultural Tourism Initiative awarded a total of $190,000 in grants, each ranging from $12,000 to $24,000. Each award will be matched by funding from other sources and supported by partnerships with local tourism entities. Prior to the application deadline, training workshops were held throughout the state. Additional funding for technical assistance to applicants and grantees was provided by the Challenge America Program of
the National Endowment for the Arts.

The tourism industry employs more than 750,000 people and generates more than $5.2 billion per year in revenue for local and state governments. In 2003, New York State’s museums, historic sites, festivals, and visual and performing arts centers welcomed an estimated 28.4 million tourists, a growth trend that is particularly gratifying at a time when tourism is recovering from severe challenges, including the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Cultural tourism is critical to the efforts of arts groups to generate new revenue. The New York Statewide Cultural Tourism Coalition defined cultural tourism as travel that is directed toward experiencing the rich arts, heritage, and diversity of the people and landscapes of New York State. When compared to the primary activities enjoyed by visitors to other Northeastern States, New York State visitors have the highest propensity—29 percent—to list cultural activities as a primary trip activity. Its findings also show that, in New York State, cultural/historic trips tend to last longer (5.2 nights vs. the U.S. average trip of 4.1 nights, excluding transportation); and cultural travelers spend more ($623/trip vs. $457). Hundreds of local resources reflect the great diversity and history of the state, from Polish cultural festivals in western New York, to music tours in Harlem and the Bronx, to the Underground Railroad sites that have been discovered throughout many communities.

The Cultural Tourism Initiative Grant Program continues to look toward the future and will schedule training workshops for late Fall 2004 and the application deadline for early 2005. For more information contact Lisa M. Potter, Manager of New York Programs at 212.279.5910 x 26.

The Arts & Business Council’s mission is to stimulate partnerships between arts and business that strengthen both sectors in the communities they serve. For 39 years, the Council has accomplished this mission with programs that promote volunteerism and leadership, build arts management capacity, gather and disseminate relevant information, and advocate for closer ties between business and the arts.

The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) is a state funding agency that provides support for activities of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in New York State and helps to bring artistic programs of high quality to the citizens of the state. NYSCA has been directed by the state Legislature to maintain the "paramount position of this State in the nation and the world as a cultural center" through the support of nonprofit arts organizations in New York State. NYSCA achieves its goals primarily through its grantmaking activity.