Karen Cooper's recent blog post, Running with the Bambi's,
makes the point that you don't look back, you continue to learn and experiment.
Staying on top of all things "art fair" and not looking back is one of my mantras too, so last week I spent a day in Ann Arbor, MI, attending the Arts & Cultural Tourism Marketing Forum presented by the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Ann Arbor Arts Alliance at the historic Michigan Theatre.
The AA CVB sees travel and tourism as part of economic development and do direct marketing to bring visitors to town to stay overnight not only for university and sports activities, but also for cultural activities.
They have had wonderful growth in recent years. They "fill more beds" (CVB talk for hotel room sales) more consistently than any city in the U.S. except for Las Vegas! Their statistics showed a solid drop off in sales (beds) in 2009, and earlier in the century when Michigan really got blasted by the tech bubble busting and the auto company problems, so that Michigan and Ann Arbor were the first into the economic collapse and then because of their marketing and the attractiveness of the area they were the first out.
Take a look at their website: http://www.visitannarbor.org/
and this video:
Art fairs is one of the main tabs on the home page. Then look at their great presentation of the art fairs. Kudos to Mary Kerr from the CVB and Ken Yarsevich of the Pure Michigan campaign, bringing tourist and buyers to the state.
Why am I posting this here? All you show organizers who are visiting the site please take a good look and copy some of these good examples.
Is your CVB doing some of these things? Can anyone give us some more good examples?
Comments
Me too, Nels. Especially in light of all its past wonderful history. The CVB is doing its best, lots of good info and seeing the fair as important to highlight. Building new audiences is important to this one as well as economic rebounds.
Trouble is Connie, sales still suck at the Art Fir, the real good shoes people stay away from it in droves. Love to see it comeback.
The CVB gets requests for bus trips for the Ann Arbor Art Fair and they said they confirmed 19 day trips from tour groups in 2012.